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By Matt Pelkey, MMATorch Columnist
With the end of the decade (assuming you count 2000-2009 as this decade, which, for the purpose of this feature, I do) rapidly approaching, I thought I'd put finger to keyboard and come up with a list of the top 100 fighters of the aughts, i.e. the fighters are only ranked based on what they accomplished this decade. Sorry Royce Gracie. Everyday between now and the end of the year, I'll be counting them down from 100 to 1. No scientific formulas here. Strictly subjective. Criteria include: record, big wins, periods of dominance, activity, and to a lesser extent, popularity. Popularity will mostly be used to break ties. If two guys have accomplished relatively the same in the last ten years, the bigger star will get the higher slot. Also, being good towards the end of the decade carried more weight for me than at the beginning. The pool of talent is so much deeper now than it was ten years ago, when MMA was still trying to break away from the wrestling dominated days of the late '90's. When listing a fighter's record, their career record is listed first, with their record between 2000-2009 in parentheses. Any questions or comments on the rankings can be directed towards matt6buckeye@hotmail.com.
Notable Wins: Dennis Hallman (2), Renato Verissimo, Jason Miller, Kazuo Misaki, Falaniko Vitale
Bad Losses: None
The Skinny: So Frank Trigg never was the elite fighter he'd have you believe he was. So what? He was the welterweight champion of the WFA, the middleweight champ of Icon Sport, and twice fought for the UFC welterweight title (losing to Matt Hughes both times when Hughes was at his most dominant). The losses? To Hayato Sakurai, Matt Hughes twice, GSP, Carlos Condit, Robbie Lawler, and Josh Koscheck. Basically, he beats everybody but the really good fighters.
He was one of the first really successful fighters to use his wrestling in reverse to keep fights on the feet and use his hands to do his talking. If things weren't going his way on the feet, he'd take the fight to the mat and work ground-n-pound from top position. Its a simple formula now, but a wrestler being able to strike was a revelation earlier this decade. I think the Josh Koscheck proved pretty definitively that Trigg doesn't have another run at a title in him, but that doesn't mean he's not still a quality fighter. He just happened to run into a younger, better version of himself. At 37, Trigg will probably fill out his UFC contract (and his career) fighting the Matt Hughes' of the world and stay away from the up-and-comers. I'm just glad he's getting another chance to promote himself before he calls it quits. A second career in broadcasting has already begun and awaits him when he's done.
82. Tyson Griffin
Record: 14-2 (14-2)
Notable Wins: Urijah Faber, Duane Ludwig, Clay Guida, Thiago Tavares, Gleison Tibau, Marcus Aurelio, Rafael Dos Anjos, Hermes Franca
Bad Losses: Not even close
The Skinny: The knock on Griffin the last few years is that he's not a finisher. In fact, before stopping Hermes Franca with punches in his last fight at UFC 103, Griffin was one half of seven straight decisions, win or lose. But he's still quite young, and the sky is the limit. He already has as impressive of a resume as any young lightweight in the UFC. His 7-2 record inside the Octagon is solid enough, but the fact that he's done it against the competition he's faced makes it even better. His two losses have been close decisions to top-10 lightweights Sean Sherk and Frankie Edgar.
He may never be UFC champion, but he's already proven that he's the Ohio State of the UFC. He never loses to fighters he should beat and he only struggles (and struggles is a strong word here) with the elite of the division. Being only 25, it may be a couple more years before Griffin even enters his prime. That's a scary thought. He probably has ten years and 25 fights at the highest level before he'll be done. That's a scary thought.
83. Jamie "C-4" Varner
Record: 16-2 (16-2)
Notable Wins: Rob McCullough, Marcus Hicks, Donald Cerrone
Bad Losses: None
The Skinny: Varner is one of the newer fighters on this list, at least in terms of his accomplishments that got him here. Frankly, he's here due strictly to his last three fights. Before that? Nothing much of note. He went 1-1 in a fairly nondescript run in the UFC back in late 2006/early 2007. Let's face it, he's a champ of a major (ok, semi-major?) promotion, and that earns you a mention. In fact, I think every UFC champion of this decade makes an appearance on this countdown other than Dave Menne.
Varner is still young. Quite young, actually. He's 25. He's a very good wrestler and combines that with suffocating ground-n-pound to overwhelm his opponents. He's one of the veteran members of the rising gym Arizona Combat Sports.
