The Intriguing Debate of MMA's Top Fighters of the Decade

I don’t doubt he brought in a lot of business for K1, Pride, and Dream, but could someone explain a little bit as to why Sapp is top 10?

5 times in a whole decade even scratch the surface of being in discussion of top fighter of the decade, terrible.

Is this fight a matter of importance or “Top Fighters”? Because Kimbo and Sapp have no business on a “Top Fighters” list that doesn’t include the likes of Wanderlei (during his blood thirsty reign over Pride FC), Couture (with his constant rise and fall to prominence in dramatic fashion) and Big Nog (with his heart and will to weather serious damage en route to legendary victories).

Fedor high on the list doesn’t make a lot of sense. He was never that big of a draw until November.

My List In order of importance
1 Forrest Griffin – Instantly turned me and 20 other guys in my dorm into MMA fans
2 Chuck Liddell – Face of the UFC for a while
3 Tito Ortiz – All time bad guy of MMA
4 Bob Sapp – Biggest thing in Japan mma/combat sports for a while
5 Wanderlei Silva – Face of Pride.. Fighting style made anyone a fan
6 Randy Couture – Captian america…always fighting for a title, always recognizable
7 Big Nog- A mainstay in MMA overseas and in the US, always fighting top fighters
8 Cro-Cop – Another Pride guy who brought his popularity with him to the US..woulda been higher if he hasn’t faded in the later 2000’s
9 Matt Hughes – Besides Chuck, the most dominant, recognizable Champion the UFC had for a long time
10 Brock Lesnar – Has brough MILLIONS of new fans in just a few years…will continue to have a huge impact on the sport if he ever gets back to 100%

1 Forrest/Bonnar
2 BROCKLESNARRRR!!!!
3 Bob Sapp
4 Kimbo Slice
5 Chuck
6 Cro Cop
7 Wandy
8 Nog
9 Randy
10 Hong Man Choi

1. chuck
2. hughes-don’t like him but he has to be here
3. silva
4. gsp
5. griffin

Being on this list is alittle premature for me.

I think that if he can still draw in a few fights, even after he loses one or two in the UFC, then maybe he’ll have the same type of impact as these other guys.

I think it’s a pretty shaky list. Definitely some names I would take off that list for sure.

A more quantifiable criteria would be better.

Perhaps simply make it the best fighter, which in itself is highly debatable too but closer to finding the best of the decade.

Bob Sapp but no Randy Couture??
Skip to the next arcticle.

war machine/junie browning

Could they be on this list?

1. Chuck – The face of the UFC
2. Griffin – Brought in a ton of new fans
3. Tito – The UFCs biggest heel
4. Couture – Captain America
5. GSP – like kyfm621 wrote – Gatorade and Under Armor is HUGE, when it comes to how far along the sport has come.
6. Wanderlei – Hero of the hardcores
7. Sapp – Say what you want about his skill, the guy was extremely popular in japan, and I remember seeing a ton of commercials in the US for K-1 featuring Bob Sapp
8. BROCKLESNARRR! – He also brought a lot of new fans, but his impact has only been for the last couple of years.
9. Hughes – One of the UFCs most dominant champs but has faded in the later part of the decade
10. Crocop – The focus of most MMA highlight videos on the internet

rec’d

really shocked Sakuraba’s name comes up so much — he has not had a great decade.

The top 30 of the decade below

http://mmaplanet.wordpress.com/2009/12/15/to-30-fighters-of-the-decade/

I think the discussion has to center around Chuck, Fedor, Hughes, Big Nog, Cro Cop, and Penn and even Anderson.

After that guys like GSP, Lesnar, Couture, Mir, Arlovski, Wandy, Machida who deserve a mention.

I think commercial impact should be considered but not too much. That would by why I would pick Chuck over Fedor. However Bob Sapp would not even make the top 50 list.

I am well aware of Fedor’s success in PRIDE. I think he is the best, but he does not have the commercial appeal yet that Chuck had. Chuck was the face of MMA. He was not the best MMA fighter, but he was the most known MMA fighter and he was pretty darn good.

Fedor has not consistently fought the best and to me it hurts Fedor’s stock as the best of the decade. He was fighting some good guys in PRIDE like Big Nog and Cro Cop, but he also was fighting the Randleman’’s, Fujitia’s, Hong Man Choi’s and Lindlands of the world

I really think a case could be made for Hughes. If it were not for the Hallman loss this decade Hughes would be the guy. He was champ for a good portion of the decade. He beat Royce Gracie, Mach Sakurai, Carlos Newton, GSP, BJ Penn, Matt Serra, and Frank Trigg.

With my list I tried to do my best to weigh in-ring accomplishments, influence, and drawing power to determine who the most influential fighters were.

I have another list with Bonnar-Griffin as the fight of the decade. I think that is enough. While the fight was important in kicking things off, the fact remains that neither became a huge drawing card for the UFC. Griffin was in the middle of the pack, but his last show demonstrates that four years after TUF he is not a great box office success. I think that indicates his importance is limited-very important but not top 10 worldwide.

Wanderlei was very close to making it. He was a big star and he wrecked a lot of middling competition. But when it comes down to it he lost to Tito and he lost Chuck. These were his competitors on the list and he drew less money and lost head to head.

Kimbo and Bob Sapp were both culturally transcendent figures in America and Japan respectively. They attracted an audience and people identify them with their sport. How can they not be on? They’re overall impact on ratings and box office overcomes their complete lack of fighting prowess. Brock Lesnar is Kimbo/Sapp with talent and a world title.

Others are the opposite. Fedor and BJ Penn were not great draws, but they were as good as it gets in the cage/ring. They make up their points with greatness. Matt Hughes met in the middle (great fighter, good draw).

Chuck was the whole package.

I love Sakuraba. I just think his one year wasn’t enough for the top 10. Even in that year, his fights were still struggling to match Takada’s numbers. So he didn’t make it. He is one of those strange cases where his career bridges the gap between two decades. Enough is on either side that he might not make the list for either….

Cro Cop, Couture, Nogueira, Wanderlei…hard to leave off. Had they been on, we’d be arguing why one of the other guys didn’t make it!

1. Fedor
2. Liddell
3. Wanderlei Silva
4. Hughes
5. Nogueira
6. Filipovic
6. Anderson Silva
8. Sakuraba
9. St. Pierre
10. Penn

Hey Leland,

did you delete a large portion of the comments?

Never mind, I just realized….History is written by the winners.

Lesnar’s way too high on Snowden’s list. The fact that he arrived to the sport so late in the decade seriously distorts the his significance. He may yet earn that spot but – as phenomenal as his rise to the top has been – he’s not that good. Yet.

Im not one to usually hate on some ones opinion, but this is a horrible top 10. Nuff said

My two cents:

1. Chuck Liddell
2. Tito Ortiz
3. Bob Sapp
4. Wanderlei Silva
5. Brock Lesnar
6. Forrest/Bonner
7. Fedor Emelianenko
8. Randy Couture
9. Georges St. Pierre
10. B.J. Penn