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Yesterday former UFC champion Conor McGregor said on Twitter that he is the second greatest MMA fighter of all time. I understand that those lists are highly subjective but come on now, Conor is very far from deserving that spot. Anyway because of Conor I decided to update my top 10 best MMA fighters of all time list.
Important for my list: quality of wins, losses, real title bouts (UFC, Pride, Strikeforce and WEC belts) so no bullshit interim belts (yeah you heard me Chael), number of years undefeated, winning streaks, losses and finishes in important fights and if they were ever in the conversation for GOAT in their divisions.
Spoiler Alert: Conor and Cringe didn’t make it. One never defended any belt and got beat twice rather easily in his prime and the other got very questionable wins and not on top for that long. No I don’t hate those two, I actually miss them and I want them to be up there because those are the kind of fighters that make this sport fun.
Anyway here it goes.
10. BJ Penn (16-14-2)
MMA Fighting
Arguably the most talented fighter of his generation, sometimes lacked motivation, some other times who knows what happened and if he had focused on his weight class (he even fought Lyoto Machida at heavyweight), he could have been at the top of this list.
Why did he make it in this list? He won the UFC belt in two different weight classes and he actually defeated a dominant bigger champion (Matt Hughes) when he captured the welterweight belt, huge accomplishment.
If Khabib wins his next fight, he’ll be taking this spot. If Khabib beats one more top 3 opponent, he’ll be taking this spot.
Notable wins: Matt Hughes (twice), Takanori Gomi, Sean Sherk, Matt Serra, Jens Pulver, Kenny Florian, Diego Sanchez, Caol Uno, Renzo Gracie, Joe Stevenson
Title bouts: 11 (5-5-1)
Longest winning streak: 4
Years undefeated: 3 years (2002-2005)
Finishes: 13
9. Dominick Cruz (22-3)
MMA Fighting
The best MMA bantamweight fighter of all time. He went undefeated for almost 10 years. Once he got his game going nobody was able to figure him out, he had a unique style of fighting with amazing foot work. He could have had an even better career if not often injured.
Why did he make it here? Undefeated for 9 years and defended his belt 4 times in his first run.
Notable wins: T.J. Dillashaw, Demetrius Johnson, Urijah Faber (twice),Joseph Benavidez (twice), Ian McCall.
Title bouts: 10 (7-3)
Longest winning streak: 13
Years undefeated: 8 (2008-2016)
Finishes: 9
8. Matt Hughes (45-9)
getty
Before GSP, he was the dominant champion at welterweight, he even defeated young GSP. He destroyed most of his opponents with his wrestling skills and his strength.
With him I guess there is no need to explain why he made it into this list. The other question someone could ask is, why not higher?
Well, he didn't go undefeated for more than 4 years (I know he fought a lot but still...) and during his prime he did have a couple of embarrassing losses. Losing to Dennis Hallman once is OK but twice it's really not great for your legacy.
Notable wins: BJ Penn, Frank Trigg (twice), Carlos Newton (twice), Georges St. Pierre, Hayato Sakurai, Dave Menne, Matt Serra, Sean Sherk, Royce Gracie
Title bouts: 11 (9-2)
Longest win streak: 18 fights
Undefeated years: 3 years (2001-2004)
Finishes: 35
7. José Aldo (28-6)
USA Today
He is without a doubt the greatest featherweight of all time, sorry Conor but if you want to take this spot or an even higher spot you should defend your belts. For years and years he dominated his division and was one of the most feared strikers in all of MMA with fantastic takedown defense. I don't think there should be any questions on why he made it this high in the list or why he didn't get a higher spot. But if you want to ask, please do so in the comment section.
Notable wins: Frankie Edgar (twice), Urijah Faber, Chad Mendes (twice), Cub Swanson, Ricardo Lamas, Mike Brown, Kenny Florian, Chan Sung Jung, Jeremy Stephens.
Title bouts: 13 (10-3)
Longest win streak: 18
Years undefeated: 9 (2006-2015)
Finished: 18
6. Anderson Silva (34-10)
MMA Fighting
One of the most beloved fighters in MMA history (huge fan here) and without a doubt the greatest middleweight of all time. Arguably the greatest striker to ever compete in this sport but not only that he was also pretty good with submissions.
Why not higher? WHY NOT?
Alright stop yelling, I'll tell you why, the quality of his opponents is not as good as 4 out of 5 fighters who ranked higher here, and the other one is a fighter who fought way bigger fighters in his entire career and in his prime he almost lost his title against Chael Sonnen, that fight taught us how lucky he was that during his reign there were no good wrestlers at the top of the middleweight division.
