Sherdog’s Top 10: One and Dones

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1. Rulon Gardner
Pride Shockwave 2004
Dec. 31, 2004 | Saitama, Japan
Gardner is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Greco-Roman wrestlers in the history of the United States. He was the first American to win gold in a full international field -- two won in 1984 in Los Angeles, where the Soviet Union held out its athletes -- at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, and he later took a bronze medal in Athens in 2004, along with a world championship in 2001.

As a wrestler, Gardner is best known for his stunning upset victory over the seemingly unstoppable Russian great Alexander Karelin in the gold-medal match at the 2000 Olympics. Karelin had not lost a match in 13 years, and had not given up a single point in six, but at the end of the day it was Gardner whose hand was raised. He went on to win the world championships the next year and overcame a snowmobile accident, frostbite and the amputation of a toe to win bronze in Athens in 2004.

Gardner is a tough hombre -- he also survived a plane crash and a long swim through near-freezing water -- and his sole venture into mixed martial arts was the opposite of a “gimme” fight. His opponent was Hidehiko Yoshida, an Olympic gold medalist and world champion in judo who had engaged in a “Fight of the Year” with Pride Fighting Championships middleweight wrecking ball Wanderlei Silva the year before. Gardner took it seriously, training with Team Quest to hone his ancillary skills, and actually dropped Yoshida with a left hand early in the bout. For the most part, he used his size and strength to control the Japanese fighter from the top and in the clinch. It was a convincing win against a tough opponent and almost certainly the single most meaningful by a one-and-done fighter in the history of MMA.

After beating Yoshida, Gardner never competed again. He struggled with his weight after leaving competitive athletics, gaining more than 200 pounds after the Athens Olympics and topping out at 474 pounds. A stint on the reality show “The Biggest Loser” helped Gardner lose more than 100 pounds, and as he got himself back into shape, he considered a return. An attempted comeback to wrestling in 2012 to try out for the London Olympics fizzled out, however, when he failed to make the heavyweight limit.

Gardner now makes his living mostly as a motivational speaker. There are few life stories more compelling than his.

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