Here it is. The final list. My Top-25 MMA Fighters Of All-Time 5-1. This list tends to have the least amount of intrigue and shock value because most of these fighters are obvious at this point. The top five is more about placement rather than who’s in. Honestly, I could give and would accept an argument for any of these figures being called the greatest fighter of all-time.
If you haven’t seen the previous installments:
Now, here is the top five.
#5 FEDOR EMELIANENKO
Fedor “The Last Emperor” Emelianenko is the greatest fighter who never fought in the UFC. Many even think he’s the greatest period. He’s a heavyweight fighter who spent the majority of his career and his prime years in PRIDE. Fedor went 15-0 in PRIDE, winning the heavyweight belt and the heavyweight Grand Prix tournament. He fought everyone PRIDE had to offer and never lost a fight. His list of wins is arguably the greatest victory list in MMA.
After PRIDE was bought out he was the biggest name in the organization, but he never made a contract work with the UFC. I’d it’s one of the biggest travesties in MMA history that Fedor never fought in the UFC. He would’ve beat Randy Couture who was running the UFC heavyweight division at the time.
Although he never got the UFC chance, that didn’t stop Fedor from racking up one of the greatest win resumes of all-time. He’s fought in PRIDE, Affliction, Strikeforce, and now Bellator where he fought Ryan Bader for the Heavyweight Grand Prix Final.
A list of Fedor’s wins in MMA:
- Ricardo Arona
- Renato Sobral
- Heath Herring
- Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (twice)
- Gary Goodridge
- Mark Coleman (twice)
- Kevin Randleman
- Mark Hunt
- Mirko Cro Cop
- Tim Sylvia
- Andrei Arlovski
- Pedro Rizzo
- Frank Mir
- Chael Sonnen
As far as heavyweight resumes go (and never getting to fight in the UFC), he’s built as impressive a list as you possibly can. He dominated his opponents. His combination of speed and power is the greatest the heavyweight division has seen. With his Sambo background, his grappling was just as dominant.
This was never displayed more memorable than in his fight against Kevin Randleman, the known muscle-bound wrestler with great knockout power. Randleman slammed Fedor in a fashion that seemed to break his neck. Fedor acts as if nothing happened, and 30 seconds later he has Randleman tapping to a kimura.
As far as game faces goes Fedor is number one. Never a smile. Never a frown. Nothing but a simple fist in the air after victories. The man is an animal and one of the best in the sport.
#4 GEORGES ST-PIERRE
GSP is the greatest welterweight fighter in MMA history and is one of the most famous UFC fighters ever. He was the biggest draw they ever had before Conor McGregor. The Canadian is a superstar in his native land, and when the UFC goes there it’s their biggest crowd.
St-Pierre is an icon. I think there are only two icons in MMA history, and he’s one of them. He entered the UFC in 2004, and his final fight was November 2017.
His record stands at 26-2 – the greatest MMA wrestler of all-time. He’s not the greatest wrestler in MMA, but the greatest MMA wrestler. There’s a difference. Real fans know what I’m talking about.
GSP dominated his fights beginning to end with speed and an unstoppable double-leg takedown. Then he kept opponents there with outstanding top position and a great submission game, even though he won most of his fights by decision.
One of his losses is highly regarded as the biggest upset in UFC history when he lost his belt to Matt Serra. He fought his way back for a rematch and ran through Serra with a TKO in the first round to take back his belt. That loss in April of 2007 was the last loss of his career.
GSP retired last week is with a 13-fight win streak over the last twelve years. He won a very controversial decision over Johnny Hendricks in a fight where it was hard to understand what fight the judges were watching by giving the victory to GSP. He then shockingly retired and took four years away from the octagon and relinquished the welterweight belt.
When the talk about him coming back started to come up, it was all around strictly big fights. The big fight he chose was to come back last year to the UFC to fight Michael Bisping for the middleweight championship, a division that GSP had never competed in. In his first fight back in four years, he submitted Bisping in the third round after dropping him with a huge punch. He became the middleweight champion, becoming the fourth fighter in UFC history to win two belts.
St-Pierre beat great fighter after great fighter. BJ Penn, Matt Hughes, Nick Diaz, Carlos Condit, Michael Bisping, and Jake Shields are on that list.
One of the greatest athletes the UFC has ever seen is finally finished. Georges St-Pierre, the legend, the icon, lands at fourth on my list of greatest MMA fighters of all-time.
#3 ANDERSON SILVA
Anderson “The Spider” Silva is the most exciting man in the history of MMA. He’s the definition of must-watch. Some of the most exciting spectacular knockouts I’ve ever seen have come from Silva. At one point, he was regarded as the Greatest Of All-Time.
Silva fought in PRIDE and was a good fighter, but when he came over to the UFC it all clicked, and he began his reign as the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world. That reign lasted six years. He holds the longest title reign in UFC history, lasting 2,457 days. This was also the longest win streak with 16 straight victories.
He’s without a doubt the most accomplished UFC fighter ever. Just look at all of these records:
- Ten Title Defenses (was the record)
- KO of the night bonuses (7)
- Finishes in Middleweight division (11)
- Finishes in title fights (9)
- Knockdowns in UFC history (17)
- Knockdowns in title fights (10)
Anderson Silva is no longer the greatest of all-time, but he’s still the fighter everyone looks up to as the GOAT. He’s like Bill Russell in the fact that he’s no longer the greatest, but there’s no one else you’d rather meet in the sport.
