1. Frank Shamrock
The younger Shamrock was the easy No. 1 choice for me and the landslide winner of this poll. While he received five first place votes out of 11 total, all but one respondent had him either first or second. My longest op-ed ever was about Shamrock and how he went from abject failure to the greatest fighter the sport had seen up to that point in just two years. Summarized very briefly, Frank trained with his adoptive older brother Ken Shamrock at the Lion's Den. He was never seen as one of its great talents and was initially just a decent wrestler with good athleticism and some limited submission skills. After a string of losses culminating in losing to tough but far less talented John Lober in the main event of Superbrawl 3 in January of 1997, Frank was seen as a failure. Ken told him to quit MMA and manage his gyms instead. Luckily, Frank didn't listen and formed “The Alliance” with Maurice Smith and Tsuyoshi Kosaka. His entire game changed, evolving into a skill set that was years ahead of its time. Shamrock's striking became excellent and easily the best in the sport for someone without a prior striking background. He also became one of the sport's best submission artists, improving his technique considerably. Equally importantly, Shamrock, who like many other Lion's Den products was known for gassing out early, developed the best cardio in MMA, able to fight endlessly and defeat opponents through superior conditioning. Sadly, one area where Frank became worse was his wrestling, as a string of knee injuries made it difficult for him to change levels. Regardless, from late 1997 to late 1999, Frank completely rewrote his destiny. After a decision win in Rings over future stablemate Kosaka, a turning point in Frank's career came against Enson Inoue. In a grueling fight, Frank won after 17 minutes, prompting Enson's brother Egan to jump into the ring and shove him from behind.
The winner of that contest was promised a UFC title shot and Frank received his against one of the most highly credentialed wrestlers in MMA history, Olympic gold medalist and hall-of-famer Kevin Jackson. Frank needed just 16 seconds to defeat him via armbar. In his first title defense, against previously undefeated Igor Zinoviev—another woefully forgotten early MMA great and one of the first strikers to have solid grappling skills—Shamrock picked him up and slammed him unconscious in 22 seconds. After a surprisingly tough 16-minute battle with a young Jeremy Horn ended with Frank winning via kneebar, and then gaining revenge over John Lober with a knockout in 7:40, Frank temporarily left the UFC. He came back at UFC 22 for the biggest fight of his career against Tito Ortiz. Despite Ortiz being 20 pounds heavier, Frank went on to win what is to this day one of the greatest MMA fights ever, stopping him with strikes late in round 4. Ending the 90s by being MMA's undisputed best fighter is more impressive than attaining that status earlier in the decade, so Shamrock was the clear number one for me.