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1.
Fedor Emelianenko
Say what you want about his avoidance of credible opponents - we still don’t think there’s a heavyweight in the world who could beat him. And we’re willing to keep him at the top of the list until he loses or retires.
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2.
Randy Couture
He’s runner-up for talent and accomplishments, but if an active UFC heavyweight can establish dominance, we’ll eventually drop Randy a spot or two for inactivity. By all accounts, Couture will retire after fighting Fedor, which means he’ll be leaving the rankings altogether before long.
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3.
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
We’ve seen Nogueira rocked before, and we’ve seen him dominated. But we’ve still never seen him finished, and that’s nearly as impressive an achievement as an undefeated record. As Tim Sylvia learned at UFC 81, beating the crap out of Big Nog means nothing (because he can’t be knocked out), and once the fight goes to the ground, you’ll soon be tapping the mat. Nogueira is the only fighter to ever take Fedor Emelianenko to a decision twice, which should tell you something about his toughness and his ability to keep his head in a shitstorm. Unfortunately, the level of competition in the UFC’s heavyweight division is so low that Nogueira may not have the opportunity to be considered the best in the world.
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4.
Andrei Arlovski
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5.
Tim Sylvia
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6.
Fabricio Werdum
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7.
Ben Rothwell
He’s the deserving holder of the IFL’s heavyweight belt, but he left the organization before 2007’s Grand Prix to become a better-paid star elsewhere. We hope that happens soon, because the pleasantly chubby Miletich fighter tore through the IFL’s heavyweights like a buzzsaw, and is riding a 13-fight win-streak.
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8.
Mirko Filipovic
A Fedor-like string of exhibition matches against cans in the DREAM organization may have the once-fearsome Croatian dropping even further down this list in the future.
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9.
Josh Barnett
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10.
Aleksander Emelianenko
We love watching Aleks fight, but it says a lot about the general lack of talented heavyweight fighters in the world when a guy with basically no victories over notable opponents can finish out this list simply by winning three straight and ending most of his matches by stoppage.
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March 17th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
A few problems here.
1. You misspelled Nogueira.
2. He should be #2, not Randy. Nog’s fought most of the other fighters on this list and only lost to Fedor and stands 1-1 with Barnett. He’s 31-4-2 against many of the best in the world. Randy’s old as hell and 16-8, with several of those at 205. No disrespect to Randy, their positions should just be switched.
3. With the general lack of talent in heavyweight, maybe or Matyushenko or Big Country earns a spot on this list over the likes of at least Aleksander, and I question Arlovski having a spot on the list at all.
March 17th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
To the above poster, Vlady has been fighting at 205, why would you include him in a HW rankings?
March 17th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
to corrections officer: the fact that randy is in his mid 40’s and still super bad ass should keep him where hes at on the list alone, and the fact that nog has lost to josh barnett is why hes where he is on the list. the one thing im upset about is that tim sylvia is even on this list. hes really not that good and the only reason hes beaten anyone is because of his sick reach advantage.
March 18th, 2008 at 12:16 am
Arlovski not on the list at all? Are you high?
Former heavyweight champ, wins over Werdum, Matyushenko, Sylvia. Sure, his profile is low right now, but don’t you think he’d fight Nog or Couture if he could?
Plus, he’s schtupping a Playboy model. =)
March 18th, 2008 at 1:35 am
Yeah, my bad about Matyushenko. That line was really just an excuse to get Big Country in there.
But so Nog lost to Barnett. Barnett is a great heavyweight. That was one of 4 loses in his career, two of those to Fedor. Randy’s had 8 loses, many to guys much less talented than Josh Barnett.
As for Arlovski, there’s plenty of former champs that aren’t on this list either, like Ricco Rodriquez, or should have been champs like Rizzo (fuckin idiot judges, randy should be 15-9). Arlovski’s all hype and show, “impressive” wins against light names to build the brand and only a couple notables. His fight with Werdum was one of the more boring fights in UFC history. Dude’s just never impressed me. And beating Tim Sylvia isn’t impressive, these days, its all the rage. Now, losing twice to Sylvia is pretty impressive.
