...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
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: Brad Imes, Stephan Bonnar, Jason Lambert, Michael Bisping, Chuck Liddell, Forrest Griffin
Bad Losses: none
The Skinny: Rashad Evans may not be as important to the sport as Forrest Griffin, but he's a better fighter, which he proved inside a cage at UFC 92 to capture the UFC light-heavyweight title. Like Griffin, Rashad failed to defend his title even once as he dropped it to some guy named Lyoto Machida at UFC 98. It was Evans' first, and to this point only, loss of his career.
A throwback to the early days of MMA, Rashad Evans has made a living being David and slaying Goliaths. He won the second season of The Ultimate Fighter competing as a severely undersized heavyweight. At 5'11 and a soft 220lbs. Rashad defeated 6'7, 265lb. Brad Imes in the finals. Following the show, Evans made the wise decision to drop down to light-heavyweight, where he's spent his entire UFC career. Its been speculated that Evans could make the cut down to middleweight and now that he's no longer the light-heavyweight champion perhaps that could come to fruition.
Until that happens, he'll remain one of the best 205ers in the world. Once criticized for being boring and lacking finishing ability, Evans has finished his opponent in four of his last five victories, including highlight reel stoppages of Sean Salmon and Chuck Liddell, the latter earning Rashad his title shot against Forrest Griffin. He's 30 years old, trains with the best camp in the world at Jackson Submission, and only has 15 fights to his credit. Rashad Evan's career is just getting started and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he eventually joins BJ Penn and Randy Couture as UFC champions of multiple weight classes (you know, after Anderson Silva retires).
22. Forrest Griffin
Record: 17-6 (17-6)
Notable Wins: Jeff Monson, Travis Fulton, Chael Sonnen, Stephan Bonnar (2), Mauricio Rua, Quinton Jackson, Tito Ortiz
Bad Losses: None
The Skinny: Let's face facts; its partly luck that not only does Forrest Griffin find himself this high on the countdown, but also that he's become one of the biggest stars/most important fighters in the short history of MMA. Sure, like Stephan Bonnar, he would've found himself somewhere on this list simply for being one half (the winning half) of the most important fight in MMA history, but its not like anyone ever thought Griffin would be a world beater or a world champion. Revisionist history forgets that he was a likable "name" being fed to Mauricio Rua in Shogun's UFC debut. No one thought Griffin had a chance in that fight. He'd had some fun fights and was always root-able, but Shogun was the best light-heavyweight in the world coming across continents to conquer the UFC. Well Shogun's creaky knees were kept a secret, Forrest out-worked him, and he eventually choked him out with seconds left in the fight in one of the most dramatic finishes we've ever seen.
It was that win that launched Griffin to an unexpected title shot against Rampage Jackson (merely a "strike while the iron is hot" tactic mind you, again no one thought Forrest actually had a chance to pull it off), where he again shocked the world and won the title in a razor close decision. Its really those two fights combined with the first Bonnar fight that has, and always will define Griffin's legacy. Make no mistake, he's really not an elite fighter. He doesn't do anyone one thing exceptionally well, but he's known as one of the hardest workers in the sport, he's huge for his weight class, and he's solid in every aspect. His two fight losing streak to Rashad Evans and Anderson Silva kinda put a damper on his standing with fans and media, but he's built up enough goodwill that he's nearly (but not quite) bulletproof. Don't hold your breath for another Forrest Griffin title run, but do fondly remember the great times and great memories he's given us over the last four and a half years.
23. Frank Mir
Record: 12-4 (12-4)
Notable Wins: Pete Williams, David Abbott, Wes Sims (2), Tim Sylvia, Antoni Hardonk, Brock Lesnar, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Bad Losses: Marcio Cruz
The Skinny: Clearly Mir suffers from the same "weak resume" syndrome others on this list do, but he owns two of the best victories of anyone on here. He also happens to be a two-time UFC heavyweight champion (I understand the second reign had "interim" attached to it, but being the only fighter to EVER stop Big Nog is worthy of more than a championship belt). He's had the advantage of fighting basically his entire career in the UFC, which is partly responsible for him being one of the handful of fighters to have 10+ wins inside the Octagon.
