The History of Consensus #1 HWs -- from Mark Kerr to Fabricio Werdum

[CoffeeAndBeer]

Historic look at every Consensus #1 Heavyweight in the world and their reign.

The write-ups included are from the Rankings Orgs at the time (from that month) the fighter took over the Consensus #1 Ranking.




Mark Kerr -- 0 years, 11 months

HW - 1998 - Dec 5? - Domingo's NHB Rankings
1. Mark Kerr - Mark Kerr is possibly the most destructive force in NHB fighting today. He is/was an Olympic caliber wrestler (he tied with Coleman in '92), plus he has adapted well with various submissions, strikes, and positions from BJJ as well as Muay Thai. Kerr's wins of note came over: Paul Varelans, Maestre Hulk, Fabio Gurgel, Dan Bobish and Duane Cason. Kerr defeated Branko Cikatic via disqualification at Pride-2, "The" Pedro at Pride-3, and Hugo Duarte at Pride-4. Kerr is the most active top tier fighter in the biz right now, and his competition has been good for the most part. The current rumor mill has him facing Vovchanchin at Pride-5.

0 Wins vs Top 10 Ranked Opponents (HW+) in that span




Igor Vovchanchyn -- 0 years, 7 months*

HW - 1999 - OCT/NOV - Black Belt Magazine/Stephen Quadros (published Jan 2000)
1. Igor Vovchanchin (Ukrain) -- He out-gunned former top dog Mark Kerr to achieve a controversial "no contest." he earned a split decision over Carlos Barreto, beat up Akira Shoji and defeated Gary Goodridge with a technical knockout. He owns the best record in the over-200-pounds category and is the winner of five eight-man NHB tournaments. At 5 feet 6 inches and 235 pounds, he is a small guy with a big punch.

1 to 3 Wins vs Top 10 Ranked Opponents (HW+) in that span*

*Igor was intermittently #1 during Coleman's subsequent reign




Mark Coleman -- 1 year, 5 months

HW - 2000 - MAY^ - Sav's NHB-Chris Savarese
1.Mark Coleman: The "Hammer" is back w/ a brand new attitude. The former UFC Champ wins the prestigeous Pride GP 2000 to get back in the top 5. Handled Morais,Shoji and the always tough Igor V. with ease. Has many good wins in his career. Also has beaten Frye and Severn.

1 Win vs Top 10 Ranked Opponents (HW+) in that span




Minotauro Nogueira -- 1 year, 6 months

HW - 2001 - OCT (13?) - MMA Media
1. Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira (137)
[no cool write-up, but here are the...] Voters in this month's poll: Aaron Crecy (USA) Full Contact Fighter, Tom Gerbasi (USA) www.Maxfighting.com, Ryan Graham (USA) Freelance MMA writer, Josh Gross (USA) Full Contact Fighter Magazine, Hidetake "Shimauo" Hirashima (JAPAN) Shooto World Network www.shooto.net/en.htm, Hideto Ida (JAPAN) www.Boutreview.com, Yoshinori Ihara (JAPAN) www.Boutreview.com, Anthony Lynch (USA) www.freestylefights.com, Garrett Poe (USA) www.sherdog.com, Marcel Remkhelawan (Holland) De Aktuel Magazine, Jake Rossen (USA) Freelance MMA Writer, Sean Shelby (USA) www.grapplersworld.com, Jeff Sherwood (USA) www.sherdog.com,Russell Taylor (CANADA) www.fightcenter.com, Jeff Thaler (USA) Freelance MMA writer

3 Win vs Top 10 Ranked Opponents (HW+) in that span




Fedor Emelianenko -- 7 years, 3 months

HW - 2003 - APR - Fighters & Broadcasters Poll
1. Emelianeko Fedor - 108 Points - (11 first place votes) ... Voters include:
Fighters - Josh Barnett, Steve Berger, Chris Brennan,Yves Edwards, Dan Henderson, Matt Lindland, Duane Ludwig, Nathan Marquardt, Pat Miletich, Sean Sherk,Pete Spratt, Evan Tanner, Din Thomas;
Broadcasters - Jeff Osborne (Hook N Shoot and UFC); Ryan Bennett (UFC, IFC and WEC), Monte Cox (Extreme Challenge), J.T. McCarthy (UCC), Joe Ferraro (UCC), Joel Goulet, Jeff Marek - Mojo Radio.

