Best MMA Fighters Ever

Quite simply in his prime I never saw a heavyweight that moved like Fedor. People either don't know or forget that he beat all of the best heavyweights at the time. To me he is the best pound-for-pound of all time. I know that people always love to point to Anderson Silva, but when you look at the competition that he's faced in the middleweight division, his body of work is far less impressive than Fedor's. Yes, you can say that Silva has fought all of the top middleweights, but before being knocked out in his last fight because he clowned around, his toughest opponents were probably Sonnen, Henderson, and Franklin. As far as Henderson, if that fight had been fought at light heavy instead of middleweight I think you would have seen a much different outcome. Henderson was past his prime and was beginning to have trouble cutting weight for that divison. He is a much stronger at light heavy. Franklin probably couldn't beat a top 10 opponent in light heavy, while Sonnen is yet to prove ...more

There has never been anyone, and never will be anyone, who is as natural at fighting as Fedor. The way he moved... He embodied perfection. He didn't have different skills or 'games', like some fighters who have their striking skillset and then have to swap over to the grappling skillset and so forth. It was all one for Fedor. Other fighters had to shift gears, or try to move inside or stay outside - not Fedor, he just fought the fight as it needed to be fought, with whatever needed to be done, at whatever speed was necessary.
Anderson Silva was a more natural athlete, but not a more natural fighter. Silva often appeared to be just as relaxed as Fedor, but didn't have the same mental strength.
GSP was a hardworking master, who focussed intently on perfecting himself, and playing a game of numbers - making sure that he worked hard enough to be a few percentage points better than his opposition. But he was not as natural as Fedor.
Gracie was as natural in his movements, but more ...more

Greatest fighter of all time hands down. People talk trash after his 3 losses now, but he was in every one of those fights. Vs Werdum he was simply baited and gave Werdum his arm, Werdum didn't work to get the arm Fedor simply left it there. If they fight 10 times since then Fedor wins 9. VS Silva Fedor won round 1, during round 2 yes he's destroyed by the 280 pounder on top of him for 4 minutes and yet still comes out of the round with Silva's ankle. Doctor stoppage before round 3. VS Hendo well Hendo to me is the first guy to do it in my book. Hendo is my 2nd favorite fighter and both warriors rocked each other, Fedor let Hendo slip out and took it off the chin. I wish I could say it was a quick stoppage but Fedors face hit the mat, he was out for a second. Sure he may have fought some cans but he beat the dominate top 10's also in there primes.

I've watched MMA since its inception back in the early 90's...I've been a constant fan even up to date. I've seen some really great champions. I saw Chuck Liddels dominant run from 2000 to 2006...I saw Wanderlie Silva destroy the middle weight division in pride for 5 years straight. I saw A. Silva wreck the UFC middle weight division cementing his legacy. I witnessed GSP carve his name into MMA history. I was amazed at Kazushi Sakuraba's dominance over the gracie clan and Prides middle weight division. And marveled at Royce Gracies ability to compete and nutrilize much bigger opponents in the UFCs infancy. But I've never in all my life as an MMA fan seen a fighter like Fedor Emelianenko. He was so fast...so strong...hit so hard... had the heaviest hands I have ever seen...was so well rounded in every facet of the game...arm bars and KO's galore! Superb athlete with the heart of a lion roaring the african planes...in his prime Fedor was the pinicale of greatness. He was the zenith of ...more

There is no doubt Silva is the best pound for pound fighter to have ever competed in mixed martial arts. The reason is very simple:
He has a huge reach advantage over any opponent;
His defense reflexes are superb;
His has heavyweight power;
His hands are super fast;
He's proven to be a great grappler when neccessary
But most of all, he's an amazing strategist and too good at taking his opponents out of their game plans.

When you have such a great fighter competing, numbers mean nothing (or do they? )...

Anderson is the greatest ever. No one has a run in the UFC as The Spider. Fedor is one of the greatest, but never fought in the UFC, the best organization of all time. Silva humiliate his opponents, he puts his hands down, let them punch, and still wins in devastating fashion. He's an artist, the Ali of MMA.

