https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1QaZYB-xzA If there was anyone who was more one dimensional in their MMA career it was Gary Goodridge. Goodridge first competed in MMA when he entered the UFC 8 tournament representing the Korean martial art Kuk Sool Won. He may have fought under the Kuk Sool Won banner but in reality he was a mercenary who was asked to represent the school in exchange for the art rank of black belt. While it was initially a gimmick, Goodridge turned out to be enough of a beast that he made it to the finals of the tournament. Ironically enough he faced Don Frye in the finals who was probably one of the first well rounded athletes in the sport. Goodridge would go onto spend the next fourteen years competing in the sport and in 1999 started competing in kick boxing as well. He experienced mixed success in both until about 1998 when both his careers pretty much went downhill. In fact he received so much punishment that he now experiences dementia due to the amount of head trauma he sustained. Once again it is sad to see a pioneer in the sport reduced to a shell of what he was. The fact of the matter is that Goodridge is was a striker and nothing more with very basic submission skills.
Matthew Salzer fell in love with Mixed Martial Arts when he watched Pride Fighting Championships on Japanese TV. He is a lifelong wrestler having earned a Bachelor of Science at Missouri Baptist University. Matthew is the Senior Editor at MMA Freak and has written for Funky Monkey MMA, H4 Entertainment, and MMA Fiends.