Alright folks, I don't feel like working (I scrub toilets at the local KFC) and with DC's win igniting a new debate about P4P, I thought it was time to re-assess an important point of debate in MMA history - the GOATS of the sport that never held a major strap.
There is some important caveats in my list that effects potential entrants - I am including the early UFC tournaments (but not the latter 4-man tournaments), early Pancrase tournaments, early RINGS tournaments and Pride Grand Prixes as 'majors', as the first was for all intents and purposes how the UFC 'champ' was decided (which means no Royce on this list) and the latter three were such a big deals that I think they more than qualify as 'majors' (meaning no Cro Cop on this list). I am including interim UFC titles, and there are some fighters that you might think I might have missed (Ricardo Arona for example) who did win a belt in one of the orgs mentioned though. And I simply don't consider orgs like Hero's, Jungle Fights, WSOF, One FC, M1 Global, Elite XC, KSW, Cage Rage, KOTC, Rumble on the Rock or Rizin to be major organisations, despite having some notable fighters, as the rosters are/were too thin, were too fleetingly relevant, or were essentially regional promotions.
1. Kazushi Sakuraba
This one should go without saying. An early legend of the sport, first guy to (properly) defeat Royce who was the lineal UFC 'champ' so to speak in a 90-minute fight and then went the (regular) distance with a HW legend on the same night. A guy who could've fought at 170 but beat former and future UFC HW and LHW champs (Randleman, Rampage, Shamrock).
2. Yoel Romero
This will be the most controversial pick, but only because people won't think objectively. Romero is quite possibly the greatest athlete to ever take MMA seriously (so we are not talking Herschel Walker), a former World Champ and silver medalist wrestler who has a winning record against Cael Sanderson. In MMA he has destroyed 2 former prime, young MW champions, destroyed an aging but not quite off the cliff yet former LHW champ, beaten a former Strikeforce champ and was only .2 of a pound and a single judge away from not making this list in his last fight, where, regardless of how you scored it under the 10-9 system (I had it a draw) he again beat the shit out of a prime, young MW champion and easily won under Pride scoring. A true monster and it's scary to think what he would've achieved had he started MMA as a young man.
3. Jeremy Horn
When he stepped in for his 2nd UFC title shot vs Chuck Liddell, he had a ridiculous MMA record of 76-13-5 and had never been KOd or TKOd. Has fought and beaten some of the sport's ATGs and while a guy like Fulton have him beat for overall fights, when you consider the level of consistent comp, there simply has never been an iron man like Horn.
4. Demian Maia
A guy who earned title shots in two different divisions, who has the equal 2nd most bouts and 4th most wins in UFC history and has only been stopped once. One of the best grapplers to ever compete. Despite age and miles, continues to be competitive against even a new generation of monsters (he may have lost vs Usman and Colby, but he took the first round vs both of them and went the distance).
5. Pedro Rizzo
People might look at the losses later in his career but the fact is that he shouldn't even be on here as he should've got the nod in his first fight with Couture. Has beaten 5 UFC HW champions, and Couture would've made it 6. That's too good a record to ignore.
6. Donald Cerrone
You can cut and paste half of what I typed for Maia here. One of the most durable fighters ever with multiple former/future champs in his win column.
7. Lil' Nog
Fell victim to North American wrestlers in the cage later in his career but was one of the best in Pride. 4 consecutive fights in 2004 show how good he was in his prime, beating Reem twice and stopping him once, stopping Hendo, and having one of the best fights ever vs a prime Shogun that a lot of people thought he won.
8. Norifumi 'Kid' Yamamoto
Fell away quickly later in his career but was an absolute beast in his prime. Won a Hero's Grand Prix beating Royler Gracie, Genki Sudo and Caol Uno, also has Bibiano Fernades and Jeff Curran on his record.
9. Jon Fitch
Only lost to the very best and continues to beat the rest even to this day. A consistent top-level fighter.