10 Wins vs Top 10 Ranked Opponents (HW+) in that span




Brock Lesnar -- 0 years, 4 months

HW - 2010 - Jul 6 - L.A. Times MMA/Todd Martin
1. Brock Lesnar - It was a chaotic month for heavyweight MMA, highlighted by the surprising submission defeat of the great Fedor Emelianenko and a wild UFC title fight between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin. Lesnar now reigns as the heavyweight division's best. Velasquez and Dos Santos will be the next challengers for the UFC heavyweight title. Werdum skyrockets up the rankings but Fedor may have the chance to redeem himself and avenge that loss.

1 Win vs Top 10 Ranked Opponents (HW+) in that span




Cain Velasquez -- 1 year, 1 month (1st stint)

HW - 2010 - Oct 29 - Bloody Elbow-USAToday Consensus
1. Cain Velasquez - 98 (UFC)
Obviously the epic news this month is the rise of #1 Cain Velasquez after his demolition of #2 Brock Lesnar at UFC 121. He'll defend his title against #5 Junior dos Santos in early 2011.

1 Win vs Top 10 Ranked Opponents (HW+) in that span




Junior Cigano -- 1 year, 1 month

HW - 2011 - Nov 22 - Sherdog
1. JUNIOR DOS SANTOS (14-1) Despite suffering a serious knee injury only 11 days prior, dos Santos did on Nov. 12 what no heavyweight before him could: stop Cain Velasquez. Now perched atop the ranks as the MMA world’s best big man, “Cigano” may undergo surgery before defending his UFC title against the winner of Dec. 30’s Brock Lesnar-Alistair Overeem clash.

2 Wins vs Top 10 Ranked Opponents (HW+) in that span




Cain Velasquez -- 2 years, 6 months (2nd stint; 3 yrs, 7 mos)

HW - 2013 - Jan 15 - ESPN
1. Cain Velasquez - It was a hard paddle back to face JDS, and this time he wasn't going to squander anything. Velasquez looked as good as he ever has. The question now is: Can he be the dominant heavyweight champion that sustains?

3 Wins vs Top 10 Ranked Opponents (HW+) in that span




Fabricio Werdum -- 0 years, 11 months...

HW - 2015 - Jun 16 - MMA Junkie/USAToday
1. Fabricio Werdum - Fabricio Werdum looked downright fantastic in his UFC 188 win over Cain Velasquez. As the man who also beat Fedor Emelianenko, is Werdum the greatest heavyweight of all time?

1 Win vs Top 10 Ranked Opponents (HW+) in that span


Stipe Miocic -- 1 year, 2 months...

HW - 2016 - May 15 - Sherdog
1. Stipe Miocic (15-2) - It has been 52 years since the city of Cleveland had any kind of major sports championship, but in front of 45,000 Brazilian fans in Curitiba, Miocic snapped that streak by taking Fabricio Werdum’s UFC heavyweight championship with a beautiful right hook. The Strong Style Fight Team product is now staring down the barrel of challenges from the likes of Cain Velasquez, Travis Browne and Alistair Overeem in his first potential title defense.

3 Win vs Top 10 Ranked Opponents (HW+) in that span


note: Before Mark Kerr there was no real "consensus" as to who was #1; based on the archived rankings I've gathered.

 

[CoffeeAndBeer]

I would personally add Coleman from 12th of July 1996 to 27th of July 1997 too.

And briefly Couture after beating Smith.

It's not for me or you to "add" names. I didn't choose the fighters on this list. These are the the Consensus-Ranked HWs of their time -- based on the "consensus" of the various Ranking Orgs (if/when there was one) over the years.


Randy Couture was never the Consensus #1 HW. One or two Ranking Orgs had him #1 at one point or another, but there was never a point where there was a Consensus.

 

[ALAN PARTRIDGE]

nice one fella, I remember you did a rules thing for past UFCs

keep up the good work

 

[BisexualMMA]

Wasn't Kimbo ranked #1 in the world briefly?

