I decided to sit down and rank the 25 greatest MMA fighters of all-time, IN MY OPINION. I’ve seen dozens of lists and have never fully agreed with the criteria used to determine them. We should look at the fighters in a different way and put less on belts and records and more on competition and pound-for-pound skills. My top-25 MMA fighters of all-time criteria is different than most.
I tried to stay away from nostalgia and putting certain fighters on the list just because they “paved the way” or “made the UFC what it is.” The way I look at certain fighters from the early UFC days is that the sport passed them by, and they wouldn’t be able to compete in today’s UFC. If a fighter was champion in the UFC, but all the best fighters were in PRIDE at the time, does he deserve to be on the list?
A lot of people always talk about the old NBA players, and that they couldn’t compete today. They say the sport has evolved so much it’s passed them by. I actually don’t always agree with that, but for MMA, I believe it to be true. Most of the early UFC fighters were one-dimensional or came in with one base and had to learn everything else. Fighters today come up learning everything. Back then fighters came in as a wrestler, boxer, or jiu-jitsu practitioner and competed in MMA. Today, most fighters just come into the UFC as an MMA fighter. They don’t have one specialty, but they’ve practiced everything since they started and are more well-rounded MMA fighters. To be a champion today you have to be able to win all three ways; knockout, submission, or decision.
When I sat down and put my list together I started by just writing the first 30 names that came to mind. I continued to rank the names I wrote down. I started by not overthinking it and just ranking them by how I felt. After I had a list of 25 and a bunch left over, I started researching. I looked up everyone’s records and accomplishments and wrote all those down. I used records and accomplishments as more of a tie-breaker when fighters were close more than the stat that trumped all. For example: as a quick sneak peek into my list, Demetrious Johnson has the most UFC title defenses of all-time…he’s not in my top-10.
As I said before, this list is MY OPINION. The way I feel and think about fighters, as I watch these modern day gladiators beat this shit out of each other for our amusement. I’m going to release my list five at a time, starting with the honorable mentions. There were a few people I just had to acknowledge. Let the great debate begin!