9 thoughts on “The 100 Greatest Mixed Martial Artists (MMA) of All-Time”

1. 

   Great list in general. However I think you have some people very low. Demetrius Johnson should be way higher. His utter dominance of his division was something only replicated by the likes of GSP, Aldo and Silva. While 11 titles defenses in row (the UFC record) is impressive, I do get the fact he is in flyweight, which is a less competitive division. The sheer dominance he displayed quickly finishing some of the best flyweights the UFC has to offer such as, Cejudo, Benavidez and Tim Elliot. To conclude while I think that the fact that some put Johnson as there GOAT or even top three is ridiculous he at least deserves a top 10 spot given all he has done for flyweight and smaller guys in MMA in general.

   I also believe that Frank Mir is a bit underrated here. If we are ranking the best fighters of all time, yes I agree Mir barely cracks the top 100 but this a greatest list. Mir was brawler, plain and simple; he went after you, tried to get on top of you and he if he did he would bash your head repeatedly until the TKO or put you in a arm-bar. But at the place MMA was at the time Mike was a beast and a top contender throughout his career. He elevated the game winning a UFC championship and an interim championship and challenging the likes of Brock Lesnar for the title. He brought attention to the sport and when you saw Mir was on the card you knew it was going to be show. As well as this unlike in other sports where at the start the top guys where amateurs and playing plumbers like basketball, MMA is quite new so the early 2000s was still a new time for the sport. I am not trying to say he is better than Jon Jones or Stipe Miocic but for the era he was in he elevated the level and the attention of MMATo conclude Mir was one of the best in MMA in his time and brought attention to the sport, and when some talk about him great is often a word thrown around.

   1. 

      Great stuff, Skii. I appreciate the love for D. Johnson and Mir. You bring up a good point about the meaning of “greatest.” Certainly, it’s open for interpretation. I lean more toward the “best fighters of all-time interpretation” with my focuses particularly on the following:

      1). Strength of schedule
      2). Peak run–I largely ignore green (early in career) and twilight (late career) fights.
      3). Marquee victories over ranked fighters in the top 5-10 with a major premium on those ranked in the top 2-3.
      4). Avoiding bad losses during the peak run

      For me, D. Johnson is underwhelming on 1 and 3, decent on 4 (although his peak was so long that Moraes and McCall could be considered peak losses), and he obviously shines on #2 with his 11 title defenses in a row as you mentioned. I’d be much more inclined to have him up where you have him had those title defenses been against stronger competition.

      Mir was a bona fide bad ass who had no fear. He fought a killer schedule, and I think you gave him a worthy tribute. He comes up short in the parameters that I emphasize, but there’s no question he was an early OG.

2. 

   Very well put. I think that impact on the sport is the big divider between best and greatest for me but as you said it is up to interpretation. To respond to you about Johnson (who if you can’t tell is one of my favorite fighters) is that he wasn’t ducking any fights like a Jon Jones is currently. For one reason or another the lighter the guy is the shorter is career. When Johnson could have faced the likes of Pantoja or Moreno he was already on his way down on the imaginary bell curve. It just woudnt of been a smart move which is partly why he moved away from the UFC. This wall that you have previously adressed that many greats face is at the tail end of their career. People like Silva probably should have called it quites after a loss or two(or 5). As for strength of schedule, Johnson was a fighting champion booking whatever fight they gave him and I don’t think you can pin it on him too much that he was Flyweight( I mean he would of been one chubby Lightweight that’s for sure). The point is he practically murdered his entire division and when he realized he was slipping and maybe the fact that stronger opposition was coming him he moved to ONE which for all intensive purposes for him was a retirement league. Like do we take points away from Neymar for going to Saudi or Pele for going to the MLS?

   1. 

      Totally agree on murdering the division and not ducking anyone. His strength of schedule isn’t his fault in the same way it’s not Babe Ruth or Bill Russell’s fault for playing in totally or largely segregated leagues, or Gordie Howe’s fault that he played in a league with just six teams. Like D. Johnson, they did as well as they could do with what they were given. However, when comparing athletes across eras–or in D. Johnson’s case, across eras and weight classes–degree of difficulty is a big factor. In nearly every case, the athlete was not in control of that degree of difficulty. No shade on Johnson’s intentions AT ALL. No shade on what he did against who was lined up in front of him. He took care of who he was supposed to take care of during his title reign. Had he defeated Cruz and Cejudo (the 2nd time), he’d be a lock for the top-5 for me. Even just defeating Cejudo the 2nd time gets him pretty close to the top 10 for me. Fair or not, those fights carry disproportionate significance since those caliber fights were few and far between on his schedule. To be honest, I think we’re pretty close on Johnson. I have him as the greatest flyweight of all-time. I suspect the biggest difference is how much of a discount we apply to the flyweight division.