10. Alexander Gustafsson/Rumble Johnson/Nate Diaz tied.
Can't split these 3. Gus' win column won't measure up to a lot of the other guys on this list. But simply, the current debate is where Jones and DC sit in the top 5 P4P list and there is only one man in MMA history that can therefore claim to have taken two top 5 all time P4P fighters to hell and back. Jones has no (real) losses and DC has only lost to Jones, but both were nearly beaten by Gus. That makes Gus a historically significant fighter.
Rumble has big wins over Gus, Phil Davis and Arlovksi, and earned two title shots vs DC. One of MMA's greatest monsters.
Diaz has too many losses in his prime to be considered alongside the top guys on this list but also too many top-level victories to be ignored as well.
Fighters that others may consider but miss out:
Kenflo
Is touted because he had multiple title shots in two divisions but he didn't really 'earn' his shot vs Aldo (unless you count Diego Nunes as a historically significant win). Beat several good fighters at the time like Guida, Stevenson and Lauzon, but only beat one former/future champ in Gomi and that doesn't hold up to historical scrutiny as Gomi was shot by the time he got to the UFC and would ultimately go 4-10. Mainly lost to the truly elite fighters he fought.
Igor
A legend, but despite his incredibly impressive-looking early record, Mark Kerr aside, he was mostly crushing cans and MWs. Started racking up losses when he fought elite comp.
Chael Sonnen
Is only even eligible by technicality as his win over Filho for WEC championship was because Filho missed weight. Has some fantastic wins but simply far, far too many losses as well and currently sits as a .500 fighter.
Sergei Kharitonov
Has some good wins for sure, but never really put himself at the very top for an extended period of time.
Josh Koscheck
Has some great wins but too many losses and only has one former champ on his list, and that was a shot Hughes in his last fight.
Joseph Benavidez
Probably should make the list, but he is so small that I've barely ever seen him fight.
Jose Pele Landi-Jons
A tough one. Beat Miletich and and Matt Hughes and even dropped Chuck Liddell twice despite being way smaller. But still didn't do quite enough overall for me.
There is some important caveats in my list that effects potential entrants - I am including the early UFC tournaments (but not the latter 4-man tournaments), early Pancrase tournaments, early RINGS tournaments and Pride Grand Prixes as 'majors', as the first was for all intents and purposes how the UFC 'champ' was decided (which means no Royce on this list) and the latter three were such a big deals that I think they more than qualify as 'majors' (meaning no Cro Cop on this list). I am including interim UFC titles, and there are some fighters that you might think I might have missed (Ricardo Arona for example) who did win a belt in one of the orgs mentioned though. And I simply don't consider orgs like Hero's, Jungle Fights, WSOF, One FC, M1 Global, Elite XC, KSW, Cage Rage, KOTC, Rumble on the Rock or Rizin to be major organisations, despite having some notable fighters, as the rosters are/were too thin, were too fleetingly relevant, or were essentially regional promotions.
1. Kazushi Sakuraba
This one should go without saying. An early legend of the sport, first guy to (properly) defeat Royce who was the lineal UFC 'champ' so to speak in a 90-minute fight and then went the (regular) distance with a HW legend on the same night. A guy who could've fought at 170 but beat former and future UFC HW and LHW champs (Randleman, Rampage, Shamrock).
2. Yoel Romero
This will be the most controversial pick, but only because people won't think objectively. Romero is quite possibly the greatest athlete to ever take MMA seriously (so we are not talking Herschel Walker), a former World Champ and silver medalist wrestler who has a winning record against Cael Sanderson. In MMA he has destroyed 2 former prime, young MW champions, destroyed an aging but not quite off the cliff yet former LHW champ, beaten a former Strikeforce champ and was only .2 of a pound and a single judge away from not making this list in his last fight, where, regardless of how you scored it under the 10-9 system (I had it a draw) he again beat the shit out of a prime, young MW champion and easily won under Pride scoring. A true monster and it's scary to think what he would've achieved had he started MMA as a young man.
