Top Fighters of the Decade Voting
This is something I've seen done on several Pro-Wrestling websites, and I've looked around for this on a MMA site for a while now. I can't find any, as we MMA fans seem content to post our top ten lists on forums, and let website opinion piece writers form the opinions for us.
So, without further ado, I'd like to introduce the MMA Top 100 of 2000-2009.
What this will try to do, is get a consensus Top 100 MMA fighters from the fans.
How this works is that everyone that wishes to participate will post at least their Top 5 fighters of the decade, in order from 1-5. Preferably, I'd ask for Top 10, but not everyone has that interest.
A #1 spot vote for a fighter is worth 10 points.
#2 is worth 9.
#3 is worth 8.
#4-6 is worth 7.
#7-9 is worth 5.
#10 is worth 3.
Any spot following #10 are worth 1 point per vote.
If you want to include more than just 10 fighters, feel free, just be sure to number the fighters, or they'll be counted in the order that they were placed.
An example of how to do this is:
1.) Ikuhisa Minowa
2.) Hong Man Choi
3.) Jose Canseco
4.) Bob Sapp
5.) Jan Nortje
6.) Giant Silva
7.) Akibono
8.) Bum Chan Kang
9.) Henry Armstrong Miller
10.) Zuluzinho
You get the jist of it.
(The list is terrible on purpose to keep focus on what this is.)
Voting will be open until 01/23/2009, no vote will be counted after that. Events that occurred after 12/31/2009 will be carried over into the next decade.
Results will be posted 02/01/2010.
And if this goes well, I'll do this at the end of every year .. except, just for the year.
The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.
36 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
I'm probably forgetting people, and i'm to lazy to think of 10, so here are my 5!
1) Wanderlei Silva
2) Chuck Liddell
3) Randy Couture
4) Baby Jay Penn
5) Tito Ortiz
Kimboplex
Not going to vote on this, only paying attention since 2007.
Keep firing Assholes!
It’s as if you fell down a flight of stairs, then logged onto the internet.
by Ubernoober on Jan 3, 2010 8:48 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
Same here
but I figure i’ve watched enough MMA that I can make a judgement call.
Supporting all Las Vegas MMA. Xtreme Couture FTMFW.
'09 is the year of the FW's.
by ElliotMatheny on Jan 4, 2010 5:19 AM EST up reply actions
1. Matt Hughes
2. Rampage Jackson
3. Randy Couture
3. Dan Henderson
4. Forrest Griffin
5. Rich Franklin
6. Clay Guida
7. Wanderlei Silva
8. Jon Jones
9. Josh Koscheck
10. Urijah Faber
1) Wanderlei Silva
2) Chuck Liddell
3) Randy Couture
4) Matt Hughes
5) Baby Jay Penn
6) Georges St Pierre
7) Forrest Griffin
8) Tito Ortiz
9) Mirko Cro cop
10) Kimbo Slice (JK)
Kimboplex
Fail
for not having Fedor, but having Cro Cop & Forrest on the list.
Supporting all Las Vegas MMA. Xtreme Couture FTMFW.
'09 is the year of the FW's.
by ElliotMatheny on Jan 4, 2010 12:36 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
His list, his opinion.
If everyones lists were the same, this would be a boring website.
I understand it's his opinion,
who the fuck else’s opinion would it be?
It’s my opinion that his list blows, and I can make the case that this would also be a boring website if nobody argued with eachother and had meaningful debates.
Anyone who doesn’t have Fedor on that list either shouldn’t be considered a knowledgable MMA fan, or just committed a huge oversight
Supporting all Las Vegas MMA. Xtreme Couture FTMFW.
'09 is the year of the FW's.
by ElliotMatheny on Jan 9, 2010 2:39 AM EST up reply actions
1. Chuck Liddell
2. Tito Ortiz
3. Randy Couture
4. Fedor Emelianenko
5. Matt Hughes
6.Forrest Griffin
7. Wanderlei Silva
8. Dan Henderson
9. Kazushi Sakuraba
10. BJ Penn
There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.
Ahh, I thought it had popularity as a component.
In that case, I revise my list to the following:
1. Chuck Liddell
2. Randy Couture
3. Fedor Emelianenko
4. Matt Hughes
5. Tito Ortiz
6. Wanderlei Silva
7. Dan Henderson
8. Kaszushi Sakuraba
9. GSP
10. BJ Penn
There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.
