The Sprawl 11.11.08: Volume 20 - MMA's Twenty Greatest Fighters (Part 1 of 4)

Posted by Alex Mattis on 11.11.2008

In celebration of my 20th edition I start my countdown of the best fighters mixed martial arts has ever seen!

Hello all and welcome back to "The Sunday Sprawl!" What a wild week we've had in MMA. The highly touted Paulo Fihlo was broken by Chael Sonnen and Urijah Faber was TKO'd by Mike Brown for the WEC featherweight title. I was bummed to see it, being a Faber fan, but Urijah made an error, a dumb critical error, and was beaten by the better fighter on Wednesday night.

Since the inception of this column I've covered all the news and pay per view of the MMA world and now I'm up to the epic number of 20. In celebration of my twentieth column I'll do what I've always wanted to do, and that's put together an "All time best" list. For the next four columns I will count down who I feel are the 20 greatest MMA fighters of all time. The criteria of this list will compose of: their influence on the sport, the popularity of the fighter, how exciting the fighter was/is, and their all-around skills.

A few things to get out of the way... #1 Ken Shamrock will NOT be included anywhere on this list. While what did in the beginning of his career may have been important to MMA, what he has done in the past few years, in and out of the cage/ring, has been very detrimental to his image and legacy. I can't include him in here; because when sport past him by, he couldn't admit it. #2 Rickson Gracie will not be included in this list as his career/legacy transcends mixed martial arts and is much heavier in the sport of Jiu-Jitsu. That being said he is one of the very best fighters this world has ever known. #3 We're starting this list with UFC 1, for the sake of this list we're working within the realm of time that MMA has been "under the big lights" and whatnot.

Now that that is out of the way... LET'S GET DOWN TO IT!!!


20: Mark Coleman:
The phrase "ground n' pound" wasn't' prevalent in the UFC, or MMA in general, until Mark Coleman stepped into the Octagon. "The Hammer" displayed a different approach of the wrestler entering the realm of mixed martial arts. Coleman would show his gorilla strength when he would take his opponents down, then smother and overwhelm them with his relentless attack from the top. Be it in the guard or the mount Coleman would stay busy and do some serious damage. This style that hadn't been seen before in the UFC took Mark to the gold. Coleman was able to become the UFC's first ever heavyweight champion, defeating Dan Severn for the vacant title in 1997. However, the pinnacle of Coleman's career wouldn't come until 2000 when he won PRIDE's Grand Prix. A super-stacked tourney that featured some of the best the sport had ever seen came down to Coleman and "Ice Cold" Igor Vovchanchyn. Coleman used his superior wrestling early in the bout to get Igor down, he continuously pounded on him until he was able to secure tap due to strikes in the second round. Coleman has been on-again off-again with his winning since this feat, his scheduled rematch with Mauricio Rua will show what "The Hammer" has left. What no one can deny is the impact Coleman has forever left on the sport. Every time you hear the phrase "ground n' pound," you know who to thank.

19: Dan Henderson:
"Dangerous" Dan just barely made the list, but as one of the most well-rounded fighters to ever grace the sport I think there needs to be a spot on here for him. You'll have a hard time finding any highly decorated amateur wrestler, like Hendo, who entered into MMA and eventually became one of the most devastating strikers in the sport. Henderson debuted in 1997 and went three years without a defeat; racking up wins over Babalu, Carlos Newton, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in the process. It was until he landed his spot in PRIDE that he suffered his first loss at the hands of Wanderlei Silva. Hendo found a home in the PRIDE organization and would be one of top competitors for the duration of their operations. Some of his biggest win included a decision win over Murilo Rua and T(KO) wins over Renzo Gracie and Murilo Bustamante. Dan's biggest win would be his capturing of the PRIDE welterweight title following their tournament for the gold. In the tourney Dan defeated Ryo Chonan, Akihiro Gono, and once again Murilo Bustamante. Hendo went on to top this feat when he knocked out the first man to beat him, Wanderlei Silva. With this KO victory won the PRIDE middleweight title and became the first man in MMA history to simultaneously hold two titles in two different weight classes. Since then Henderson has had a rocky road; dropping two straight fights to Rampage and Anderson Silva. Though Hendo's recent victory over the dangerous Rousimar Palhares displayed that he isn't going anywhere.