3. Jeremy Horn
When he stepped in for his 2nd UFC title shot vs Chuck Liddell, he had a ridiculous MMA record of 76-13-5 and had never been KOd or TKOd. Has fought and beaten some of the sport's ATGs and while a guy like Fulton have him beat for overall fights, when you consider the level of consistent comp, there simply has never been an iron man like Horn.
4. Demian Maia
A guy who earned title shots in two different divisions, who has the equal 2nd most bouts and 4th most wins in UFC history and has only been stopped once. One of the best grapplers to ever compete. Despite age and miles, continues to be competitive against even a new generation of monsters (he may have lost vs Usman and Colby, but he took the first round vs both of them and went the distance).
5. Pedro Rizzo
People might look at the losses later in his career but the fact is that he shouldn't even be on here as he should've got the nod in his first fight with Couture. Has beaten 5 UFC HW champions, and Couture would've made it 6. That's too good a record to ignore.
6. Donald Cerrone
You can cut and paste half of what I typed for Maia here. One of the most durable fighters ever with multiple former/future champs in his win column.
7. Lil' Nog
Fell victim to North American wrestlers in the cage later in his career but was one of the best in Pride. 4 consecutive fights in 2004 show how good he was in his prime, beating Reem twice and stopping him once, stopping Hendo, and having one of the best fights ever vs a prime Shogun that a lot of people thought he won.
8. Norifumi 'Kid' Yamamoto
Fell away quickly later in his career but was an absolute beast in his prime. Won a Hero's Grand Prix beating Royler Gracie, Genki Sudo and Caol Uno, also has Bibiano Fernades and Jeff Curran on his record.
9. Jon Fitch
Only lost to the very best and continues to beat the rest even to this day. A consistent top-level fighter.
10. Alexander Gustafsson/Rumble Johnson/Nate Diaz tied.
Can't split these 3. Gus' win column won't measure up to a lot of the other guys on this list. But simply, the current debate is where Jones and DC sit in the top 5 P4P list and there is only one man in MMA history that can therefore claim to have taken two top 5 all time P4P fighters to hell and back. Jones has no (real) losses and DC has only lost to Jones, but both were nearly beaten by Gus. That makes Gus a historically significant fighter.
Rumble has big wins over Gus, Phil Davis and Arlovksi, and earned two title shots vs DC. One of MMA's greatest monsters.
Diaz has too many losses in his prime to be considered alongside the top guys on this list but also too many top-level victories to be ignored as well.
Fighters that others may consider but miss out:
Kenflo
Is touted because he had multiple title shots in two divisions but he didn't really 'earn' his shot vs Aldo (unless you count Diego Nunes as a historically significant win). Beat several good fighters at the time like Guida, Stevenson and Lauzon, but only beat one former/future champ in Gomi and that doesn't hold up to historical scrutiny as Gomi was shot by the time he got to the UFC and would ultimately go 4-10. Mainly lost to the truly elite fighters he fought.
Igor
A legend, but despite his incredibly impressive-looking early record, Mark Kerr aside, he was mostly crushing cans and MWs. Started racking up losses when he fought elite comp.
Chael Sonnen
Is only even eligible by technicality as his win over Filho for WEC championship was because Filho missed weight. Has some fantastic wins but simply far, far too many losses as well and currently sits as a .500 fighter.
Sergei Kharitonov
Has some good wins for sure, but never really put himself at the very top for an extended period of time.
Josh Koscheck
Has some great wins but too many losses and only has one former champ on his list, and that was a shot Hughes in his last fight.
Joseph Benavidez
Probably should make the list, but he is so small that I've barely ever seen him fight.
Jose Pele Landi-Jons
A tough one. Beat Miletich and and Matt Hughes and even dropped Chuck Liddell twice despite being way smaller. But still didn't do quite enough overall for me.
