My top 5
As an MMA coach, I am often asked about fights, fighters, hypothetical fights and who are my favourites. For all those that are wondering, this is the list of my top 5 MMA fighters. This does not mean that they are the 5 best of all time. However, an argument could be made for all of them to be near the top of any MMA list.
Fedor Emelianenko
Fedor was the man when I was first getting into MMA. Fedor is not that big for a heavyweight and did not have the traditional look of a fighter. Fedor was a bit lose around the middle, no real muscle in his arms and bald. Looking mostly like a truck driver, he would walk out to the ring like he was going for a picnic. There was no intensity in his walkout, didn’t even look like he was trying to get hyped up. In fact, with the expression on his face, you’d think he’d just gotten out of bed. When the two fighters were at the centre of the ring for the refs talk, he would just look at the floor with no intent behind his eyes. Then he would go back to the corner, still looking half asleep and then the fight would start.
Fedor would look for the opportunity then unleash hell – his punches were not like that of a boxer’s, he looped them ‘like a ball on the end of the chain’. Fedor had great takedowns from the clinch (sambo background) and the most devastating ground and pound the sport had seen. One of the interesting things about Fedor was that he was the underdog in most of his fights until people figured it out. Fedor went to pride from Rings, were you can’t punch to the head and it was open handed strikes.
Fedor’s first fight in pride against the 6ft10 K1 legend Semmy Schilt was meant to be one sided. How could someone who was not used to punches in the head handle a 6ft10 kickboxer? The answer was simple; take him down, control him and get the win via decision. Then Fedor fought Heath Herring and this was another fight that he was meant to lose. Herring was too well rounded and experienced for Fedor… Fedor more or less smashed him inside 2 rounds. Then came his title shot in just his third fight in pride against the undefeated champion, Big Nog. Big Nog went for the clinch at the start of the fight and Fedor threw him halfway across the ring. The look on Big Nog’s face was priceless. Then Fedor went inside one of the most feared guards in MMA history. Instead of the following the usual script, Fedor rained down some of the most destructive ground and pound that you will ever see.
Fedor wasn’t a ‘black belt’ at anything but he was a brown belt at everything. That meant he could stand with the best strikers, wrestle with the best wrestlers and grapple with the best grapplers. Kevin Randleman said “Fedor is the best I have fought, the best I have trained with, the best period.” Fedor is an absolute legend and the only downside was that he fought for too long, but definitely one of my favourite fighters.
Demetrious Johnson
Mighty Mouse is very underrated in his career because he is of small stature. If you take his size out of the equation and look at his skill level then you are looking at one of the most skilled fighters in MMA history. Johnson had the ability to look like he was having fun and it didn’t really matter what the opponent would do, Johnson would win. Johnson could redline it for the entire fight and look fresh after 5 rounds, his speed was other worldly and has an extremely high fight IQ. In one fight Johnson had his opponents back standing up, and then suplexed him (which is normal for a UFC fighter).However, as the opponent was on his way to the mat, Johnson moved into position and transitioned to armbar. Johnson got the submission he “tried it in training” and that move blew my mind.
Combining a belly to back suplex to an armbar is something you would only see in a video game. Johnsons ability to scramble and to get out of what looked like a bad position and change it to a good position was not normal. There were many times he would do something in a transition that I would think, I will try that. But I always found myself a dollar short and a day late. Johnsons ability to read where the fight was going has put him over the edge to become one of the greats of the sport. Then in one of the true screw jobs in UFC history, Johnson lost one fight against Cejudo and the UFC traded him to another organisation. Johnson never got great PPV numbers and was never a household name but that was only because he is a small guy. Pound for pound and skill wise, Johnson is one of the best the sport has seen and is one of my favourite fighters.
Khabib Nurmagomedov
If you have been reading these then you’ll already know that I think Khabib is one of the best. Khabib came into the UFC undefeated and has stayed that way. Everyone knows what he is going to do and to date, no one has found a way to stop him. Khabib takes people down then wraps them up on the ground and destroys them with ground & pound and submissions. Khabib’s striking is not amazing but because of the respect that people have for his takedowns and groundwork, his punches become quite effective. Khabib has very strong beliefs and he will not stray from them; some people will not agree with them and that is fine. Khabib will be happy to not fight in the UFC again if it meant going against his beliefs. What Khabib does in the cage is something that I have not seen before. His ability to control and take the belief away from the best fighters on the planet is just on another level. Khabib may go down as the best ever when his career is over and for that reason (among many others) is why he’s in my top 5.
Kazushi Sakuraba:
Somewhat of an old-school fighter, but this guy changed the sport. At the time Sakuraba was fighting, the famed Gracie family were leading the way. The Gracie family had a bunch of fighters that were terrorizing MMA with their BJJ skill. They were taping people out left right and centre. Then this former professional wrestler (yes, the fake stuff) from Japan steps up to fight. Sakuraba would come out with two other people dressed the same, with face masks, and they would all take turns standing in front of the opponent before the fight. The opponent and the crowd did not know which was one he was until he took his mask off. The crowd loved this and so did I. Sakuraba fought and beat 4 (Ryan, Renzo, Royler, Royce) of the Gracie’s. Not only did he beat them, he broke one arm, made another tap. Then came the crowning glory. Saku fought Royce Gracie (UFC 1 winner) with the rules that the Gracies wanted. No time limit on the rounds – their thinking was they would wear Saku down. They fought and it was the worst finish that the Gracies could imagine. The patriarch of the family,Helio Gracie threw in the towel to finish the fight as Royce was taking a beating. How Sakuraba managed to change the landscape of MMA singlehandedly by beating 4 of the Gracie’s puts him on my list of top fighters.
Georges St-Pierre
The legend that is GSP. He beat everyone he fought. Yes, he had two losses – one to Matt Serra and one to Matt Hughes. When he fought them in the rematch, however,he beat them in a lopsided fashion. There aren’t many fighters that can say that they beat everyone they fought.
His style was ahead of its time. GSP had amazing wrestling and he would use that to control the fight. Amazingly, he never wrestled before MMA- he had learnt it specifically for MMA. Think of that when he would out wrestle the best guy in the UFC. GSP would take good strikers down and control them on the ground, keep wrestlers standing and pick them apart with strikes and would keep top control and do damage to some very good grapplers. Some people thought his fight style was boring but for me, he was doing exactly what he needed to do to beat the person he was up against.
Technically, GSP was great to watch and he made takedowns look so easy with his amazing timing (if you think this is easy, try taking down a wrestler). GSP’s skillset forced his opponents to train every aspect of their MMA when preparing for him. GSP’s ability to figure out what he needed to do to beat the opponent and then execute the plan was amazing. When he fought BJ Penn,one of the most dangerous submission artists in the sport,he noticed that Penn would not get submissions off his back. So, they took him down and kept top position to get two wins against him. Most people avoided the ground against Penn but not GSP – he saw a hole in the game and took advantage.
This is my own personal list of my 5 favourite MMA fighters, because of the way they fought and what they did for the sport. Would love to hear other peoples top list.
Gareth Lewis
Head MMA Instructor