Number 2 behind fedor, people love UFC fighter but anderson has done it in all over the world. He gets so much crap from the Maia fight, well I did not hear Dana white complaining about GSP fighting conservative agains Jake shields. It's all about the money, for the UFC, anderson sell just as many tickets and PPV, GSP sells more merchandise than anderson. Anderson is todays best mma fighter.

Fedor can only be 2nd to Silva. Silva is the number one ranked fighter since like 2006, and that is official, and acording to all MMA intelectuals Anderson Silva will go down as the greatest Fighter in MMA history, yes Gracie was good, but when he was around no one had any skill, set they did'nt know jiu jitsu or muay thai, everyone does now, Gracie vs Silva at thier best, Silva wins tko in the first round. Fedor vs Silva, Silva wins by tko in the 2nd round, or unanimous decision.

GSP in my opinion is the greatest all round MMA fighter that has ever set foot in the octagon.

He has a deadly stood up game with his impressive signature "jump punch" move which is effective and entertaining to watch. Equally effective with his kickboxing and boxing game.

He is also a very effective submission artist. Rear naked choke/armbar he has put to use to rack up his wins.

It's difficult to fight an opponent like GSP for any fighter. He doesn't seem to have a weak "anti style"

25-2 and maybe his day isn't over. Maybe he will be back to compete in UFC 200?

I certainly hope he will be back!

This is the greatest fighter the ufc has ever had as champion. He has beaten everyone he ever fought. He ruled for almost 6 years and even after leaving for 4 years he came back to beat the champion in a bigger weight class. Nobody has ever been able to do what he has done and probably never will. What also makes the man special was the quality of his opponents when compared to other champions. GSP fought only high caliber challengers.

No need to argue, he was easily the most dominant, NOT Silva who did win the fight but got smashed into canvas 25 minutes against sonnen. St Pierre lost fights as well but never got destroyed by an opponent like that not to mention the much stiffer competition he faced at 170 as compared to the weaker competition silva had at 185.

I have followed the UFC since it's inception. the above statement is correct, in that George has fought the best. Dana White should let George fight in the U.FC.. He carried them for many years, & still has a huge fan following. Dana pay your fighters.They are superior athletes & should be compensated accordingly.

The Natural doens't walk away from fights, he goes to the most challenging fights, championship fights, tournmant fights, inerium championship fights, and number one contender fights. Randy is the best in the world ever because he is all said and done, he's retired. He is also the most dominate UFC heavyweight fighter ever, and the smartest fighter ever.

He deserves the number 1 spot. They don't call him THE NATURAL for nothing. He may be an underdog in his early career, but you won't see this guy give up. The greatest fighter isn't the one with the best fight record, it is the one with the biggest heart.

Randy is the best of all time look at age who he's beat light and heavyweight out of retirement. Defended the title. How many fighters people can say they have beat and wonat the hightest level

Just imagine if he had started earlier in life... He could find a way to break or outwit anyone in just minutes.

Possibly the greatest fighter of all time, full stop. Definitely one of the best fighters to watch. His mastery of mma is reinforced by his total brilliance as a scrapper. He is capable of making brutality beautiful. He made his own path to greatness much more "Rocky"(! ) and difficult, but he still achieved that greatness, even despite his mistakes and failings. He is only human, but he is a living legend. I've been privileged to see almost every pro fight he's ever had and I hope he starts to get the recognition he deserves as the greatest, and soon.

Youngest, most creative fighter that has beaten all of the top fighters in his light heavyweight division. He has never been truly beaten against competition that is much better than the past as fighters have gotten better and advanced with time

After closely studying All-time greats Fedor, Silva, GSP and Jones, I've come to a conclusion that Jones is the best, most complete, most dominating fighter of the four and I think he will just go on to prove this in the future.

He's physically gifted with reach height strength and intelligence. The youngest champion in U.F.C history has only 1 loss on his record and that was from disqualification

The legend that is Matt Hughes... Other fighters will never be able to get out of his shadow. He truly defines the MMA sport. He's fights are legendary. Truly an American Legend.

