The Definitive: Top 5 Heavyweights of All-Time.

[Reffson]

I have a hard time figuring out how either one of them would do it

All in their primes I don't consider Dos Santos to be at their level. He's bigger and very strong, but lacked Cop's precision and Fedor's all-around skills.

 

[JustBleed69]

Criteria:

• Number of top ten opponents at Heavyweight.
• Time spent ranked as a top five fighter in the Heavyweight Division
• Only listing #1-10 Heavyweight ranked opponents in candidates' resumes.

Honorable Mention - Cain Velasquez

Velasquez' resume:

#3 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
#1 Brock Lesnar
#9 Antonio Silva
#1 Junior dos Santos
#3 Antonio Silva
#2 Junior dos Santos
#8 Travis Browne

Velasquez defeated seven, top ten opponents.
Velasquez was ranked in the top five from 1/1/10 to 1/1/15 and 7/1/15 to 10/1/17 for a combined total of 7 years and 3 months.

The overly redundant resume and the fact that a large portion of the time that Velasquez was ranked in the top five he was inactive due to injury, is why he gets only an honorable mention.

#5 - Fabricio Werdum

Werdum's resume:

#4 Gabriel Gonzaga
#1 Fedor Emelianenko
#5 Travis Browne
#5 Mark Hunt
#1 Cain Velasquez
#8 Travis Browne

Werdum defeated six, top ten opponents.
Werdum was ranked in the top five from 4/1/08 to 10/1/08, 7/1/10 to 10/1/11, 4/1/12 to 1/1/13, 7/1/13 to 4/1/18 for a combined total of 7 years and 3 months.

#4 - Stipe Miocic

Miocic's resume:

#5 Mark Hunt
#3 Andrei Arlovski
#1 Fabricio Werdum
#3 Alistair Overeem
#5 Junior dos Santos
#2 Francis Ngannou
#1 Daniel Cormier

Miocic defeated seven, top ten opponents.
Miocic was ranked in the top five from 4/1/14 to 7/1/14 and 4/1/15 to Today for a combined total of 4 years and 11 months.

#3 - Junior dos Santos

dos Santos' resume:

#4 Fabricio Werdum
#9 Mirko Filipovic
#6 Shane Carwin
#1 Cain Velasquez
#4 Frank Mir
#9 Mark Hunt
#6 Ben Rothwell
#4 Derrick Lewis

dos Santos defeated eight, top ten opponents.
dos Santos was ranked in the top five from 10/1/09 to 4/1/10, 10/1/10 to 1/1/16, 7/1/16 to 1/1/18, and 4/1/19 to Today for a combined total of 7 years and 11 months.

#2 - Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

Nogueira's resume:

#5 Valentijn Overeem
#5 Gary Goodridge
#3 Mark Coleman
#6 Ricco Rodriguez
#5 Mirko Filipovic
#10 Heath Herring
#9 Fabricio Werdum
#3 Josh Barnett
#9 Tim Sylvia
#5 Randy Couture

Nogueira defeated ten, top ten opponents.
Nogueira was ranked in the top five from 4/1/01 to 1/1/10 for a combined total of 8 years and 9 months.

#1 - Fedor Emelianenko

Emelianenko's resume:

#8 Renato Sobral
#6 Semmy Schilt
#1 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
#9 Gary Goodridge
#9 Mark Coleman
#7 Kevin Randleman
#2 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
#4 Mirko Filipovic
#4 Mark Coleman
#7 Mark Hunt
#8 Tim Sylvia
#6 Andrei Arlovski
#8 Brett Rogers

Emelianenko defeated thirteen, top ten opponents.
Emelianenko was ranked in the top five from 4/1/02 to 1/1/11 for a combined total of 8 years and 9 months.

For those who will undoubtedly ask about Daniel Cormier:

Spoiler

Cormier's resume:

#6 Antonio Silva
#8 Josh Barnett
#7 Frank Mir
#1 Stipe Miocic
#5 Derrick Lewis

Cormier defeated five, top ten opponents.
Cormier was ranked in the top five from 7/1/12 to 1/1/14 and 10/1/18 to Today for a combined total of 2 years and 8 months.