His cockiness has made him a polarizing in the sport, but he actually does have the skills to back it up. His stand-up has improved to the point that its not only no longer a liability, its actually a strength. His fight with Nogueira, a career-defining win if there ever was one, showed that he might finally have the hands to match his elite jiu-jitsu. He's the only man to ever defeat Brock Lesnar (and quite possibly will always be) and at just 30 and without a terrible amount of tread on the tires, its possible Mir could outlast Lesnar in the sport and find his way to a third heavyweight championship.
The Skinny: If you want to argue that there's fighters ranked lower that have better, deeper resumes you might be right. But, there may have been no more dominant fighter during the decade than Yamamoto. Between losing to Stephen Palling due to a cut thirty seconds into their fight and dropping a split decision to all-world wrestler Joe Warren in his last fight, Yamamoto went seven (!) years without losing a fight. He went 14-0 during that span and its not just that he was winning, he was absolutely destroying people. Walking around at 143lbs., Kid saw his name on top 10 lists long before it was fashionable to put out featherweight and bantamweight top 10's. That means people were finding a spot for him on their lightweight top 10's just so he could get the recognition he deserved. For nearly seven years, he was clearly the top fighter in the world under 155lbs. Now 32, and losing his first fight back after a year and a half absence, its possible we'll never again see the dominant force that he was in the middle of the decade. Its really too bad. He would've been a star in the U.S. with all the exposure now afforded to WEC fighters.
25. Jens "Little Evil" Pulver
Record: 22-12-1 (19-11-0)
Notable Wins: John Lewis, Caol Uno, Dennis Hallman, BJ Penn, Rob Emerson, Cole Escovedo, Cub Swanson
Bad Losses: None
The Skinny: Fans who have only been following the sport for the last three or so years probably only know Pulver as the fighter who's lost 6 of his last 7 fights and has looked over-matched in each loss. Longtime fans remember Pulver as the first ever UFC lightweight champion, who won the belt from Caol Uno and then successfully defended it against not only Dennis Hallman, but also BJ Penn in a fight everyone expected Pulver to lose. In fact, Pulver never lost his title. He was stripped of it when he left the organization. He bounced around some smaller leagues before landing in Pride as a big name free agent. He wasn't able to defeat Pride lightweight champ Takanori Gomi in his debut, but he put up a great performance in defeat in a classic slugfest. He went 2-2 in the Japanese promotion before winding up back in the UFC in 2006.
The shine was immediately taken off his return as he lost quickly to a newcomer named Joe Lauzon. As is custom with lighter weight fighters, Pulver's skills began to diminish quickly. After losing a rematch to BJ Penn following a coaching stint opposite the Prodigy on The Ultimate Fighter, Little Evil attempted to prolong his career by dropping down to 145lbs. and entering the WEC as a big fish in a little pond. His featherweight debut was a successful one as he submitted Cub Swanson with a choke in the first round, and he was subsequently hot-shotted to a title bout with reigning champ Urijah Faber. Faber won a decision in a five round war, and it proved to be Pulver's last shining moment. He's now lost his last four fights and with no fight on the docket, its possible we've seen him fight for the last time. Its a shame that one of the pioneers of the sport has seen his legacy tarnished now that the spotlight is as bright as its ever been, but at least Pulver got to come back for one last victory lap in the big leagues.
26. Mike Thomas Brown
Record: 22-5 (22-5)
Notable Wins: Mark Hominick, Yves Edwards, Jeff Curran, Urijah Faber (2), Leonard Garcia
Bad Losses: None
The Skinny: Urijah Faber has a slightly better record, a better resume, had a longer title run, and was/is a much bigger star. So why does Brown find himself one spot above Faber? Because he is flat out a better fighter, and he proved it beyond a shadow of a doubt not once, but twice. And that's really the bottom line. Its not that Brown beat Faber, its that he proved he was a better fighter.
Brown bounced around big and small shows for years fighting as an undersized lightweight. The exposure of the WEC gave guys like Brown a chance to show off theirs skills in a more natural weight class. At featherweight, Brown was the big bully. After winning the WEC featherweight title from Urijah Faber, he defended it twice in impressive fashion against Leonard Garcia and then Faber in a rematch. He finally ran into a younger, faster buzzsaw in Jose Aldo in his last fight, but Brown has nothing to be ashamed of. At 34, its unlikely he has two many more years in him after a long career as a small fighter. I'm just glad he was able to hit his peak on the big stage of basic cable.
