No. 1: Paco
Discipline: Muay Thai
Strengths: Actual fighter
Analysis: After seeing my selections for numbers two and three, I’m sure many of you figured out the direction I was going in here…
Popularizing muay Thai and Thai shorts alike to a pre-“Street Fighter II” audience, Paco – played by South African-born Paulo Tocha, who is of Portuguese and Italian descent – is largely credited for introducing Western audiences to the now-popular martial art.
Tocha also traveled to and competed in Thailand, training at Bangkok’s renowned Sor Thanikul Muaythai camp. Tocha continued to carry the flag for both muay Thai and mixed martial arts (to an extent) after “Bloodsport” concluded, as he went on open some of the first “mixed gyms” in California, making notable affiliations with Brazilian jiu-jitsu legends like Carlson Gracie Jr. and Jean-Jacques Machado.
Although those accolades should have little-to-no bearing in a discussion about fictional fighters, it’s hard not to see how ahead of the pack Paco is when watching all the Kumite competitors shadow box in the background of the previously-mentioned Dim Mak scene. And when going back to the previous point about “dirty fighting,” it’s difficult to deny Paco a tip of the cap when seeing him trick Dux into a false fist bump – something we still see being done today.
If the script doesn’t call for Paco to pointlessly reset his attack like a poorly programmed video game post-hurting Dux, then I think we see the Thai fighter give Chong Li a serious run for his money in the final.
As far as Paco’s MMA prospects go, I think he’s applicable to any era of MMA. I mean, are you telling me that you wouldn’t want to see Paco dropped into UFC 1 to leg kick the crap out of Gerard Gordeau? Or how about Paco vs. Takanori Gomi under PRIDE rules in the mid-2000’s!?
Heck, I’d even be as bold to say that a prime Paco would be a great plug-n-play action fighter under today’s standards. For those reasons, Paco takes the upset on this list.