He could’ve been the first simultaneous two-weight champion if given the chance. He fought at light-heavyweight three times while he was the middleweight champion. In those three fights, he ended all with a first round KO. During his run, the light heavyweight champions were Quinton Jackson, Forrest Griffin, Rashad Evans, Lyoto Machida, Mauricio Rua, and Jon Jones.
I truly believe during those years he would’ve beaten all of those fighters except Jon Jones. If he did go up and win that belt maybe he’d be number one on this list, but instead, I have him at three. That’s still pretty damn good.
Every fan remembers how he lost his belt and how the immediate rematch went. In his title defense fight against Chris Weidman, Silva seemed to be taunting Wiedman. It was strange because it wasn’t something we usually saw from Silva. Weidman caught him and knocked him out. Part of me still believes if he didn’t do that he would’ve won that fight, but we’ll never know.
The rematch was a little different. It didn’t seem that Silva was winning the fight, but there was still a lot of time left. Then Silva’s leg snapped in half. He threw a kick and Weidman’s block caused a quick break.
He still came back and has fought in five fights since. His record is 2-3, losing his last fight to Israel Adesanya. Nobody knows what the future holds for Anderson Silva. All we can do is be thankful that we got to see one of the greatest athletes of all-time.
#2 DANIEL CORMIER
The hardest decision inside the top ten actually was between the top two spots. Do drug test and controversy play a part in who I think is truly the greatest of all-time? Well, I have Daniel Cormier as the second greatest fighter ever, so apparently not.
DC is a great fighter and the greatest heavyweight of all-time. After a long life of collegiate and Olympic wrestling, he decided to get into MMA. He started his career in Strikeforce in the heavyweight division. Strikeforce held a heavyweight Grand Prix tournament. DC beat Antonio “Big Foot” Silva and legendary fighter Josh Barnett on his way to winning the heavyweight title.
After he won the Grand Prix, the UFC bought the promotion and adopted all the fighters. Cormier’s first fight in the UFC was against former champion Frank Mir. After beating Mir, he beat Roy Nelson, but after that fight, he moved down from heavyweight to light-heavyweight.
It seemed like he was on his way to maybe becoming the UFC Heavyweight champion. However, his training partner and great friend Cain Velazquez was the champion at the time. So, DC cut weight and made the move to light-heavyweight, and the greatest rivalry in UFC history was born.
Once DC made the move to the 205-pound division, it was a matter of time until he challenged Jon Jones for the title. They met January 3, 2015, and Jones won by unanimous decision. It was the first time DC suffered a defeat in his MMA career. There was nothing on his mind except getting that rematch. Then, Jones ran into his problem.
So, DC took a different route to become champ. He beat Rumble Johnson to win the vacant Light Heavyweight title. Of course Jones made his way back and beat DC again. However, the fight was changed to a NC after Jones tested positive for a banned substance.
DC took one more fight against Volkan and defended his 205-pound title once more. He then made the jump to challenge heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic for the title. He’d join Conor McGregor as a two-weight champ to put the finishing touches on a historic career.
The fight went according to plan, as he knocked out Stipe in the very first round, becoming a two-weight champion. That was the defining moment in DC’s career that pushed him all the way to second on my all-time list.
It seems DC has one more fight in him, maybe two. There have been rumors of a Brock Lesnar. With only one or two fights left and after accomplishing what he’s accomplished he deserves the money fight with Brock. I know everyone wants to see a third fight with Jones, but who knows what the future will hold for the heavyweight. If I was DC, I’d fight Brock, cash out, and hang up the gloves.
#1 Jon Jones
If you’ve followed the list, it’s no secret who the only fighter left is. Yes, my #1 MMA fighter of all-time is Jon Jones. Yes, I’m aware of the stigma of steroid use associated with Jones. No, I don’t care. You can tell me whatever you want, I’ve never seen a better fighter than Jones, and I don’t believe that’s because of steroid use. Did it help? Sure, it must have. I still believe he’s the greatest without it. That might make me crazy, and maybe I am. However, I’ve never seen anyone with the size, length, athleticism, and skill set that Jon Jones possesses.
Jones entered the UFC in 2008. The only blemish on his record came in his fourth UFC fight when he mounted Mark Hamill and knocked him out with elbows. Only when they were announcing the winner they announced that the elbow he threw was from 12 to 6 which is illegal, and since the illegal strike ended the fight, Jones was disqualified. It remains the only loss on his record which no real fan recognizes as an actual loss. To real fans, Jon Jones is undefeated.
He became the youngest UFC champion ever when he defeated the great Shogun Rua to win the light-heavyweight. He’s yet to lose his belt from a loss, only suspension. The only time anyone was even close to beating him was the famous Gufstason fight which Jones avenged in the most furious way in December and came back around to destroy him.
He beat everyone there is to beat at the 205-pound division:
- Stephan Bonnar
- Ryan Bader
- Rampage Jackson
- Lyoto Machida
- Rashad Evans
- Shogun Rua
- Vitor Belfort
- Chael Sonnen
- Alexander Gustafson (twice)
- Glover Texiera
- Daniel Cormier (twice)
That has to be the most impressive resume of wins of all-time. There’s not much I can say about Jones because there’s no denying his talent. It just comes down to the way you look at his drug use. You either don’t see it as that big of a deal, and you would have to agree he is the GOAT, or you say no one who’s ever popped for steroids could be the greatest fighter ever. That opinion is yours, but my job here is to give you mine. So, that’s what I did.
Jon Jones is my greatest of all-time. Do you agree or disagree? Who should move up? Who should move down? You tell me!