I'd also add Bernard Hopkins who IMO is probably the best defensive boxer of all time.
What players have fundamentally changed a sport?
- Thread starter Jer
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Rousey probably for bringing women's MMA mainstream. McGregor was nothing more than a ****-talker. If you really want to talk MMA Royce Gracie is probably the game-changer.
I'd agree with most that have been listed in this thread. One I didn't see or may have missed would be Shawn White.
Agree on Gracie, dude is the original MMA OG and pretty much introduced the world to Brazilian jiu jitsu.
Also, if you're talking about who transformed MMA by bringing it to the masses, you could also say Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar in their title fight of the first season of Ultimate Fighter. Dana White has always credited that fight and that night for making the UFC what it is today.
Griffin, Bonnar and the Night that Changed Everything
The Iconic Fight To Conclude The Inaugural Season Of The Ultimate Fighter Set UFC On Its Path Toward Global Success.
I think Forest vs Stephan Bonner was the game changer for MMA. Royce was probably the game changer for BJJ being the prefered Martial Art to get kids into. So I think you are right about Royce, just the wrong sport for him.
I don't know, you couldn't find a place to sit in any bar when Conor was fighting as champ. At least in LA, maybe he wasn't popular anywhere else. Seemed like an explosion of popularity here between he and Rhonda at the same time, I'd say it might have briefly been the most popular sport in this market. Maybe because Rhonda was a local socal girl it was bigger here than other places. Now it seems like no big deal when there's a big fight at a bar here. I'm not arguing either are GOAT or anything, just it was suddenly incredibly mainstream and wasn't before and hasn't really been since.
Agree on Gracie, dude is the original MMA OG and pretty much introduced the world to Brazilian jiu jitsu.
Also, if you're talking about who transformed MMA by bringing it to the masses, you could also say Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar in their title fight of the first season of Ultimate Fighter. Dana White has always credited that fight and that night for making the UFC what it is today.
Griffin, Bonnar and the Night that Changed Everything
The Iconic Fight To Conclude The Inaugural Season Of The Ultimate Fighter Set UFC On Its Path Toward Global Success.www.ufcespanol.com
We typed basically the exact same thing at the exact same time. haha
Nobody sells a fight like Conor McGregor, that's for sure. Before his time though, during the heyday of Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture, Rampage Jackson, Matt Hughes, GSP, BJ Penn, pretty much every UFC event was standing room only, at least in the places we were at watching them. Awesome time for the sport.
Ones that I thought of but have already been said in here just adding on in terms of changing the way the game is played
Mike Vick- there were QB’s that could run before him but obviously he was the best (Lamar could pass him) and turned mobile QB’s into an offense you could build around
Dirk Nowitzki- elite three point shooting big man. I’m sure there are others before him but now you see bigs shooting all the time. KG is a good one too but his was more face up in the midrange. I would also add Jokic to this as I could see a lot of big men focus on their playmaking abilities seeing all of his success. Jokic alone made me watch way more NBA this year than I ever have.
Shohei Ohtani- I think he’ll go down as the best baseball player of all time, but I think he’s going to spark a run of teams trying to find their own two way players. Having a guy that can do hit and pitch is super valuable for roster construction. Especially now that the NL added the DH too.
I hate all the nerds that changed baseball into an analytics fest. I hope it can turn back the other way but the three true outcomes (HR, walk, or strikeout) era of baseball is dumb and boring
Mike Vick- there were QB’s that could run before him but obviously he was the best (Lamar could pass him) and turned mobile QB’s into an offense you could build around
Dirk Nowitzki- elite three point shooting big man. I’m sure there are others before him but now you see bigs shooting all the time. KG is a good one too but his was more face up in the midrange. I would also add Jokic to this as I could see a lot of big men focus on their playmaking abilities seeing all of his success. Jokic alone made me watch way more NBA this year than I ever have.
Shohei Ohtani- I think he’ll go down as the best baseball player of all time, but I think he’s going to spark a run of teams trying to find their own two way players. Having a guy that can do hit and pitch is super valuable for roster construction. Especially now that the NL added the DH too.
I hate all the nerds that changed baseball into an analytics fest. I hope it can turn back the other way but the three true outcomes (HR, walk, or strikeout) era of baseball is dumb and boring
Pele changed the sport of soccer for generations
Not a player, but I think Branch Rickey is way up there for biggest singular impact in a sport. Of course everyone knows that he signed Jackie Robinson. But he also created the farm system (at one point under Rickey the Cardinals had 30+ farm teams), expanded spring training, and hired the first statistical analyst in baseball (who discovered platoon effects and that OBP is a better measure than batting average).
https://invention.si.edu/branch-rickey-baseball-innovator
https://invention.si.edu/branch-rickey-baseball-innovator
On the NBA, in addition to Curry, I think you kind of have to throw James Harden in there. He certainly popularized the hunting for fouls game which resulted in some recent rule changes. The first time he jumped into a defender on a three pointer and didn't get the call was a thing of beauty.
Dirk also made it ok to draft unknown Euro's to a team. Fans were not big fans of drafting some dude they had never heard of before from a country across the Ocean. Now we know there are some elite players and we might not even now there name until they get drafted.
Reggie Miller tried this every bit as much as Harden, the refs just didn't go for it as frequently...a few times when they did go for it in big games it was pretty controversial.
In the same era down low Karl Malone would square up and knee his defender in the balls constantly when he moved toward the rim, it was his signature move.
I'm going old school: Fran Tarkenton. The first scrambling QB in the NFL. Before him, teams actually thought it was illegal for the QB to run.
