Top 5 Heavyweights in MMA history

Continuing from last time, we are going to be looking at the 5 greatest heavyweights in MMA history and ranking them to decide who the best really is. At first we were going to look at light heavyweight – but we’re gonna go ahead and skip that division for now because it is so strange and hard to rank. Instead let’s look at the big lads, who is the best of all time?

Number 5: Alistair Overeem

Notable opponents: Fabricio Werdum, Andrei Arlovski, Junior Dos Santos, Stefan Struve, Brock LesnarPerhaps the most well rounded fighter on this list. Overeem was a great kicker, had great submissions, had ever improving boxing, and absolutely terrifying knee strikes. His career is certainly famous for its ups and downs but when met with adversity Overeem would eventually overcome it.

Overeem was never able to capture UFC Gold, but he did succeed in being the only fighter to win the highest prize in kickboxing along with a major MMA title… or at least he was until Cro Cop’s late career resurgence.
Greatest moment:
That knee he landed on poor Kazuyuki Fujita.

Number 4: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

Notable opponents: Dan Henderson, Volk Han, Mark Coleman, Semmy Schilt, Mirko Cro Cop, Heath Herring, Josh BarnettThere was a point in time, pre-Fedor, when Big Nog was considered to be the greatest heavyweight of all time. There was something special about the Nogueira brothers. They were both big guys who had at least the rough gist of how to box (Little Nog was far better) and had incredible grappling skills the likes of which hadn’t been seen at heavyweight.

While he lacked in the wrestling department, he was a real step forward towards the well rounded MMA fighter of today.

Greatest moment:
Winning the Pride Heavyweight Championship

Number 3: Mirko Cro Cop

Notable opponents: Josh Barnett, Kevin Randleman, Mark ColemanIn Pride, Mirko Cro Cop was the weakest of the big three heavyweights. He lost to both Noguiera and Fedor and while he was an exceptional fighter he was never considered the best. Just the scariest. What made him rank higher than Noguiera all time on this list though, is while in their early careers, Cro Cop fell short to Noguiera, Mirko Cro Cop had the greatest late career of any heavyweight fighter.

While Noguiera fell off hard, Cro Cop was able to not only capture the K-1 GP Championship that had always eluded him in his youth, but also had a successful final run in MMA, defeating Satoshi Ishii twice and Gabriel Gonzaga, finishing his career on a ten-fight win streak. Sadly his career had to end after surviving a stroke, which left him unable to fight, although he is still physically active, kickboxing in the gym.

Greatest moment:
Exploding Bob Sapp’s face with a left hand.

Number 2: Stipe Miocic

Notable opponents: Francis Ngannou, Junior Dos Santos, Alistair Overeem, Daniel Cormier, Fabricio WerdumThe greatest UFC heavyweight by virtue of being the only fighter to defend the title more than twice. Stipe Miocic holds victories over multiple heavyweight champions and if only for a moment made the UFC Heavyweight Title feel prestigious, rather than a hot potato. His rivalry with Daniel Cormier was the first true heavyweight rivalry since Velasquez vs JDS and resulted in a fantastic rematch and rubber match for the belt.

Greatest moment:
Defeating Francis Ngannou in an incredible dominant fashion to finally break the heavyweight championship curse. I covered that fight here: https://dieselgym.co.uk/diesel-breakdown-ufc-220-miocic-vs-ngannou/

Number 1: Fedor Emelianenko

Notable opponents: Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera, Mark Coleman, Mirko Cro Cop, Andrei Arlovski, Tim Sylvia, Semmy Schilt, Rampage Jackson, Chael Sonnnen, Frank Mir

His rise to the top came as part of a true underdog story, nobody truly thought that Fedor would beat the great Noguiera, but he did. He won the Pride GP and beat every relevant heavyweight in the division – to say Fedor was simply dominant is an understatement.

With wins over more UFC champions than any other heavyweight, Fedor’s dominance hasn’t been seen before or since. Fedor may also be the only fighter for whom every opponent has a Wikipedia entry.

After a brief stint in strikeforce that went poorly, Fedor continued to fight, retiring on a three fight win streak before a brief retirement. Fedor is currently enjoying a decent late career – while he is no doubt a shadow of his former self, the shadow of The Last Emperor is something to be reckoned with.

Not only the greatest heavyweight, but possible the greatest mixed martial artist of all time.

Greatest moment:
Winning the Pride Grand Prix