Your 'favourite' fighters

[Target Practice]

Who are the fighters you always root for when you're watching the PBP? How far do you go when dealing with them? Do you protect them at all? Have you ever 'guided' them to a title shot that they wouldn't otherwise have got without favourable matchmaking?

For me, I've always had a soft spot for Ozzy Bintley. In my first ever BCF game, he was the first rookie I signed, and the first one who turned out to have genuine title potential. He looked very promising indeed as a rookie, so I was very slow and deliberate when bringing him through the ranks, but unfortunately for him, by the time he reached a level where he was a viable main-event draw, I'd expanded the HW division with the likes of Moura and Satinho, plus the fact he was in the same division as Rav Kapur, who is by far and away my biggest star.
Anyway, Bintley lucked out and got himself a title shot against Elzo Alves Moura, and when he landed a big right bomb to floor Alves in the middle stages of the third, I actually started cheering. He eventually finished it with strikes, and I felt a little twinge of pride seeing the fighter I'd brought through the ranks finally get his hands on the gold.

...and then he lost it to Roope Kuqi in his first defence.

[HansLanda11]

I have a lot of fighters that I protect until I can't anymore and then I just root for them to win. I never give fighters title shots just because I like them but sometimes I will pass a guy up for being a boring fighter and the next guy in line gets the shot.

To me it's more the renders that I like than the fighters. I always juice up guys like Renato, Go Yamamoto, Elgar, and many others. Right now I am having lots of fun babying Roy 'Bad Boy' Bradley until he gets a title shot. Got to love the Bradley family.

[Paatero]

I guess the combination of render and skillset / bio is what gets me to favor certain fighters over others. Damn, there are so many I don't know where to start. In WMMA2 Lazaro Campos and Bosco Curbeam were my two favorite lightweights, but in the new game they're too weak to build up to be relevant (or I did have Bosco Curbeam as a contender / gatekeeper in one of my saves).

Now, I always sign the likes of Isaiah Monroe, Bill Brown and Toby Sorkin because they'll always turn out beasts, but they're not my absolute favorites - maybe among them Bill Brown has a style that I really like. Jiroemon Hasegawa is one of my favorites right now, he was my longest-reigning LHW champion in my current save with 8 defenses over top guys, he became the ultimate grappler until age started catching up with him.

[WCW Mark]

I like Jerry Bogdonovich, he always puts on exciting fights and with the fact he is a street brawler with the Dockland Destroyer nickname I see him as some one who worked on the docks making his name in bare knuckle fights before turning pro. He has the skills to beat a certain type of opponent and I always try and match him up against opponents I think he'll have a slight advantage over early on.

[Pokerking88]

Mostly a lot of prospects, Lamont Banner, Isaiah Monroe, Danny Akabaro, I do like some other guys, like Sean Morrison who is from my home state

[grits207]

Off the top of my head James Foster, Rick Stanley, Dag Kreuger (currently the #1 pound for pound fighter in my game), Maarten De Vries, Danny Akabaro, Hugo Cruz, Lamont Banner, Brian Claremont...there's probably a lot more I'm forgetting.

[Mr T Jobs To Me]

My favorite fighter in my last game was a regen- Lee "The Violence" Kao. He had about 80% hand speed, 92% Punching power, killer physical stats- and not much else. He was really good at keeping things standing and having great fights though.

[Be26]

With the diary, I find there are quite a few fighters who grab my attention and who I then want to add more character to. I've got a female regen who is just...like, frighteningly good, she's never had a fight go to the judges and broke out the first successful gogoplata I've seen so far, but besides here...Manish Khan is one, Vjekoslav Sarich is another - he lost his first simmed fight and to make matters worse, it was a local fight, then won eight straight. Drazen Gabelich has come out of nowhere to become a real solid middleweight, and I've got another regen (I forget who of) who looks like he could become a real pound-for-pound monster - he's only 22, but is Strong or Very Strong in everything bar Muay Thai and is picking up submissions quickly. Rafael van der Moot is one of the guys I've really taken a shine to because I've created a lot of backstory to him (also because he upset Valentin Taneyev), whereas I like Iancu Trailescu because...um, he's giant? Juozas Skerla also has a special place in my heart because he beat Armen Sarkisian in Sarkisian's first fight since leaving ALPHA. My jaw dropped when I saw that.

[Rebby]

Carrie Whitmore, who comes from one of the expansion packs, randomly became a huge star for me. She came as part of my buyout of XCC (as the reigning champ), and went on to be the newest female 'unbeatable' for years.

[RBM1]

Bud Brockett, Billy Russell, Heickuchi Shimuzu(?), Mike Watson, Chuck Dooley, Bill Brown, to name a few there are others i cant think of off the top of my head!

[blockrocker]

I know I have mentioned this in other threads....but I like to insert myself into the game. I have experimented with different styles, my favorite being an Anthony "Showtime" Pettis type. Great striking and submission skills, iffy wrestling. The only "cheat" I add to my own character is putting my potential to 99%.

Its been alot of fun seeing the results, and they have varied greatly over the different saves and styles.

[Griffo]

Rick Stanley! Just wish he had a ground game...

[kaneso14]

Bud Brockett! I'm currently in 2005 in a GAMMA game and the guy is a machine! After being knocked out twice in row in 1998 I fed him a steady diet of cans for a few years and he just developed into an outstanding little fighter. He defeated Fiyero Lermantov for the Lightweight title in 2003 and has not looked back since. He has practically cleaned out the lightweight division and has successful title defences against Lermantov, Sukarno, Seth O' Breen, Sean Morrison, Benny Danare, Luis Basora and Helio. His next fight is going to be a long awaited rematch against Brandon Sugar, one of the men to knock him out back in 1998.

[zaphenomenalone]

Pai Cheng. When I first started my game I started as a user made promotion (Phenomenal Cage Warriors, PCW) that had no popularity. I signed every single fighter in the game that was either undefeated or hadn't had a fight yet that would sign with my promotion. Then I used the company ranking system to set up 8 men tournaments to crown my first champions. In my first show Pai Cheng stopped all 3 opponents to become the first PCW Heavyweight champion. I'm currently in 2009 in my game and he has won the title a total of 4 times. 2 of those tittle wins came against Hassan Fezzik as Cheng pu the first to losses in Fezzik's record. The first 3 times Cheng lost the title was against Chuck Dooley who seems to have Chengs number winning all three fights against him. Cheng's record currently stands at 30-8 and his last fight he just lost the title for the 4th time. Seeing as he is still in his prime he may be able to make at least one more run at the title.

I should also note that I don't favor any guy as far as match making. The highest ranked guy or girl who has strung together at least 3 victories in a row gets the title shot (that's usually the #2 guy). Then #3 fights #4 for the #1 contender spot. #5 fights #12, #6 fights #11, #7 fights #10 and #8 fights #9. That can vary a little due to injuries or people taking a leave of absence. And seeing as I am the #1 promotion with just about every ranked fighter Cheng winning the title 4 times is very impressive.

[Blackman]

Combination of bio and render makes for favourite fighters I guess.

From the top of my head, mine are Terron Cabal, Asanovic, Soldo, Wilson Franklyn and Pamela O'Neill.