Was mentally and physically tough with extraordinary conditioning. Didn't let his mouth outrun his brain and retired at the right time to go home and farm.

He defines the word tough.

Matt Hughes is a scrub!

I would rank Chuck as number 3, this is because he possesses a true heart of a warrior, he always bangs, he would go out there and have a slug fest with any man who has ever lived. And he did have the UFC's best winstreak before Silva came along. He might not be the best technical fighter in the world, but he is not worst by a longshot either. The iceman always brings the fight, he will always give the people a spectacular show, and pretty much single handedly brought MMA and UFC in particular out of the dark underground and into the bright lights. And Dana White recognizes this.

Chuck Liddell should be top 2 or 3 he brought MMA to its place he is a warrior. in 2004 he started in King of the Cage and then retired from King of the Cage in 2010

Singlehandedly revolutionized the sport of MMA. Son of a legendary jiujitsu master Helio Gracie. He also paved the way for today's fighter's especially fighters like Anderson Silva who is a Gracie Jiujitsu student. He was so dominant, they had to change the rules and forbade the wearing of gi's and shirts because it was making people submit too often. His only flaw was that he wasn't the best striker but there is no question he is one of if not the best ever in ground fighting. 19 total fights, 14 wins, 2 losses, 3 draws, 2 KO's, 2 by decision, 12 submits.

Ridiculous he's rated this high and even more ridiculous he's rated higher than his brother rickson. Royce was just the guy chosen by the family to go represent them at the ufc events and thus got way more famous than the rest of the gracies, what most people don't realize (and royce himself admitted at end of ufc 2) was that his brother rickson was far better than him.royce was good, maybe the best guard submission specialist ever, but the wrong gracie is in the top 10, don't believe me? Google rickson gracie.

Without Royce and Gracie Jiu Jitsu, there is no UFC. The start of Ultimate Fighting was based on : "What fighting discipline is the best". Royce beat unknown contestants, sometimes several in a night, without studying videos or getting info from others. MMA evolved ONLY because of Royce. You can't discredit his skills against present day fighters, because without him, there would be no MMA.

No weight division, no rules and the creator of ufc. Nothing else to say. He was just that great. War royce!

BJ penn is an absolute BEAST of a fighter. GSP takes his opponent down and leave him there for the rest of the fight making his fights predicatble. BJ Penn beats the living hell out of his oponents both standing up and on the ground. At the end of the fight, he is perfectly fine while his oponent is a bloody mess with all hope lost.

He should be way on the top.

Better than all of them bj is the greatest fighter of all time no doubt he's never ran from anyone he fights guys he's ment to lose too an beats them. On paper people think well he lost to this guy or that guy but that doesn't mean anything he's the greatest fighter alive

Greatest natural fighter of all time!

The greatest lighter weights fighter to ever live ( meaning lightweight to featherweight )

Never lost at featherweight in a career stretching over 11 years. His 1 loss was at lightweight, which also was 10 years ago. He has dominated elite fighters with his super technical abilities and has one of the longest streaks of defending the belt. It is a disgrace that he isn't higher on the list. It makes the list seem like a joke, he is at least top 5.

Knocked out in 13 seconds by Conor McGregor.

What kind of smoke you are taking? Aldo deserves atlst on the top ten, better than gsp yes I love bj penn but aldo.. he is the best. Second to anderson silva

He is the best...enough said

There is no more technically perfect fighter in MMA today than Demetrious Johnson. He's able to move and exploit angles like few fighters have ever been able to do in combat sports. With a lopsided decision over John Dodson, arguably the second-best flyweight in the world, 'Mighty Mouse' now has seven consecutive title defenses.

He should be number 1 by far. Nobody in human history comes close to the level of skill Mighty Mouse has.

Should be at least top 10. He's currently the only Flyweight champion holder

Has the most dominant tittle rein in UFC history.

Every one has their day may be some longer than others and then comes that strange mental feeling douting your self once you let the dout in its over you will never be the same don't kid your self no more to prove you will get over it let the ego go man. Dan Henderson had his day wasn't he great

My favorite middleweight! if he can get back to his old self and keep doing as he did at ufc 100 he very well could have a shot at beating the middle weight champ.

