I get out of control at times
Honestly my list would be pretty similar to most guys but anyway.
Mighty Mouse
- MMA is one of the few sports where the current era is commonly considered to be the best it has ever been. For instance, many NBA fans would consider the 90s to be the strongest era (I disagree). I think Mighty Mouse is the best fighter at the moment so by default he would also be the best fighter of all time. People commonly criticize his opposition but I think that is because of their lack of name value rather than skill. In general the lighter weight classes are more skillful than heavier weight classes. Most elite athlete big boys go to NBA/NFL.
Jose Aldo
- Took out the old guard (Brown/Faber etc) and remained a dominant champ in one of the best divisions. Conor and Holloway beat him but they have combined title defenses of 1 to Aldo's 9.
Jon Jones
- Similar to Aldo but more dominant and versatile. However, I've felt that LHW was a shallow division for a long time (and no, not because Jones cleared it out). As a side note, I always felt that Jones got too much credit for supposedly "beating guys at their own game". I would consider him more of a cerebral fighter who wears people down with his gargantuan limbs then finishes them with his grappling.
GSP
- One of the most well-rounded and dominant fighters in one of the best divisions. Avenged all his losses. Ruled over a very strong division.
Anderson
- The flashiest elite fighter and a dominant champion. Personally I always rated GSP ahead of him. He was primarily a striker and MW wasn't that great at the time.
Fedor
- Dominated the best heavyweight division (in my opinion anyway. UFC HW division after Strikeforce had potential but guys weren't active enough/fell off). Probably the most well-rounded guy of his era. The biggest knocks on him are some of his can fights (which I don't really think take away from his as much as they just don't matter. He dismantled the cans) and that he's the furthest from the current era. Like I mentioned, most elite big boy athletes went to other sports but at the same time if Fedor is the GOAT heavyweight then you could argue by default he's the best fighter too since size matters.
Honorable mention: Dominick Cruz
- He was so much ahead of the game and would probably have dominated bantamweight for a long time but injuries killed that.
I think it boils down to what you prioritize. My top 3 would probably be
1. Mighty Mouse because he's just the best overall fighter of all time
2. GSP because he has the best resume. Great combination of fight IQ and skills.
3. Fedor because was by far the best fighter in the world in his prime. Also, he's my OG favorite fighter so I'm biased.
Some would argue Jon Jones is all 3 things but I have always had a bias against him. I have some personal critiques about him but this has gone offtopic enough already. At the end of the day P4P/GOAT are pretty artificial and arbitrary so I wouldn't take them too seriously.
jk Conor goat.
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Also, I would like to reiterate that the point of my NOVEL wasn't to discredit Jones/DC/Chuck but to just point out that you really can really belittle any fighter's resume and downplay their successes. If you don't believe me, check the Sherdog forums today right after the Stipe vs Cormier tonight. It will be filled with posts of people saying how DC/Stipe got exposed and they never beat any good guys.