No. 4: Ricardo Morra
Discipline: Monkey style?
Strengths: Elbows, barrel rolls, grappling
Analysis: I know what you’re thinking: How in the hell did this dude rank so high on the list?
To be honest, I could’ve gone even more hipster on you all by putting Ricardo Morra at No. 1 given that he’s the only fighter who shows even some semblance of a proper takedown.
Perhaps it’s the results of the comparison pool he resides in, but Morra actually does a fairly decent job of turning the corner on a double-leg variation early on in the Kumite, as he then follows up by taking the back of his opponent, applying just enough of an arc to his downward elbows for a finish that would probably pass under a lot of referee’s standards.
On the feet, Morra mixes in sporadic movement and barrel rolls that could easily score him frustrating wins in certain eras of MMA (e.g. Clay Guida vs. Gray Maynard). He also has an interesting shot selection of everything from sidekicks to knees that help him dictate his preferred range, as you could say that Morra was essentially the Ryan Hall of the Kumite.
If you throw him into the open-weight class days of MMA, then he likely ends up finding similar success before suffering a similar fate. But as far as more modern MMA goes, it’s hard not to give Morra a leg up on most of the “Bloodsport” board given his inherent grappling ability alone.