Notable wins: Dan Henderson, Rich Franklin (twice), Forrest Griffin, Vitor Belfort, Hayato Sakurai, Demian Maia, Chael Sonnen (twice) Carlos Newton, Nate Marquardt, Jeremy Horn
Title bouts: 13 (11-2)
Longest win streak: 17
Years undefeated: 7 (2006-2013)
Finishes: 26
5. Daniel Cormier (22-2)
MMA Junkie
At light heavyweight He only lost to a guy named Jon Jones and defeated everyone else. At heavyweight, he only lost in his last fight but he defeated the most dominant heavyweight champion in UFC history and let's not forget that he was the winner of the Strikeforce heavyweight Grand Prix at a time when arguably many of the best heavyweights in the world where fighting in that organization. If he beats Stipe again, I’ll put him at 4.
Notable wins: Stipe Miocic, Anderson Silva, Dan Henderson, Josh Barnett, Frank Mir, Anthony Johnson (twice), Alexander Gustafsson, Antonio Silva, Roy Nelson
Title bouts: 9 (6-2-(1))
Years undefeated: 6 (2009-2015)
Winning streak: 15
Finishes: 15
4. Demetrious Johnson (30-3-1)
South China Morning Post
Arguably the most well rounded MMA fighter to ever compete. Fantastic wrestler, awesome submission artist, good striker and he can also KO his opponents, he is a beast. Too bad that he doesn't get the respect he deserves. If he had captured the bantamweight title and defended it against worthy opponents, I would have had him at the top of this list.
Notable wins: Joseph Benavidez (twice), John Dodson (twice), Henry Cejudo, Miguel Torres, Ian McCall, John Moraga
Title bouts: 14 (12-2)
Longest win streak: 13
Years undefeated: 6 (2012-2018)
Finishes: 17
3. Georges St. Pierre (26-2)
MMA Fighting
The most dominant welterweight in MMA history who also won the middleweight belt (personally I don't really think that was a great achievement, he defeated the weakest middleweight in UFC history). The way he was able to dominate and control his opponents without rarely be in a dangerous situation was unheard of before his reign. He really was an awesome athlete and a well rounded fighter.
Why not higher?
On paper, he definitely got the best resume, he defeated the old guard, he defeated all the best fighters of his generation and defeated the new generation but finishes are important too and he rarely finished his opponents even against weaker competition he wasn't able to do it, so I don’t think GSP deserves to be higher than the next two fighters.
Notable wins: Matt Hughes (twice), BJ Penn (twice), Jake Shields, Carlos Condit, Nick Diaz, Johny Hendricks, Michael Bisping, Jon Fitch, Matt Serra, Frank Trigg, Sean Sherk, Josh Koscheck (twice), Karo Parisyan
Title bouts: 14 (12-2)
Years undefeated: 10 (2007-2017)
Winning streak: 13
Finishes: 14
Fedor Emelianenko (39-6)
Fight Land
No matter what the UFC propaganda says, there was never a UFC heavyweight that went even close to Fedor's greatness. The title of greatest heavyweight ever belongs to the last emperor and it’s not even close, a man who fought way bigger guys throughout his all career. He actually could have fought at middleweight, can you people imagine what he could have achieved if he fought at middleweight and light heavyweight?
Why not number one then?
The quality of his opponents wasn't always the best and that’s too bad, had he signed with the UFC, I’m pretty sure he would have defeated Couture and Lesnar and if he actually also defeated Cain or JDS just one of those two, he would have been on top of this list. I know he started losing but sometimes luck and motivation play a role anyway I’ll be writing a what if article in the future...
Notable wins: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (twice), Mirko Cro Cop, Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski, Frank Mir, Mark Coleman (twice), Kevin Randleman, Mark Hunt, Renato Sobral, Ricardo Arona, Matt Lindland, Semmy Schilt
Title bouts: 4 (4-0)
Years undefeated: 9 (2001-2010)
Winning streak: 30
Finishes: 30
1. Jon Jones (26-1-(1))
USA Today
It has to be him. Hate him all you want, find all the excuses you want but to me it's not even debatable, he is the greatest of all time. He defeated everyone, he destroyed or dominated most of his opponents, he is the greatest talent we've ever seen in MMA and the youngest UFC champion. So haters keep hating...
Can anyone take his spot in the future?
Probably but for now in this top 10 only DJ can do it if he goes back to the UFC and does what I said. Other active fighters? Who knows, maybe Khabib or Adasanya or Usman.
”But hold on a sec damn it, what about all those failed drug tests?”
Ok but what about all those non failed drug tests? And anyway please I don’t care about the innocent until proven guilty, I don’t trust anyone in professional sports...
Notable wins: Daniel Cormier, Mauricio Rua, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, Rampage Jackson, Alexander Gustafsson, Vitor Belfort, Ryan Bader
Title bouts: 14 (13 and one no contest)
Years undefeated and winning streak: If we don't count that disqualification loss against Matt Hamill and it shouldn't count as a loss because he was dominating and about to win that fight, he is undefeated in his 12 years MMA career (2008-2020)
Finishes: 16
I hope you enjoyed my list and please people don't think that I'm a Jon Jones super fan because I'm not. I love fighters that move around weight classes and that would fight anyone anytime anywhere, like BJ Penn, Conor McGregor, Max Holloway...