 

[foard32]

cool list man, thanks

 

[CoffeeAndBeer]

Wasn't Kimbo ranked #1 in the world briefly?

At what?

 

[Paradigm]

nice...more stats are appreciated.

 

[Cid]

How on earth did Kerr get ranked #1?

 

[CoffeeAndBeer]

nice...more stats are appreciated.

See added edits in sherdog-orange^
For a tiny bit more context.

 

[BisexualMMA]

At what?

At teh MMA.

And this sport too.

 

[Kinger85]

incorrect.

Vovchanchyn has held the title since the day he was born and will continue to hold the title until the sun burns out.

 

[CoffeeAndBeer]

How on earth did Kerr get ranked #1?

Undefeated, 11-0.
4-0 in the UFC, two Tournament Championships.
4-0 in PrideFC, win over Top 5-ranked The Pedro.


Don Frye had a loss, semi-retired in 1996/7?
Mark Coleman had two losses.
Pedro Rizzo and Bas Rutten were Ranked #1 but not by Consensus like Mark Kerr.

 

[Sano]

Great work as usual. Thanks CAB(trying out a nickname)!

 

[BisexualMMA]

Undefeated, 11-0.
4-0 in the UFC, two Tournament Championships.
4-0 in PrideFC, win over Top 5-ranked The Pedro.


Don Frye had a loss, semi-retired in 1996/7?
Mark Coleman had two losses.
Pedro Rizzo and Bas Rutten were Ranked #1 but not by Consensus like Mark Kerr.

Perdo Rizzo? Frank Triggs?

We have evidence that Reebok has been involved in MMA for a lot longer than we thought.

 

[CoffeeAndBeer]

nice one fella, I remember you did a rules thing for past UFCs

keep up the good work

I'd like to take credit, but that might not have been me. A breakdown of the rules throughout the history of the sport...? If you find that thread, post a link here.

 

[NHB7]

Fantastic thread. I had thought of making a similar one just recently, so I'm super happy to see that someone else did and did it much better than I would have. I just subscribed.

 

[NHB7]

This Fedor Character seems like he was pretty good huh?

 

[Zefram Cochrane]

good job, thanks

 

[InfinityLens]

Awesome list. Who does everybody think was #1 before Kerr?

I would guess Coleman, and before that some combo of Severn, Frye, and Shamrock.

 

[ThunderL1ps]

Where is Tom Erikson? Nobody wanted to fight him until he got old.

 

[350 lbs fist]

I would personally add Coleman from 12th of July 1996 to 27th of July 1997 too.

And briefly Couture after beating Smith.

 

[cheesus]

Where is Tom Erikson? Nobody wanted to fight him until he got old.

Was he ever ranked 1 ?

 

[electricfuneral]

no Bas??! JK

 

[TrevorRoss]

1993-96 Ken Shamrock.

 

[JacJeanFinger]

Where is Tom Erikson? Nobody wanted to fight him until he got old.

He let Bustamante get away without a scratch whereas Kerr smashed Gurgel to a pulp. From comparison between these 2 American Wrestling vs BJJ showdowns, we could conclude Kerr was the No.1 HW in MMA rather than Erikson in late 90's.

My personal opinion? Erikson.

 

[CoffeeAndBeer]

Awesome list. Who does everybody think was #1 before Kerr?

I would guess Coleman, and before that some combo of Severn, Frye, and Shamrock.

Before Mark Kerr, first off, there weren't many people putting together NHB/MMA Rankings. I looked around "The Wayback Machine" (Internet achieve database) for any and every Ranking from the 1990's. Some seem more credible than others (in retrospect).

Secondly, there simply was no "consensus" of the Ranking Orgs that I compiled. One had one guy #1, another had another guy #1, another did their rankings as a P4P and had a non-HW ranked #1.




P4P - 1997 - Aug 2 - Rohan's Vale Tudo Page
#1 Renzo Gracie 84

HW - 1997 - Nov 24 - Tatame
1

 

[CoffeeAndBeer]

Where is Tom Erikson? Nobody wanted to fight him until he got old.

Earliest mention of Tom Erikson...

HW - 1997 - Nov 24 - Tatame
1