Cormier has the least amount of top ten wins and the shortest amount of time spent in the top five rankings out of everyone in this list (including Velasquez).

Naw.

 

[3knucklelanding]

Not a bad thread, FEDOR EMELIANENKO is STILL GOAT...LONG LIVE THE EMPORER!!!!!!

You can't even spell emperor lol

 

[RockyLockridge]

Good list.

 

[Final Say]

All in their primes I don't consider Dos Santos to be at their level. He's bigger and very strong, but lacked Cop's precision and Fedor's all-around skills.

Fedor couldn’t strike with him, would have trouble getting him down

Cro cop v JDS would be a good fight but junior would have the size and boxing advantage and would likely catch him imo

 

[faustian]

Fedor couldn’t strike with him, would have trouble getting him down

Cro cop v JDS would be a good fight but junior would have the size and boxing advantage and would likely catch him imo

Let’s not pretend you don’t have an obvious agenda here

I think JDS is a bad matchup for Nog but Fedor would’ve been a great fight. Fedor’s overall dynamic skillset, explosiveness and speed would be an extremely difficult package for JDS to deal with

 

[Final Say]

Let’s not pretend you don’t have an obvious agenda here

I think JDS is a bad matchup for Nog but Fedor would’ve been a great fight. Fedor’s overall dynamic skillset, explosiveness and speed would be an extremely difficult package for JDS to deal with

The striking exchanges would be really fun but junior has decent basic boxing technique and is the taller longer guy. He’s trouble for fedor imo

 

[Joshuagilbert91]

Interesting take.
I'd personnaly go with:
1- Fedor
2- Stipe
3- Cormier
4/5 (tie) Cain and JDS

this dude has the right idea.... 2/3 rankings will depend on their trilogy fight.

I would say...
1- Fedor
2/3- Stipe/Cormier
4/5- Cain/JDS

Fedor is the only non-disputable HW GOAT.

 

[faustian]

The striking exchanges would be really fun but junior has decent basic boxing technique and is the taller longer guy. He’s trouble for fedor imo

Their reach is essentially even and JDS wilted under Cain's pressure because if you bring the heat to him he can get stuck in a sort of plodding mode where he doesn't have good lateral movement. I think Fedor's patented bursts of striking to clinch/throw transitions would've been hard for JDS to deal with. Simply backing up like he did vs Cain would not be a good gameplan. Prime Cain's pressure was something else but Fedor wasn't exactly a slouch there either, in fact I'd argue Fedor was much more explosive than Cain and could close the distance far better

JDS would basically have to ko Fedor to win, which could always happen but it's something prime Mirko wasn't able to do even tho Fedor spent the first half of the fight pressuring Mirko on the feet. Hell Fedor went right at Mark Hunt on the feet and wasn't even touched. Prime Fedor was a very difficult guy for HWs to land clean on (the Fujita outlier notwithstanding). His reflexes were insane

 

[Final Say]

Their reach is essentially even and JDS wilted under Cain's pressure because if you bring the heat to him he can get stuck in a sort of plodding mode where he doesn't have good lateral movement. I think Fedor's patented bursts of striking to clinch/throw transitions would've been hard for JDS to deal with. Simply backing up like he did vs Cain would not be a good gameplan. Prime Cain's pressure was something else but Fedor wasn't exactly a slouch there either, in fact I'd argue Fedor was much more explosive than Cain and could close the distance far better

JDS would basically have to ko Fedor to win, which could always happen but it's something prime Mirko wasn't able to do even tho Fedor spent the first half of the fight pressuring Mirko on the feet. Hell Fedor went right at Mark Hunt on the feet and wasn't even touched. Prime Fedor was a very difficult guy for HWs to land clean on (the Fujita outlier notwithstanding). His reflexes were insane

Junior had really fast combos in his day too, and also whether or not fedor has the fence to work like Cain did would be big in that fight. I’m not even sure Cain beats junior without that cage.

