Best MMA Fighter of all time?

[TipTopShape]

I still don't have my own lists but would you consider Randy Couture as number 1? Your thoughts on this.

[BigRed86]

Anderson Silva hands down. went up a class and dominated and still dominates in his class. Nobody can give him a run for his money.

[Troy1982]

Kazushi Sakuraba and Fedor Emelianenko are the two best ever in my opinion with with honorable mention to Royce Gracie.

[Mjolnir]

I would love to see a Fedor vs Anderson fight! That would be epic. randy is great, and hes a legend and all that but hes obviously not the best of all time. Chuck Lidell blew him away twice and now Chuck is getting ktfo'd but thats besides the point. My vote right now would be on Fedor though. Anderson is great right now but besides his KO of Forrest his recent fights were boring and not really that impressive. We will see how this next fight goes. But yeah Fedor definitely, he looks good in every single fight he is in, dominates everyone, and is never in trouble cept for that punch from Fujita which he recovered from and then finished and then that illegal elbow. The only negative for Fedor is he is not fighting the best of the best at this point in his career, although finishing Tim Sylvia, Arlovski, and Rogers is no small feat in itself. He will fight Werdum and win that easy, then hopefully he fights Overeem. Then maybe we will be lucky enough to see him go to the UFC although im not holding my breath for that.

[jgassen15]

We'll find out when the UFC starts doing superfights. From Lightweight up to Middleweight the champions have dominated ruthlessly... only two undecided division are LHW and HW as far as the ufc goes.. both have great champions but both can be beat in their weight class methinks. But I'm not saying the UFC is the only organization that has fighters that could be considered the best ever. Obviously Fedor is in contention, even though he hasn't fought the greatest competition as of late, in the glory days of Pride he had as many battles as any. He's so composed it's scary. I also love how all the Brett Roger's camp siad Roger's sweeped Fedor when Fedor was going for that Kimura... what a joke.

[Rodja]

Easy answer to this:

"The Last Emperor"
Emelianenko, Fedor

[jgassen15]

The Natural is up there, but I wouldn't consider him the best ever, moreso he revolutionized the sport and adapting wrestling to MMA. Plus he took down The Phenom when he was still a powerhouse and looked like he did shrugs 10 hours a day.

[stxnas]

Kazushi Sakuraba and Fedor Emelianenko are the two best ever in my opinion with with honorable mention to Royce Gracie.

I'm a huge Saku fan, but I don't think he's the best ever. He's definitely one of the most entertaining ever though!

Best EVER = Fedor.

[khakiman]

best ever is a tough one as i haven't seen everyone like that kazushi guy, but I will make a list.

Fedor
Gracie
BJ Penn
Randy Couture
George St. Pierre
Matt Hughes
Anderson Silva
Chuck Liddell
Dan Severn
Ken Shamrock
Dan Henderson
Noguiera
Cro Cop


I think Penn, George and Silva will move up on this list. I can also see Shane Carwin, Jon Bones Jones, and Cain Valesquez getting on this list within a couple years. Maybe Kenflo and Dan Hardy if they can beat some of the current list guys.

[Kegger]

Right now I would say Fedor. But best of all time? I would have to say Carlson Gracie and Rickson Gracie. Both fought Vale Tudo in Brazil and each of them racked up between 500-600 fights without losing. While the level of competing today is much higher than it was way back when they were fighting, to be able to win that many fights without a loss is insane.

[Rodja]

Right now I would say Fedor. But best of all time? I would have to say Carlson Gracie and Rickson Gracie. Both fought Vale Tudo in Brazil and each of them racked up between 500-600 fights without losing. While the level of competing today is much higher than it was way back when they were fighting, to be able to win that many fights without a loss is insane.

Rickson's claims are highly disputed by not only skeptics, but by Helio Gracie himself.

[Kegger]

Also, a fighter that no body ever mentions, who is obviously under rated and should be in a top ten best ever list is......Bas "el Guapo" Rutten.

[stxnas]

<---Liver Kick!!!

I was going to suggest him too but I'm not sure what Pancrase is considered (different striking rules). I think I've seen ALL of his fights. He was another very entertaining fighter to watch.

If we're going that route, then Frank Shamrock is not one of the best but he's noteworthy of what he's done for the sport in terms of being one of the first true Mixed Martial Artists. I'm not sure what others will say about that though, lol...

Rutten v F. Shamrock in Pancrase were fun fights (Frank was trying to bait Bas into an illegal strike...and it worked, lol). I think it was one of these fights that took them both to the outside of the ring too!

[Rodja]

Also, a fighter that no body ever mentions, who is obviously under rated and should be in a top ten best ever list is......Bas "el Guapo" Rutten.

For me, it's hard to put him that high because all but 2 of his fights were in Pancrase. That and his "win" vs Randleman is one of the biggest BS decisions I've ever witnessed.

[Kegger]

Rickson's claims are highly disputed by not only skeptics, but by Helio Gracie himself.

Well the disputes have never been proven either I guess. And I have a hard time believing that the very father of the "Gracie family champion" would say that his own son is lying.

I don't doubt for a second that Rickson has had a least a few hundred matches. I have however seen newspaper articles and pictures of Carlson in many fights back in the 50's. He had those around his gym when I trained there a while back.

[stxnas]

There's hear-say that Rickson counted training and sparring sessions as a part of his winnings...not sure where I heard that from though...probably Joe Rogan, lol

[Rodja]

Well the disputes have never been proven either I guess. And I have a hard time believing that the very father of the "Gracie family champion" would say that his own son is lying.

I don't doubt for a second that Rickson has had a least a few hundred matches. I have however seen newspaper articles and pictures of Carlson in many fights back in the 50's. He had those around his gym when I trained there a while back.

"Hélio Gracie disputed Rickson's claim to have had over 400 fights. According to Hélio, Rickson has only competed in fights that are commonly known and reported: the two against Rei Zulu and those that took place in Japan. Hélio alleged that Rickson uses practice and amateur bouts to obtain a number over 400, and that if he counted his fights like Rickson does, he would have in excess of one million."

[stxnas]

That's funny that you mention that. I think Bas Rutten's career pack DVD only shows parts of his 2 UFC parts...

EDIT: We both posted at the same time. I've never seen that vid, so I still don't know where I heard that from...looks like the info was true though.

[Kegger]

So according to Helio, amateur fights and tournaments don't count? Yeah ok.

[stxnas]

Nor do practice/training/sparring sessions...