Fansided MMA
FanSided

The 10 best MMA fighters from the 1990s

By Chad Porto

LOS ANGELES, CA - JULY 06: Actor Bas Rutten arrives at the premiere of "The Zookeeper" at the Regency Village Theatre on July 6, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Buckner/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - JULY 06: Actor Bas Rutten arrives at the premiere of "The Zookeeper" at the Regency Village Theatre on July 6, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Buckner/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 11
Next
(Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)
(Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images) /

8. Dan Severn

Dan Severn is 63-years-old and there are rumors he’d come out of retirement for the right opponent. That’s just so MMA. It’s also not surprising, he last fought in 2012 and stopped fighting with a record of 101-19-7. The man is a maniac and we love it.

Severn was one of the first American-based MMA stars. Men like the Shamrocks and Bas Rutten were getting established in Japan with Pancrase, while Severn was among the first stars of the early UFC. He was among the first crop of major names, and he became so popular that the then-WWF (now WWE) eventually brought him on board to wrestle, before leaving the promotion and going off to the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) where he held their worlds heavyweight championship for several years.

For the time, Severn was among the biggest names in the sport. He was also incredibly gifted, between 1995 and 2000, Severn fought 30 times and didn’t lose once. Just before that stretch, he lost to Mark Coleman. His undefeated run would end at the hands of Josh Barnett. While he fought a lot of guys no one knows, he also took on names fans will recognize like Jeremy Horn, Paul Buentello, Pat Miletich, Kevin Rosier, and Kimo Leopoldo.

Prior to his stretch of wins, he fought and defeated Oleg Taktarov, Tank Abbott, and Ken Shamrock (twice), while also capturing the UFC Superfight Championship, on top of his two UFC tournament wins.