Wouldn’t really call fedor a pressure fighter anyway, he was actually pretty calm with sudden, violent bursts

 

[I'm Shawn Spencer]

1. Fedor
2. Fedor
3. Fedor
4. Fedor
5. not sure. probably Fedor?

 

[faustian]

Junior had really fast combos in his day too, and also whether or not fedor has the fence to work like Cain did would be big in that fight. I’m not even sure Cain beats junior without that cage.

Wouldn’t really call fedor a pressure fighter anyway, he was actually pretty calm with sudden, violent bursts

Dude rewatch Fedor/Mirko and Fedor/Nog 2. You're right that his actions are more explosive bursts than grinding but he will stalk his opponent with forward movement and take them out of their comfort zone. Mirko wasn't given a second to get into his rhythm in that fight

Cain/JDS without the cage would be interesting but I still think Cain has the edge

EDIT: why not, I'll never get sick of watching classic Pride lol

 

[Bouboumaster]

Couldn't disagree more

Assuming we're talking about prime Nog (literally like 3-4 years before he took the UFC strap) the only bad stylistic matchup I see for him there is JDS. I don't see too many paths to victory for Nog there. But other than that; I think Nog handles Stipe and DC more often than not. Probably outpoints them if they manage to keep it standing; Nog never had heavy hands but he did have effective technical boxing and endless cardio with an indestructible chin, plus the constant threat of going to the mat

Cain is interesting because I personally value peak Cain extremely high and think he's up there with Fedor as the most overwhelming fighters ever, but then again I was surprised to see him jump into Doom's guillotine like that and how helpless he was once he got there. I do think Doom is better at finishing subs than Nog but Nog would still present similar issues for Cain that Doom did, i.e. the threat of potentially neutralizing and even exploiting one of Cain's greatest strengths (wrestling). Cain would have to pull of a masterclass in preemptive sub defense ala Fedor/Nog 1 if he wanted to take it to the ground but his best bet would probably be to grind against the cage. I see that matchup pretty even, perhaps 55/45 to Cain if he fights smart

I see where you come from with that, but I'

this dude has the right idea.... 2/3 rankings will depend on their trilogy fight.

I would say...
1- Fedor
2/3- Stipe/Cormier
4/5- Cain/JDS

Fedor is the only non-disputable HW GOAT.

I agree with that!

 

[NoBiasJustMMA]

Nice list but-

How is DC not on here?
Hes beaten a couple of these guys.
Strikeforce Grand Prix winner(that some on list have participated in)
UFC LHW
UFC HW champion.

Hes lost 1 round his entire HW career to a champion hes beaten before. Plus he likely beats everyone on this list now or any points in the career.

He doesn't have enough HW fights to be in the top 5 all time and LHW fights don't matter in regards to his HW all time position.

 

[Vqtanh1403]

Good list

 

[markg171]

It puts you if those people have 10-15 fights in entire career.

Obviously there's a break off point. People will routinely put Frankie for instance as a all-time FW. I'd certainly never put him ahead of Aldo, Conor, Max, Faber, and Brown, but after that who really cares?

Like Chuck Liddell?

Unlike Cro Cop, Chuck actually has had claims to be #1, and at least was #1 in his organization.

 

[L0ki]

Fedor and Egg Nog.

The rest are interchangeable with about 3 to 5 different names.

 

[Tony Robbins’ Trampoline]

View attachment 691331

Oiled up Takada in diapers and samurai headband Beating a drum bigger than himself..

<Oku02>

 

[Mamou]

Obviously there's a break off point. People will routinely put Frankie for instance as a all-time FW. I'd certainly never put him ahead of Aldo, Conor, Max, Faber, and Brown, but after that who really cares?



Unlike Cro Cop, Chuck actually has had claims to be #1, and at least was #1 in his organization.

Chuck was never #1

 

[Ulti1]

1). Stipe(stipe beats prime fedor)
2) DC (I think DC in his prime beats prime fedor
3) fedor
4)werdum
5) uberreem