27. Urijah "The California Kid" Faber
Record: 22-3 (22-3)
Notable Wins: Charlie Valencia, Bibiano Fernandes, Joe Pearson, Dominick Cruz, Jeff Curran, Jens Pulver (2)
Bad Losses: None
The Skinny: Just as BJ Penn was vital to breaking down borders for lightweight fighters a decade ago, Faber did the same for even lighter fighters much more recently. When the UFC brought the lightweight division back from dormancy a few years ago, the fighters were sold as faster, more skilled, and more exciting. When WEC was purchased by Zuffa and put on cable on the Versus channel, it gave Faber and his fellow feather and bantamweights a chance to say, "those slow, sluggish neanderthals that fight at 155 have nothin on us".
Faber toiled between regional promotions King of the Cage and Gladiator Challenge during the first few years of his career, winning every fight but one, an outdoor classic against Tyson Griffin in September of 2005. He arrived in the WEC as a hyped prospect and he didn't disappoint. He beat Joe Pearson to become the WEC Featherweight Champion and went on to successfully defend his belt four times. The last of those defenses was probably the biggest fight of his career. He'd become a star because of his personality and exciting style, but he never had an opponent who also had some name power. Enter former UFC lightweight champ Jens Pulver. Pulver had made the career-prolonging decision to drop down to 145, and he had his sights on Faber's featherweight crown. The fight was a five round classic, but Faber was in control the whole way and cemented himself as the #1 featherweight in the world.
Unfortunately, Faber met his kryptonite in his next fight. The Anderson Silva to his Rich Franklin, if you will. Mike Brown had the size and strength to win scrambles, the patience and discipline to avoid getting sucked into Faber's manic pace, and the power and technique in his hands to really test Faber's chin. Blinded by Faber's charm and excitement, nobody (including me) saw the upset coming. Brown finished Faber off in short order and claimed the featherweight throne. Faber demolished Jens Pulver for a second time in his next fight, this time with a brutal guillotine in the first round, to earn another crack at Brown. Once again, Brown proved too much, this time gutting out a tough five round decision in a fight that saw Faber break both of his hands. Faber may have found the one fighter he can't beat, but luckily for him Brown has since been defeated, opening up a new path to the featherweight title for the California Kid. Even if he never regains it, Faber still goes down as one of the most important fighters of the decade for the fact that he became the face of lighter weight fighters in the U.S.
28. Brock Lesnar
Record: 4-1 (4-1)
Notable Wins: Heath Herring, Randy Couture, Frank Mir
Bad Losses: None
The Skinny: I know there will be some longtime fans that will scoff that Lesnar is even within ten miles of this list, and some newer fans who can't fathom how Lesnar is outside the top-10, but the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Clearly, he's the least experienced fighter with the fewest fights under his belt of anyone on this countdown. It doesn't matter. What he's been able to accomplish in the sport in such a short amount of time has been staggering. Sure, his celebrity more than helped him get any and all opportunities that he's been presented with, but when given those chances he's delivered tenfold. He was given a UFC contract and a featured debut fight against former heavyweight champ Frank Mir after only a single professional fight. At least it was against Frank Mir and it wasn't the main event. It could've been against James Thomson in the main event of the first MMA event on network TV, but I digress.
After dominating the entirety of the fight, Lesnar made a rookie mistake and left his leg open to be knee-barred, a hold which induced a tap from the behemoth novice. It was a mistake that Lesnar hasn't repeated since. In his next fight he dominated durable heavyweight Heath Herring, which was apparently enough to merit Lesnar's inclusion to the four man heavyweight tournament alongside then-champ Randy Couture, then-interim champ Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and Frank Mir. Lesnar swept the tournament in dominating fashion, winning the title from Couture and then unifying the titles by avenging his only loss in brutal fashion, stopping Frank Mir with punches in the second round at UFC 100. It was the biggest MMA pay-per-view of all-time, and that was largely thanks to Lesnar. His three UFC wins have all been against fighters on this list, and so was his lone loss. Say what you want about Lesnar getting unfair opportunities, but no one has been thrown to the lions the way he has. Assuming Lesnar is able to recover from the illness that currently has his fighting career in jeopardy, he has the chance to become the most dominant champion and fighter in MMA history.
