Best Mma Fighter

It is in the UFC where he made his name, becoming a two-weight champion at light heavyweight and heavyweight.

There is little left for Cormier to achieve, though he may fight just one more time to win back the heavyweight title he lost to the current ruler, Stipe Miocic.

He's a two-time heavyweight champion, the division's current ruler, and he has the most UFC heavyweight title defenses three in history.

During that run, he has beaten a who's who of tough guys: Fabricio Werdum, Junior dos Santos, and Francis Ngannou — Miocic has brutalized them.

He's even gone with Cormier, and a trilogy bout to decide the rivalry could be on the cards. Why he's ranked : Alexander Volkanovski has won 18 fights in a row in a run that stretches back to Why he's ranked : Since Patricio Freire suffered the fourth loss of his career against Benson Henderson at Bellator in , he has rebounded by not only winning the Bellator featherweight title but the lightweight title, too.

Should he win that competition, too, then it's fair to call him one of the gutsiest athletes in combat sports today, if he's not already.

Why he's ranked : Justin Gaethje took a fairly short-notice fight against Tony Ferguson, one of the UFC's top fighters, in the middle of a pandemic … and won in thrilling, brutal style.

That alone is legacy-defining stuff, but when you factor in his collegiate wrestling background which he doesn't even use because he enjoys blood-splattering strikes so much, then you have a stylistic entertainer on your TV screens, too.

Fight fans may mourn the demise of a Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Ferguson super-fight, but that was the past. The present is Nurmagomedov vs.

Gaethje — and that, too, could be a real gift for those who watch. Why he's ranked : Israel Adesanya was competing in kickboxing shows in before making his UFC debut in One year later, he won the UFC middleweight championship, and now he's lining up the division's beastliest men to defend his title.

Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women. Brock Edward Lesnar is an American professional wrestler and former professional mixed martial artist, and professional American football player.

Many consider him to be one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time. George St. Instead of avoiding it, to overcome your fear, I believe you need to embrace it.

With 28 wins and no losses, Khabib holds the longest active undefeated streak in MMA. This is my goal. Dan Western is the founder of Wealthy Gorilla.

Not to mention that during his prime, he defended his welterweight strap on seven occasions. And along the way, 16 of those victories came by way of stoppage.

From that day until Sept. After losing two in a row to St. Pierre and Thiago Alves, Newton managed a three-fight win streak. Between May 23, , and Aug.

Intangibles 7. He was the best UFC champion in terms of defenses when he was in top form. Prime 8. During that time, he won three UFC tournaments, the most that anyone ever won during tournament-style fighting in the organization.

What's more, he stopped all 11 of his opponents via submission. In addition, he posted a winning record against his two greatest rivals: Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn Against Severn, a high-level wrestler with a pound weight advantage, Gracie proved his mettle, toughing it out for almost 16 minutes beneath his opponent before defeating him via triangle choke.

When Gracie finally did come back on Jan. Intangibles 10 : Gracie has this category over every other fighter. His UFC tournament performance proved grappling was king over the striking styles if you only knew one style and that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu really was the equalizer over a bigger opponent.

Today, nearly every high-level fighter uses his family's art in training. That says something. Notes: Gracie beats out Wanderlei Silva because when there is a tie, it should always go to the first true star of modern MMA.

Prime 9 : From Aug. He was also clearly one of the greatest Pride fighters of all time. He started fighting in , experienced his entire prime in organizations other than the UFC, and won three of five fights in the UFC from Feb.

Intangibles 8 : Silva defeated high-level fighters in both the pound class where he engaged during his prime and the pound class UFC.

He is known as probably the most ferocious stand-up fighter in history, always willing to take a punch to give one. In addition, he was always willing to fight anyone, which may have impacted the length of his career, having fought battles against heavyweights like Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic and Mark Hunt.

Notes: Silva has the edge on Big Nog due to the length of time he held the Pride belt. Yet he held the heavyweight title only briefly before Fedor Emelianenko defeated him.

Intangibles 8 : He is one of the best submission fighters ever and has the distinction of holding championship belts in both Pride and the UFC.

You could argue that his true prime was between Oct. Along the way, he won the heavyweight belt and defended it twice.

Scheduled for Mar 6. Scheduled for Jan Henry "The Messenger" Cejudo Max "Blessed" Holloway Frankie "The Answer" Edgar Cain Velasquez Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida Royce Gracie Tony "El Cucuy" Ferguson Junior "Cigano" dos Santos Quinton "Rampage" Jackson Michael "The Count" Bisping