10. (Tie) Igor Vovchanchyn
Legendary old-school striker Vovchanchyn just barely cracks this list. Standing only 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighing no more than 220 pounds in the 90s, Vovchanchyn would take on giants as large as 6-foot-4, 280-pound Fred Floyd and 6-foot-8, 350-pound Paul Varelans, face three or more foes in a single night, and emerge victorious every time, turning most opponents into battered, bloody messes. Competing in MMA for the first time as a 22-year-old, Vovchanchyn was already a good kickboxer but gradually became better and better at wrestling and submissions. After two submission losses shortly after his debut in late 1995, one due to blatant cheating by Mikhail Ilyukhin, Vovchanchyn would not lose again in the 90s, winning 33 fights and drawing one, finishing the decade with an amazing 38-2-1 record. Considering how often he was facing much larger opponents and fighting multiple times in a single night, that is astonishing.
Many consider Maurice Smith or Bas Rutten, both of whom we will discuss later, to be the first strikers to attain high-level success in MMA, but Vovchanchyn deserves a mention as well. The only reason he isn't higher on this list is his level of competition. Vovchanchyn’s biggest wins during the decade were a fantastic knockout of Gary Goodridge at Pride 4 in just under 6 minutes, a decision over largely forgotten, but highly talented Brazilian Carlos Barreto at Pride 6, and a decision over Akira Shoji at Pride 5. Not bad, but not on the same level as the fighters ahead of him. Interestingly, Vovchanchyn’s biggest win would have been at Pride 7 against then unbeaten goliath wrestler Mark Kerr, but he used knees in the four-point position to stop the American, which had been explicitly banned at the rules meeting, as detailed in the classic documentary “The Smashing Machine.” Nevertheless, it's great to honor a legendary pioneer here.
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