The one guy who'd never tap out ever! A true legend in ufc and pride history

Conor is much more precise and accurate when compared to other UFC fighters. He also possess so much power in that left hand. It is not fair to say that he's not the greatest because he is the first ever 2 weight champion after his easy victory over alvarez at ufc 205. Conor knocked out one of the greatest in 13 seconds and nobody in combat sports at this moment can sell as many ppv's as he can. The man beat a 170 pound beast although he is a 155 pounder.

Conor runs his mouth, but he backs most of what he says. A lightweight champion, an interim featherweight champion and a proper featherweight champion. People scoff when he calls himself the GOAT, but looking at his accomplishments, he definitely is up there with the greats.

Best fighter I've ever seen. Only way you can beat him is by getting beat up first. Look at Nate the guys face was totally messed up.

"28 years of age, confident! Long, rangy, dangerous with every hand"... Give this man 10 years and he will be the biggest name in modern sports. GSP, Jones, Silva, Demetrius and Fedor, those are the greats of this time. Ali, Bruce Lee, Tyson and Mcgregor, those will be the greats of all time.

If you consider that 3 of his 7 losses were at the hands of athletes using PDFs, he then has 4 losses out of 34 UFC fights - a truly extraordinary record, nearly unmatched! Like or don't like Bisping - you can not change the fact and any true MMA fan recognizes his accomplishments. He is one of few top MMA athletes in the world who has competed at the highest level in the sport for over a decade 1994 to present. Only a few elite MMA athletes can match his ongoing, active record.

So much stamina, never quits, can take a punch, is super humble.

He beat Uriah Faber, B. J penn 3 times and Cub Swanson he should be up higher

Iron will just iron will.

There's no reason Frankie should be below Conor McGregor that's a joke

After the vendetta with Tito Ortiz, something changed in Ken mentally. Before that however, in his prime he pulled off some of the most jaw dropping victories against some of the most formidable opponents even by today's standards. Also he did it under conditions considerably harsher than today's fighter faces. Less rules and equipment to protect a fighter's safety and much less opportunity to know your opponent. Watch the old pancrase, ufc and pride and you'll see what I mean. The fact that one fighter was able to get into his head when he was already in fact retired and in his forties should Not erase Our memory of All he has done for this sport.

The fact rickson and ken are as low on this list as they are shows most people don't know anything about the history of mma.I personally disliked ken and rarely rooted for him but lets be honest and acknowledge this is way too low a ranking.

Competed in a time with no weight classes and few rules also you couldn't train for the octagon at the time. the man managed to spend time away from the sport comeback and still compete at a high level you could say ken wayne shamrock invented the mma style.

Early leg lock specialist? Would've been an interesting student of John Danaher.

Bas Rutten will always be remembered as a legendary fighter. Proper self-defense methods, former Kickboxing champion, trained in Taekwondo as a kid, neutralizes his opponents as quick and efficient as possible, there will never be another Bas Rutten. He's the type of guy to knock you out into next week just by mentioning it, his tall structure and intimidating appearance is enough to scare most people away, nevertheless the fact that he can escape choke holds and arm bars in less than 5 seconds.

He defined the future of MMA in his career with unstoppable striking and developing one of the best ground games ever. His counter punching was target focused. Meaning he was striking to hit vital body parts and not just striking to get points.

Bas Rutten fought many great fighters in his prime and left us with some great highlight reels. Bas is one of the true icons of MMA, and is today widely known as a commentator for UFC and for the UFC video game franchise.

Look at the records!
In his time there was no one better!

He should be at the 1 or at least 2. The way he absorbs so powerful shots and hooks its just remarkable. And well who doesn't know of his superhuman cardio

One of the best heavyweight fighters today.

Cain Velasquez is deserves 1 No.

Cruz combines constant lateral motion with precise, in-and-out striking. Known as one of the most agile fighters in MMA, he is noted for his quick footwork, head movement, and use of feints. He often attacks with combinations, step-in jabs, and single strikes thrown from angles. In addition to his striking, Cruz has extensive training in amateur wrestling.

One word: footwork