IMO
1- Fedor
2- GSP
3- Anderson
4- Hughes
5- Chuck
6- Nog
7- BJ
8- Gomi
9- Lyoto
10- Shogun
Fedor @ 1 because of the epic HW run of dominance & consistency. GSP for dominating the other top WW (Hughes), and for clearing out an extremely challenging division (despite 2 big hiccups). Anderson for the same reason, past inconsistency disqualifies him from the #1 spot held by the unflappable Emelianenko, in spit of unprecedented divisional mastery. Nog for being the perennial #2 at HW, and for big wins over pretty much every other HW contender not named Fedor or Frank Mir.
Chuck for his epic string of KO’s, and especially his win over Wanderlei- the other LHW frontrunner. BJ for consistently being the best @ LW, despite his less than stellar record at anything heavier. Gomi for being the clear #2 to Penn’s LW kingship. Lyoto for his (slightly disputable) undefeated record, and quality list of opponents leading up to then. And finally, Shogun for his epic PRIDE GP run over phenomenal LHW comp, and the way he brought the perceived invincibility of Machida crashing down to Earth.
Supporting all Las Vegas MMA. Xtreme Couture FTMFW.
'09 is the year of the FW's.
I already made the definitive list
But here it is again:
Top Ten Fighters of the Aughts
1. Fedor Emelianenko – you don’t go 31-1 and reign as the number #1 HW for over 6 years and not get the number one spot.
2. BJ Penn – Not only has he been great, but he’s been great the whole decade.
3. Anderson Silva – Since 2006 he has been arguabily the best fighter in mma.
4. Matt Hughes – was the dominate welterweight for half a decade.
5. Chuck Liddell – best fighter in the best divsion for five years.
6. Wanderlie Silva – 16 straight wins and two public executions of Rampage gets you on the list.
7. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira – simply the second best heavyweight for decade who beat everyone not named Fedor during his prime.
8. Georges St. Pierre – would be higher if he didn’t start his run of dominance in the second half of the decade. If it was the best of half a decade, he might be number 1.
9. Randy Couture – he might not have the best record, or be the best fighter, but he spent the decade fighting the best, and winning a good chunk of the time.
10. Dan Henderson – “Hendo” goes from honorable mention to number 10 because: he consistently fought better opponents and more often than Tito; never had his career sidelined by injuries (Shogun); he has not experienced a major down turn in abilities (Cro Cop and Gomi); and, unlike Lyoto, has been on in major promotions throughout the decade.
Honorable Mention: Lyoto Machida, Mirko Cro Cop, Tito Ortiz, Takanori Gomi, and Mauricio Rua,
by John Nash on Jan 4, 2010 2:12 AM EST via mobile reply actions 2 recs
Best List So Far
There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.
A couple notes on my list:
1)My list is based on the totality of the decade. So a fighter like Sakaruba who was so influential in the earlier part of the decade or Urijah Faber in the later half are knocked off because they haven’t had the high-level career longevity these other fighters have had.
2)BJ Penn is rated number two for not only being a great fighter, but for basically competing at the top of LW and his unnatural weight of 170 for the whole decade. He is also not being punished for those loses that came at 170, especially since they were to elite fighters. Even his lone 155 loss was to Jens Pulver who was the number one ranked fighter at that weight at that time.
3) All my rankings are purely based on ring, cage, or octagon accomplishments during the last decade. If one is looking for a list of the top fighters by impact inside and outside the ring during the decade, here it is, albeit one that is skewed towards the North American mma scene:
1.Tito Ortiz – probably responsible for more people tuning in to watch UFC events in the first 5 years of the decade than all other fighters combined.
2.Brock Lesnar – the biggest North American star the sport has seen. He hasn’t done much yet, except draw the biggest ppvs ever. Remember the UFC’s ppv sales were down 6% from the year before in 2007. In 2008 he started fighting for Zuffa and since then the record books have been smashed. I don’t think that is a coincidence.
3.Chuck Liddell – the face of the UFC for the better part of the decade. Helped lead the UFC from $40 million in debt to Fertillas private ATM.
4.Kimbo Slice – not much of a fighter, but more people know who he is and want to watch him "fight" than anybody else on this list.
5.Bob Sapp – if you question why he is on this list, you are just unaware of how massive of star he was in Japan. if this wasn’t such an American-centric list he would easily be number one.
6. Sakaruba – Number two in Japan gets you on the list. Would be higher except, again, I focused on the North America impact more.
7. Randy Couture – Captain America. Captivated crowds with his comeback from retirement three times, capturing a LHW title and the HW crown in a major, career defining performance. And all he really had to do to make the list was Spank Tito.