I'll admit that being the lightweight champ of the WEC doesn't exactly carry the same weight as being their featherweight or bantamweight champion, but the fact remains that Varner has put a beating on three pretty decent fighters in his last three fights in Rob McCullough, Marcus Hicks, and Donald Cerrone. Love him or hate him because of the Cerrone fight, but he was winning that fight handily up until the end. Assuming he fully recovers from his injuries, he'll continue to be the most underrated lightweight in the world.
84. Ricco "Suave" Rodriguez
Record: 37-11 (33-10)
Notable Wins: Travis Fulton, Gary Goodridge, Paul Buentello, Andrei Arlovski, Pete Williams, Jeff Monson, Randy Couture
Bad Losses: Rob Beraun
The Skinny: Rodriguez's ever expanding waist line and time on Celebrity Rehab have turned him into an MMA punchline, but its easy to forget that early in the decade he was a dominant young heavyweight, and UFC champion, and expected to lead a new breed of fighters into the modern era of the sport. His notable wins are an impressive collection, but the most recent one is all the way back in 2002. That's what keeps him from being higher on this list.
The guy also just doesn't get stopped. Other than his TKO loss to Tim Sylvia in his first title defense six and a half years ago, Rodriguez's losses this decade have all come by decision. The guys he's lost two? In order of longest ago to most recent: Tim Sylvia, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Pedro Rizzo, Ron Waterman, Robert Beraun, Ben Rothwell, Antonio Silva, Travis Wiuff, Jeff Monson, Mario Renaldi. Other than the loss to a .500 fighter in Beraun, there's nothing to be ashamed of there. Rodriguez seems like he's been around forever, and you'd certainly think he's past his prime, but the fact is he's less than two months removed from his 32nd birthday. The guy has all the tools to still compete with upper echelon heavyweights. He's fantastic on the ground and he's plenty durable. If he could find his way back into the gym, trim down to a solid 240lbs., and get his life back in order, he's still young enough to have a career renaissance.
85. Kevin "The Monster" Randleman
Record: 17-13 (9-10)
Notable Wins: Pedro Rizzo, Renato Sobral, Murilo Rua, Mirko Filipovic
Bad Losses: None
The Skinny: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Randleman is under .500 this decade and hasn't been relevant in several years. So what? He was also the UFC Heavyweight champion after his first fight in the decade. He also was on the victorious end of one of the biggest upsets in MMA history when he knocked Cro Cop unconscious at Pride: Total Elimination 2004. That alone earns him a spot on this list. Also notice that he has a big fat "none" in the "bad losses" column despite losing ten fights this decade. The only thing that comes close is a loss to Ron Waterman, and let's face it, they're practically the same fighter.
People forget that in the late 90's and early aughts, Randleman was perhaps the most feared athlete in the sport (think a less evolved, roided up GSP). His combination of wrestling and un-natural strength was matched only perhaps by his mentor and Team Hammerhouse coach (and much higher entrant on this list) Mark Coleman. His best days are clearly behind him, his awful fight with/loss to Mike Whitehead is proof of that, but if he finally has his life in order, I'll consider him a rousing success. He could retire now, and probably should, and his legacy is secure. Fighting in a day ruled by dominant wrestlers, he was one of the best.
86. Denis Kang
Record: 32-11-1 (29-9-1)
Notable Wins: Andrei Semenov, Mark Weir, Murilo Rua, Amar Suloev, Akihiro Gono, Marvin Eastman
Bad Losses: Keiichiro Yamamiya, Osami Shibuya, Marty Armendarez
The Skinny: You gotta give it to Kang. At least his inconsistencies are consistent. He's had a very successful career that started in the late 90's, and he's been on the cusp of being an elite middleweight for seemingly forever. He actually went 21-0-1 (and one no contest) between losses to Jason "Mayhem" Miller and Kazuo Misaki during a span of nearly four years. Since then he's gone only 4-4, but the losses have been very respectable: Misaki, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Gegard Mousasi, and most recently Alan Belcher. The first three are not only excusable, but respected, but its the loss to Belcher that seems to have defined his career.
Kang made his long awaited UFC debut after consecutive wins, including dispatching veteran Marvin Eastman in under a minute. Belcher was supposed to be a known commodity set up to lose so Kang could start to gather momentum. With a solid kickboxing background and a black belt in jiu-jitsu, Kang was the more experienced and credentialed of the two. After a back and forth first round, Kang seemed to fade in the second and tapped out to a Belcher guillotine. Belcher was a purple belt at the time. Kang came back a short time later and won a decision over Xavier Foupa-Pokam at UFC 97, and is scheduled to take on Michael Bisping in a featured bout at UFC 105. If he can win that fight, Kang still has all the tools and experience to make a run at the middleweight title (provided Anderson Silva does indeed go bye-bye in the near future), but it remains to be seen if he can keep his head in the game long enough to do so. His spot on this list is mainly due to that fantastic four year run between 2003-2006, but he could've been much higher if he'd stepped up his game when he had his chances on the big stage.