3. 

   I agree. Having him at in the mid 20s might be a bit aggressive because as you said he is the goat of his division and their are only 8 divisions so their are over 15 non-divisional goats ahead of him. Do agree just being a flyweight does deduct points.

4. 

   Am I going blind (pardon the pun), or is Michael Bisping nowhere to be seen on this list? I would love to hear the creator’s reasoning for this

   1. 

      Own that pun, Real Deal!

      Bisping was among the top-100 fighters of all-time as recently as June 2021. There have been dozens of fighters who’ve entered the list since, so Bisping is probably down around 125-130 range at this point. The standout blemish on his resume is a lack of marquee wins against elite fighters in their prime. His two “best” wins were against a 40 year old Anderson Silva and a 45 year old Dan Henderson. He had several shots at an elite win and came up short, time and time again, creating a dynamic where his list of marquee losses is really impressive (Rashad Evans, Dan Henderson, Wanderlei Silva, Chael Sonnen, Vitor Belfort, Luke Rockhold, GSP, and Kelvin Gastelum), while his list of marquee wins is quite underwhelming (Luke Rockhold, and ?).

      There are simply way too many fighters with better resumes than Bisping for him to still be listed among the top-100 of all-time. FWIW, while he was a good fighter, he’s really found his calling as an elite commentator.

5. 

   Just came across the website and absolutely love it, can’t imagine how many hundred hours went into the research. I’m curious how Khamzat is number 8, I think he will for sure. Be there one day eventually, but strictly un strength of schedule I have no idea how this could be the case, his Goodwins are a close but definitive decision against Gilbert Burns, Kevin Holland on 24 hours notice, Usman on a weeks notice up weight class in a fight that could arguably be considered a draw, and I will give you his win against Whitaker was absolutely dominant same with his win against DDP. but strictly on length of run I don’t know of any world where that’s above Stippe, Aldo, DC, Merab. I see your reasoning for DJ in the comments above but strongly disagree there. Once again, I don’t mean to be too nitpicky just love having these arguments and look forward to reading the rest of the list and hopefully posting some disagreements there as well.

   1. 

      Hey Mike! Thanks for the comments. I’m glad you’re digging the site.

      1). I wrote a separate article on DJ that has more teeth than the comments section post I made. You can find that here:
      https://www.the100greatest.com/2025/03/28/why-is-demetrious-johnson-not-in-the-goat-conversation/

      2). Unlike the other lists on this site, the MMA list has movement up and down. Merab was ahead of Khamzat before getting trounced by Yan. That gives Merab two “bad losses” and now a third loss that was uncompetitive. Khamzat has no blemishes and has been more impressive in victory than Merab.FWIW, Khamzat’s current resume is not too far off from Khabib’s. The only difference is Khabib has a few extra body bag fights. Wherever Khabib is ranked, Khamzat shouldn’t be too far behind. Khamzat’s victories over Whittaker and DDP (top 10 middleweights of all-time) are two of the most impressive wins on anyone’s resume. Nobody has ever buzz-sawed through Rob like that, and his dominance over DDP is arguably the most one-sided title fight in history. This was after DDP cleaned out the division. Usman and Burns are tough, tough fights, and he did what he needed to do to win those. Holland and Aliskerov aren’t marquee wins nor are they slouches, but the way he beat them–just like the way he beat Rob and DDP–is a separator, IMO.

      Aldo had a remarkable winning streak, but he was exposed when the schedule bumped up in difficulty as the featherweight division grew. He lost to nearly all of the best fighters on his schedule. In fact, he beat just one fighter that I would consider a top-100 fighter. Khamzat has 3 wins over fighters I would place in the top 50. 

      I obviously have Stipe and DC pretty close to Khamzat. Khamzat does not have a loss like Stefan Struve or even JDS on his schedule. Stipe has a great resume, but he lost five times and was finished four times. Again, Khamzat not only has zero bad losses and has never been finished, he also has zero losses. Until that changes, Khamzat is above Stipe, IMO.

      DC is an interesting case. He came up short in both fights against Jones and 2 of 3 against Stipe. Had he lost just once to Jones or Stipe, he’d easily be within the top 5. Similar to Aldo, DC lost to the best fighters on his schedule, although DC has better losses than Stipe and did damage in two divisions, which is why I have him just above Stipe.  

      If Khamzat loses to Imavov, then you’ll see him slide quite a bit. Until then, he is one of only four fighters in UFC history to have never lost a fight while also being a champion. Jones (IYKYK), Khabib, and Topuria are the others.