29. Tim "The Maine-iac" Sylvia
Record: 25-6 (25-6)
Notable Wins: Ben Rothwell, Mike Whitehead (2), Jason Lambert, Wesley Correira, Ricco Rodriguez, Gan McGee, Wes Sims, Tra Telligman, Assuerio Silva, Andrei Arlovski (2), Jeff Monson, Brandon Vera
Bad Losses: Ray Mercer
The Skinny: Another one you probably should've seen coming. Sylvia and Arlovski dominated the UFC heavyweight division at the same time (both with their striking), fell out of favor and were cut, and have fallen on hard times since their UFC releases. Sylvia finds himself one spot higher by virtue of taking the trilogy with Arlovski 2-1. Sylvia started his career 13-0 before making his UFC debut against Cabbage Correira. Like Arlovski, Sylvia used a victory over Cabbage as a springboard to a title shot. Sylvia capitalized, stopping reigning champ Ricco Rodriguez in brutal fashion to capture the belt. After a successful defense against Gan McGee, Sylvia tested positive for banned substances and was stripped of his title. In his first fight back from suspension he was matched up with Frank Mir for the vacant title (some punishment). In one of the most famous finishes in UFC history, Mir snapped Sylvia's arm in half and was awarded the victory.
After Mir's motorcycle accident forced him to give up the belt, Sylvia was matched up with Arlovski to determine yet another new champ. After tapping out to an Arlovski leg lock, Sylvia went on the comeback trail, winning three fights in a row to earn another crack at the Pitbull's title. This time around, he was able to overcome being knocked down and nearly out to knock Arlovski out to capture his second heavyweight belt. He defended it successfully twice before dropping it to a coming-out-of-retirement-and-moving-up-in-weight Randy Couture in a classic bout.
After that, Sylvia's career went into a tailspin. Fans had already turned on him, and after tapping out to an Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira guillotine in yet another Interim Title fight, Sylvia was given his walking papers by the UFC. He landed in Affliction, where he was absolutely destroyed by Fedor Emelianenko. Now desperately needing a win, Sylvia instead was knocked out in his next fight by 40-something former pro-boxer Ray Mercer. Sylvia is still young enough to have a career resurgence, but its unlikely he'll ever find himself main-eventing another major card after the hits his popularity and credibility have taken in the last few years. At least he'll always have those back-to-back wins over Arlovski and two UFC heavyweight titles.
30. Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski
Record: 15-7 (15-6)
Notable Wins: Ian Freeman, Vladimir Matyushenko, Wesley Correira, Tim Sylvia, Justin Eilers, Paul Buentello, Fabricio Werdum, Ben Rothwell, Roy Nelson
Bad Losses: None
The Skinny: Now we're getting into some of the heavy hitters (pun intended) of the MMA "boom" period. When the first season of The Ultimate Fighter brought in a whole new set of fans to the sport, Andrei Arlovski was the UFC heavyweight champion. After being stopped by strikes in his second and third UFC fights to Ricco Rodgiguez and Pedro Rizzo (yes the chin has always been an issue), Arlovski went on a tear, blowing through Ian Freeman, Vladimir Matyushenko, and Cabbage Correira to earn a shot at Frank Mir's vacated title against Tim Sylvia. Arlovski won that fight, submitting Sylvia with an Achilles lock in the very first round. He'd go on to defend his title twice against Eilers and Buentello before dropping it to Sylvia.
He then lost a second straight fight to Sylvia in perhaps the worst main event in UFC history (it made Silva-Leites look like Cerrone-Henderson). Never one to lose more than two fights in a row (exactly two in a row? Absolutely. He's done that three times), Arlovski rebounded with three straight wins in the UFC before inexplicably being shown the door. In his four fights since leaving the promotion, Arlovski has found mixed results, defeating the IFL's two best heavyweights in Ben Rothwell and Roy Nelson, but dropping his last two by first round KO's to Fedor and Brett Rogers. At only 30 years old, with great natural size and some of the best stand-up in the heavyweight division, Arlovski might have a good five years of relevancy left, but its unlikely he'll ever reach the heights he saw from 2002-2005.
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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