March 19th, 2008 at 11:55 am
didnt couture lose to barnett, and barnett was busted for roids
March 28th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
pretty good rankings, although i’m not too sure about andrei.. and maybe gonzaga could be somewhere on those rankings. he’s fought well
May 4th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
What about Frank Myr?
May 8th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
what has he done lately? heavy weight division seems weak
May 11th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Arlovski shouldnt be ranked ahead of Sylvia… Sylvia took the belt from him easily last time they went head to head. But really Im happy that you didnt have SCRUB_o Slice in these rankings because I would bet on anyone fighting him… he is dumb bitch who doest deserve to be in MMA.
May 11th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
frank mir he broke tim the fag silvias arm i wish they had a list of best ever come on this sport is fairly new mid 90s since it got somewhat big and had coverage to get big fights together the list couldnt be that long…by the way tim silvia is a no talent ass clown he loses to anyone with skill his advantage is just like bob faggot sapp and hong the circus sideshow they are just huge guys and couture fights at light heavy weight thats where his best fights are not heavyweight…. fedor by the way has fought some bad ass mofos matt the law lindlun where is he on this list he is way better than silvia what about Mark coleman more than once and he fought nogueira (spelling) who is on the list at least get somme new lists who made them break.com
May 11th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
sorry im not sure what weight lindlun is in all i know is he fought him a while back
May 12th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
to chunk354: Couture lost to Barnett and via KO dude!
May 14th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Why isn’t Gabriel Gonzaga in the top 10…???
May 15th, 2008 at 6:19 am
nog isnt second????
May 16th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
A monkey with a spin-wheel could have put together a better list. Let’s work from the bottom up.
10> Aleks….PFFFFT. Like many other sites, giving someone a ranking due to his last name. Mir and Gonzaga both deserve to be on this list much more than this guy.
9>Josh Barnett barely making it onto the list? Werdum, Arlovski, Rothwell and Mirko all belong below him.
8>Mirko. Riding on his past accomplishments (which you do acknowledge), but there’s little to no hope of him ever building himself up to a contender again. He’s always going to be one of my favorite highlight reels, but he no longer deserves to be on the list.
7>Rothwell. I could see him being in this spot. Enough to show he is one of the top 10; however, he’ll need some serious opposition before he can go any higher.
6>Werdum. WHY? Win over Gonzaga…okay. Absolute horrible showing against Arlovski. Again, belongs way towards the bottom of this list behind Mir.
5&4>Sylvia shouldn’t be behind Arlovski. In entertainment ratings, yes. Not as a fighter. Tim had a great showing against Nog, has beaten Andrei their last two showings and has faced stiffer competition. Andrei could be higher if he is to get back on track. Not now though.
Top 3>To be able to define the top three right now is rolling dice.
The last win of Fedor’s that actually showed high talent was 2005. I will put the 2005 Fedor on top of this list, without a doubt. But this is almost 3 years later. A fighter will progress through the level of his opponents. Unless he’s sparring 95% with top-tier fighters, he won’t be the same fighter he was before.
Randy should have stayed in the UFC for the one remaining fight against Nog. I think it was a coward’s way out, very comparable to Lennox Lewis to Klitschko. There was a force that was challenging the throne. Instead of staying forward to challenge, they both vacated the spot. Randy needs closure from the lawsuits and to move on to a fight quick. IF there is an upset with the Fedor v. Sylvia fight, it leaves his reasoning for leaving UFC void.
May 23rd, 2008 at 11:06 pm
fedor is the best heavyweight or fighter iv ever seen in any weight class pay him
May 27th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
I agree with most of D3F4C3D’s points. The inaccuracy of these rankings lend no credibility to this website.