Marco Ruas isn’t exactly gung-ho over the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) Hall of Fame selection process.
Ruas will forever be in the history books of mixed martial arts (MMA). Not only was Ruas a UFC 7 Tournament champion, he’s also one of the pioneers of MMA. Many consider Ruas to be underrated and “The King of the Streets” would agree.
When talking about the UFC Hall of Fame, Ruas gave his assessment (via Flo Combat):
“They’re calling the guys from the old times, from the beginning. They put Don Frye (into the Hall of Fame), who deserved it, and now Maurice Smith. I don’t know. He deserves it, he was a champion, too, I just think he was not the pioneer of it. I was the first to demonstrate other techniques, I did it before him, but okay, the guy deserves it, he was a champion, we already fought and he beat me.”
Ruas has a theory as to why he’s being overlooked for the UFC Hall of Fame.
“I think there’s politics. They’re Americans, it’s a clique, it’s not a fan vote. It’s the UFC, they choose who they’re going to add. The Americans want the event for them to be the champions, to have more belts and to be the best.”