18: Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic:
The highly decorated kick boxer turned to MMA, and the sport was never the same. Let's take a trip back to June 8th, 2003. Before Gonzaga, before Kongo, before Overeem, before this legacy was some-what tarnished. On 6/8/2003 Mirko Cro Cop faced what was, at that point, the biggest test of his career. Mirko was finding that his place in MMA in the heavyweight division and this was his definitive fight against a top heavyweight. Heath Herring stood across the ring and charged in as soon as the bell rang. Cro Cop shook off everything Herring threw at him and avoided every takedown attempt. Just 3 minutes into the fight Mirko threw one of his iconic kicks that connected with the body of Heath and dropped "The Texas Crazy Horse." After a series of unanswered shots the fight was stopped and an incredible statement was made by Cro Cop. Mirko became one of the most destructive forces to ever compete in mixed martial arts. Watch some of his fights in PRIDE and you will see that people were scared of him. His fights with Coleman, Waterman, Oyama, those guys didn't have a chance in that fight. Cro Cop ran through PRIDE with many of his wins coming by his patented high kick, but pivotal losses to Nog and Kevin Randleman derailed his ultimate goal of a title shot. But all was not lost as Cro Cop eventually got his crack at the champ Fedor. In what is still regarded as "the last heavyweight superfight" in MMA, Mirko would drop a decision loss to Fedor. Cro Cop sprung back in a huge way, however, when he ran through the competition and was the crowded the winner of PRIDE's 2006 Openweight GP. While since this victory Mirko has not seemed to be the same fighter, and many argue that his motivation has been lost, no one can argue the spot he carved for himself and that he will go down as one of the greatest strikers in the sport's history.

17: Dan Severn:
In the vein of Mark Coleman and Dan Henderson and influential wrestlers of MMA we gotta look at the first major wrestler to emerge in MMA and that's "The Beast" Dan Severn. A constant competitor who often bounced back and forth between mixed martial arts and professional wrestling while still maintaining a great level of prestige and legit competition in his career. Dan first appeared in the UFC 14 years, and over 100 fights, ago. Immediately proving himself and his skills. He would be submitted early by Royce Gracie, but his wins over Ken Shamrock.... showed that "The Beast" was a force to be reckoned with in the UFC. His dominating wrestling technique earned him many hard fought wins, and his brut strength and power would earn him many submissions and stoppages in his lengthy career. Dan would often end fights with a unique choke hold that has come to be known simply as the "Severn Choke." The constant spirit of competition that burns within Dan Severn can still be seen today as the man is still competing each and everywhere he can find a fight. I recently watched an interview in which Severn stated that he didn't even know how many MMA fights he has been in, he said "I can ballpark it." That is the attitude and spirit that Dan has always brought to the sport; it's not always about the winning and the losing but about the desire to compete.

16: BJ Penn:
The second man in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship to win a title in two different weight classes. "The Prodigy" burst on to the seen in the UFC and ran through the lightweight division, most memorably was his destruction of Caol Uno. Eventually BJ's impressive performances would earn him a shot against the UFC's lightweight champion Jens Pulver. In what will go down as a turning point in the career of Penn, BJ dropped a decision loss to Pulver. This somewhat controversial fight would haunt BJ for years to come. BJ continued to build upon his impressive resume and eventually found himself in another title match, but this time it was for the welterweight gold. At UFC 46 BJ took on Matt Hughes. Hughes was destroying everyone that step into the cage with him and was a big favorite going into the fight. Well BJ shattered all of the preconceived notions heading into the fight and beat Matt Hughes. He showed his punching power and his ground skills, choking out Hughes in the first round. However, disputes over contracts would keep BJ out of the UFC for quite some time. While away he chalked up a very notable victory over Takanori Gomi, but also tasted defeat once again when he lost a decision to Lyoto Machida. When BJ came back he was met by Georges St. Pierre. In what will forever be debated, GSP picked up the win via split decision. After this Penn would drop yet another fight to Matt Hughes, avenging his prior loss. Since then BJ has made some serious changes to his life style and training. He absolutely destroyed his last three opponents. BJ avenged his haunting loss to Jens Pulver, he then battered and choked out Joe Stevenson to claim his second title (this time in the lightweight division, and most recently he dismantled Sean Sherk. A rematch with Georges St. Pierre is on the horizon for BJ Penn and he will be looking to not only avenge his previous loss to GSP but to reclaim the welterweight title that he never lost. BJ has clearly made his impact on the sport of mixed martial arts, but if the BJ we have seen in his past three fight is an indication of what the future will bring I think that BJ has plenty of fight to give.

Alright that is it for this week. Come back next time for 15-11!

Remember feedback as always is welcome at [e-mail] or directly below.

Take care and I'll see you next week.

-Alex