87. Hermes Franca
Record: 19-8 (19-8)
Notable Wins: Mike Brown, Caol Uno, Jamie Varner, Spencer Fisher, Nate Diaz, Marcus Aurelio
Bad Losses: None
The Skinny: Hermes Franca has been a stalwart of the lightweight division since the beginning of the decade and he's beaten some of the biggest names around. Constantly in the underdog role, Franca has made a living with his elite ground game and heavy overhand right. He challenged Sean Sherk for the UFC lightweight title back at UFC 73, and hasn't gotten that high since due to a positive steroid test following the title fight which he owned up to.
Its not like he's fallen off the map since then, though. While only 1-2, his losses have been to division elites Tyson Griffin and Frankie Edgar, while the win was in a grudge match over Marcus Aurelio. Fighting at a consistently high level against outstanding opposition is what earned him this spot, but with his heavy hands keeping him in every fight, I wouldn't be surprised if he can muster one more run at the title before its all said and done.
88. Vladimir "The Janitor" Matyushenko
Record: 23-4 (16-3)
Notable Wins: Yuki Kondo, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Travis Wiuff, Pedro Rizzo, Jason Lambert
Bad Losses: None
The Skinny: You have to respect a guy who's been fighting since the late 90's, had a successful run in the UFC earlier this decade, reinvented himself in the IFL late in the decade, and has come full circle back to the UFC in the twilight of his career. Or is it the twilight? Matyushenko has gone 10-1 since his loss to Andrei Arlovski back at UFC 44, with his sole loss in that span coming to Lil Nog at the second (and last) Affliction event.
He won his return fight at UFC 103 by decision over Igor Pokrajac, and even at 38, he still has designs on contending for the UFC light-heavyweight title before his days are done. I wouldn't hold my breath on that front, but I won't count out a guy who was figuratively left for dead back in 2003, only to re-emerge as a force in the last few years.
89. Aleksander Emelianenko
Record: 15-3 (15-3)
Notable Wins: Assuerio Silva, James Thomson, Sergei Kharitonov
Bad Losses: None
The Skinny: A perfect example of the subjective nature of this list, the younger Emelianenko is everything his older brother isn't in terms of size, demeanor...and resume heft. As in, he's a little short on it. His record has been buoyed by favorable, freak-show mismatches in Pride, but his highlight reel is plenty impressive. Just watch his fight with Ricardo Morais for proof. His three losses came to Mirko Filipovic, Josh Barnett, and Fabricio Werdum. Not too shabby. He remains one of the most exciting heavyweights in the world to watch, and at the still-young age of 28 and with only eighteen fights in his career, there's still time for him to come to the UFC and prove he can be an elite fighter.
90. Alistair "Demolition Man" Overeem
Record: 29-11 (28-10)
Notable Wins: Vitor Belfort (2), Igor Vovchanchyn, Sergei Kharitonov, Paul Buentello, Mark Hunt
Bad Losses: Iouri Kotchkine
The Skinny: Long before Overeem was the Incredible Hulk-sized heavyweight wrecking machine we know him as today, he was a long 6'5 light-heavyweight kickboxer with underrated jiu-jitsu who could hold his own with the best Pride had to offer. His wins over Vovchanchyn, Belfort, and Kharitonov in Pride were offset by losses to Chuck Liddell, the Nogs (Big and Lil), Shogun twice, Ricardo Arona, and Fabricio Werdum, keeping him from ever being considered one of the best.
He's spent the last few years as a heavyweight, ballooning up to as much as 250lbs. at times. Accusations of steroid use seem to be growing louder by the day, fueled by his seeming refusal to defend his Strikeforce Heavyweight Title which he won almost two years ago. He seems more than willing to fight overseas in kickboxing bouts, having defeated K-1 legends Badr Hari and Peter Aerts in the last year, but hasn't fought on U.S. soil since winning the Strikeforce title over Paul Beuntello in November of 2007.
Despite having fought professionally for almost exactly ten years now, Overeem seems to have found new life as a heavyweight, and his best days may still be ahead of him. He has an impressive resume, more so even than many fighters that will appear higher than him on this list. The only thing that's keeping him back is that fact that I just don't see how he's put on all of the muscle mass he has in the past couple of years legitimately. Until he actually defends his title on U.S. soil and passes a drug test administered by a state athletic commission, questions will continue to cloud his legacy in the sport.
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