8. Gina Carano – not only one of the biggest mma stories of the last few years but she also single-handedly launched a division – womens’ mma.
9. Fedor Emelianenko – hasn’t proven to be a draw American audiences, yet, but name another fighter more people have spent time arguing over his rankings, discussing what promotion he will be fighting for next, and whom whole promotions have been built (and fallen) around his talent. He single handedly keeps several mma blogs alive with passioned pro and con Fedor camps. And we didn’t even get into the impact he had on Japan’s NYE battles.
10. Ken Shamrock – nudges barely past Forest Griffin. Forest was involved in the most important fight in North American mma history, but people forget that a lot those people were tuning into watch Ken either kick ass or get his ass kicked. Hell, he was 1-5 in the UFC this decade and still was involved in, at that time, the highest rated mma bout in tv history and the biggest selling ppv event.
Might not have thought this out well enough, but it works for me for now.
- Fedor
- Wanderlei Silva
- Anderson Silva
- Matt Hughes
- Chuck Liddell
- GSP
- BJ Penn
- Handy Couture
- Big Nog
- Dan Henderson (for running the most ungodly gauntlet of competition in a still successful MMA career)
- Cro-Cop
- Kid Yamamoto
- Miguel Torres
- Urijah Faber
- Rich Franklin
"Someone is WRONG on the internet. What do you want me to do? LEAVE? Then they'll keep being wrong!"
-Randall Munroe
1. Fedor
2. Wanderlei Silva
3. Chuck Liddell
4. Matt Hughes
5. Sakuraba
6. CroCop
7. GSP
8. BJ Penn
9. Anderson Silva
10. BIg Nog
Had trouble Leaving Randy off, but couldn’t put him over anyone on my list.
by Nick Travaglini on Jan 4, 2010 10:57 AM EST reply actions
I’ll just make a note to give him an extra point then.
by BlizzardVeers on Jan 4, 2010 4:45 PM EST up reply actions
1. Fedor
2. Wanderlei Silva
3. Anderson Silva
4. Matt Hughes (barely ahead of GSP)
5. GSP
6. Big Nog
7. Chuck Liddel
8. BJ Penn
9. Shogun
10. Dan Henderson
11. Rampage Jackson
12. Cro Cop
13. Randy Couture
14. Sakuraba
15. Tito Ortiz
16. Lyoto Machida
17. Kid Yammamoto
18. Miguel Torres
19. Forrest Griffin
20. Urijah Faber
We're just a million little gods causin' rain storms, turning every good thing to rust.
1 Fedor
2 Gomi
3 WANDERLEI SILVA
4 SHOGUN
5 Tito Ortiz
6 Chuck Liddel
7 GSP
8 Big Nog
9 Anderson Silva
10 Minowaman
11 Joe Son
god bless Joe Son. that literally made my night.
Gatti. Dekkers. Pele. Aoki. Kang. Vanderlei. Basillio. Harry Greb.
by theworldsoldestsport on Jan 5, 2010 12:00 AM EST up reply actions
1.) Fedor
2.) Randy Couture – diff weight class XShips
3.) Mark Coleman (Grand Prix performance)
4.) CroCop (epic mma fight with CroCop….that ish was HUGE)
5.) BJ Penn – for being the prodigy/buzzsaw that he is
6.) Chuck Liddell – title and the espn cover
7.) GSP –
8.) Tito Ortiz (for bringing the sport to it’s highest PPV at that time with KSham)
9.) Travis Fulton – can’t hate on a guy that’s fought that many times
10. Anderson Silva
i sherdogg’d tito just to see who was doing what in 2000….Tito was fighting V. Silva and Y. Kondo…wow that takes me back.
Gatti. Dekkers. Pele. Aoki. Kang. Vanderlei. Basillio. Harry Greb.
by theworldsoldestsport on Jan 5, 2010 12:05 AM EST reply actions
Completely based on Fighting and no entangibles
1.Fedor
2. GSP
3. Hughes
4.Anderson
5. Chuck
6.Big Nog
7.Hendo
8. Wand
9.Gomi
10.Randy
Why is Sakuraba ranked in so many peoples top 10s? I’m not a big pride follower, but from what I can see his best wins of the 2000s were Royce and renzo gracie and rampage. Is it because of his wins over the gracie’s bjj at the time?
by MikeD32 on Jan 5, 2010 4:03 AM EST via mobile reply actions

by 












