Do you think this is a fair top 10 MMA fighters of all-time?

Please don't get too hung up on the marks given for ability and resume, they're just guidelines, I'm not working on some formula where "A+ + A- = overall A", because obviously there are more factors to take into account than just those two. Those two are the major ones of course, and I personally value resume a little bit more highly of the two (which helped me to work out the ordering of GSP, Big Nog and Anderson, as those three are pretty much neck-and-neck IMO).

Anyway, looking forward to hearing comments on the placings. The only one I really, really struggled with was whether to have Hughes or Crocop at 10th, but in the end I think Hughes was more dominant/consistent and had better career accomplishments. I'm ready to hear a valid counter-argument though!

And a pre-emptive apology to Bill Butcher for placing Sakuraba behind Penn and Wanderlei! :good

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Ability: A-, Resume: A-
Comment: It took a long time to decide who deserved 10th position between Hughes and Crocop. Eventually, I went with Hughes because of his greater career accomplishments. 9 wins in UFC title fights including wins over GSP, Penn, Sherk, Trigg, Newton and Sakurai. Excellent wrestler who finished fights, #2 ww ever after GSP. Only lost to ATGs in his prime (GSP and Penn).

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Ability: A-, Resume: B
Comment: Much like Saku, Hendo spent his prime fighting a lot of bigger men. Mixing wrestling skills with power-punching, Henderson beat a young Big Nog, as well as Wanderlei Silva, Vitor Belfort, Franklin, Bisping, Babalu and Yvel. Even after some disappointing late-career performances (Shields, Jackson), Hendo has rebounded to become Strikeforce lhw champion, showing great longevity.

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Ability: A, Resume: B+
Comment: Made 4 successful defences of UFC lightheavyweight title from 2005-2006, a record still to be beaten. Only men to defeat him in his prime were top guys Randy Couture and Rampage Jackson. Used great takedown defence and vicious striking to defeat Couture twice, Tito Ortiz twice, Randleman, Belfort, Horn, Overeem and Babalu.

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Ability: A, Resume: B
Comment: Managed to achieve remarkable success despite spending most of his career fighting bigger men. Opened his career fighting Kimo Leopoldo (60lbs heavier than him), and fought with that same spirit throughout the decade. Effectively wiped out the Gracie family in Pride (beating Royce and submitting Renzo), and had great wins over Rampage Jackson, Vitor Belfort, Kevin Randleman and Carlos Newton among others. Between 1996 and 2010, he won 19 fights by submission, and lost 0 by submission.

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Ability: A, Resume: A-
Comment: Long unbeaten run as Pride MW champion, the baddest non-hw in the baddest era in MMA. Brilliant wins over prime Rampage Jackson, Dan Henderson, Kazushi Sakuraba and Ricardo Arona. Also, was fearless enough to fight hw's like Crocop and Fujita, and perform well.

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Ability: A+, Resume: A-
Comment: One of only two men to ever win titles in 2 different UFC weight classes, sub win over long-reigning dominant ww champ Matt Hughes is one of the best mma wins ever. Top wins are Hughes, Gomi, Sherk and Pulver, performed very well at ww in 1st GSP fight and vs Fitch.

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Ability: A++, Resume: A-
Comment: Potentially the greatest of all-time in terms of peak ability, exceptional Muay Thai offensive arsenal and deceptively good BJJ. Only reason he is #4 is due to comparative thinness of resume compared to top 3. Best wins are Henderson, Franklin x2, Sonnen and Belfort.

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Ability: A, Resume: A+
Comment: Big Nog often looked like the poorer fighter in the ring, only to pull out the victory. Superb BJJ, developed excellent boxing skills as well. Extremely strong resume boasting wins over Cro-cop, Barnett, Coleman, Sapp, Kharitonov, Werdum, etc.

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Ability: A+, Resume: A+
Comment: Recovered from early championship setbacks to become extremely dominant. Great wrestler, great kickboxer, hardly ever loses rounds. Stellar wins over Hughes, Penn, Fitch, and more.

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Ability: A++, Resume: A
Comment: 10-year undefeated run, beat #2 hw of all-time Nogueira and #3 hw of all-time Crocop, longtime Pride #1 heavyweight. Great finisher of fights, very strong mentally. Peerless.


Best of the rest:

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(#11),

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(#12)
Honourable mentions: Randy Couture, Rampage Jackson


:bbb:bbb:bbb

 

Cheers :good

I meant that no-one since Liddell has beaten his record for defences, I see now I phrased it wrongly, it looks like I'm saying Liddell set the all-time record for defences, my bad.

 

I find it hard having Liddell at number 8 but overall a pretty good list

 

anderson in front of big nog imo

 

You could be right actually. For me the top 7 picked themselves, and then I struggled with the last 3 places. On reflection, Hughes was more consistent/dominant than Chuck or Hendo. Yeah, if I'd to rewrite the list I think I'd do what you said. The only guys to beat prime Hughes were GSP and Penn, who were (imo) better than the Randy and Rampage that beat Chuck and Silva/Arona/L'il Nog/Misaki who beat Hendo. Now I'm writing, I'm thinking I should have Hughes #8, Hendo #9 and Chuck #10! **** it. :nut

 

Yup. In 2010. As I said, between 1996 and 2010 Saku was not submitted.

 

Nah.

There's a distinct difference between "technical ability" and "overall ability". You are thinking of the former, but I am thinking of the latter.

"Technical ability" refers to discipline credentials and the aesthetic merits of their style.

"Overall ability" refers to the actual effectiveness of the fighter in MMA competition.

This all sounds a bit wooly, but the difference is very distinct. Example: Andrei Arlovski had technically better boxing than Fedor, but Fedor knocked him out in a round, because he was overall the better stand-up fighter. Technical proficiency is not the only thing that matters, all other attributes must be taken into consideration when evaluating overall ability.

Crocop also had better technical striking skills than Fedor, yet Fedor outpointed him in a mostly stand-up fight. This is because overall Fedor is the superior fighter, although you can argue Crocop was technically better.