The Definitive: Top 5 Heavyweights of All-Time.

[Jackonfire]

I appreciate the thread @acannxr . Good stuff.

 

[Iron Nick]

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).

Really good post man.
Interesting and well researched in regards to content and criteria and visually appealing as well.

 

[blaseblah]

The JDS-Cain trilogy just goes to show how much game planning matters. When Cain tried to kickbox JDS in the first fight he got smoked. Then he developed the perfect game plan to never let JDS get comfortable and set up the overhand right.

 

[Stevanchez]

Pretty hard to believe Tim Sylvia was still ranked #8, considering his next fight after Fedor he got KTFO by a 50 year old ex-boxer lmao.

To be fair, taking a year off to gain 50lbs of depression would have a negative impact on most athletes' career trajectory.

 

[acannxr]

Oh, fightmatrix.

So you, for example, agree with let's say, Mirko being 17th HW of all time?

How is me citing their historical rankings equate to me agreeing with their all-time rankings?

I appreciate the thread @acannxr . Good stuff.

Thanks. And the changes to your AV made me chuckle.

Really good post man.
Interesting and well researched in regards to content and criteria and visually appealing as well.

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it.

To be fair, taking a year off to gain 50lbs of depression would have a negative impact on most athletes' career trajectory.

Sylvia also had the bizarre gameplan of trying to strike with a boxer instead of immediately going for a takedown...

 

[Pakman]

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

lol at any top 5 HW list that doesn't include Big Nog.

what a fuckin noob.

 

[NuMe]

How is me citing their historical rankings equate to me agreeing with their all-time rankings?

Well, you use that rankings to count top 10 wins, but to be honest, they suck. I just posted one example of why they suck, and there are many more.

 

[NuMe]

I do appreciate your work, though, and almost agree with the order.

 

[acannxr]

Well, you use that rankings to count top 10 wins, but to be honest, they suck. I just posted one example of why they suck, and there are many more.

Your example is in reference to their all-time rankings, not their historical rankings.

You tried to suggest that because I used their historical rankings then I must agree with their all-time positioning of Mirko Filipovic; not only is that a leap in logic, but if I had agreed with their all-time rankings then wouldn't my list have been the same as their all-time list?

My top five, all-time Heavyweight list is not the same as their list (ergo, I don't agree with their list).

 

[linvillegorge]

Did he though? Look at them now. Look at them over the last 5 years. Since Cain won the rubber match in 2013, he's gone 1-2 with only 3 fights and now he's a pro wrestler. Meanwhile JDS has gone 5-3 and will be fighting Blaydes next month.

JDS has the better resume. All time rankings can't just factor in head to head matchups.

Cain won head to head but JDS had big wins in the division while cain was out hurt.

JDS: 1-3 in UFC title fights (two of those losses to Cain)
Cain: 3-1 in UFC title fights (two of those wins vs. JDS)

JDS is a great fighter. Cain was just greater and I say this as a guy who rooted hard for JDS three times vs. Cain.

 

[IIIIIIII]

I just don't see how anyone can vote against Fedor at #1. The thing to consider and I feel gets overlooked the most is the division. The heavyweight division has always been consistently inconsistent, look at almost any great heavyweight fighter and you will see scattered loses, mostly upsets. So when you consider that Fedor was basically undefeated for 30 plus fights and 10 plus years in the hardest division to be consistent in, he wins by a landslide.

Absolutely. Good post.

 

[Franklin U.]

Totally subjective. I have no problems unless someone comes in with an " unreasonable " selection like Brock Lesnar or a joke/troll stab like that.

 

[cheesus]

Pretty solid list, I think outside of Fedor, Nog & Stipe the rest is kind of muddy. Werdum, Cro Cop, Cain and JDS all make a good case for jostling positions.

 

[winkydinks]

In no particular order
-Schaub
-Duffee
-Bigfoot
-Hardy
-Butterbean

 

[CodeBreaker]

Jones would beat them all tho

 

[I'm Shawn Spencer]

The problem with this way of ranking is

1. it doesn’t matter how you got a win as long as you got it. So a split decision is the same as a convincing KO

2. There’s no context. Context is really important. For example, a win over a #3 ranked Conor McGregor in January will not be nearly as impressive as the khabib win even though he’s only 2 ranks lower the reality is that until we see him fight in January we have no idea how good he is. So he could be a rank 3 type of guy. Or 1. Or 12. We don’t know. But that kind of context is missing from the considerations.

3. it’s not accounting for losses. So your only looking at who they beat and how high they were ranked, not consecutive wins, or win/loss ratios etc.


Though I will say the thread is beautiful and well put together

I agree and I was about to say something similar.

But the bottom line is still the same, even with that added criteria......Fedor.

 

[TR1]

Stipe's resume literally full of old dudes who were top 10 like a decade before he beat them lol.

 

[TR1]

Jones would beat them all tho

Is that why he hides at LHW and fights blown up MWs?

 

[blaseblah]

JDS: 1-3 in UFC title fights (two of those losses to Cain)
Cain: 3-1 in UFC title fights (two of those wins vs. JDS)

JDS is a great fighter. Cain was just greater and I say this as a guy who rooted hard for JDS three times vs. Cain.

JDS is 2-3 and Cain is 3-2

 

[Mike]

JDS: 1-3 in UFC title fights (two of those losses to Cain)
Cain: 3-1 in UFC title fights (two of those wins vs. JDS)

JDS is a great fighter. Cain was just greater and I say this as a guy who rooted hard for JDS three times vs. Cain.

Title fights aren't the only consideration. There's also how each fighter did vs the rest of the field. JDS has a much deeper resume over the same period of time. Even now that cain is completely done jds is still fighting and getting decent wins.