Who is the greatest AMERICAN Mixed Martial Artist of all time?

[jmt225]

Title says it all. You can give me a top 10 list, or simply just say one name. Just make sure you explain why you're picking who you're picking.

With that said, I'm going to give you my top 5, with honorable mentions below it.

1. BJ Penn - Shocking choice from me, huh? Lol... well, it's a fact to me, man, that BJ Penn is the most talented and exciting fighter in MMA to ever come from the states. The guy's boxing is incredible, his wrestling is fantastic, and his BJJ is World class. Sure, he's had some low times, but fuck... look at the names he has fought. With the exception of his very first Mixed Martial Arts fight, this guy has yet to fight one bum. Every fight he takes is against a highly regarded fighter, and BJ has still only lost one Round 1 throughout his entire career (the 2nd Edgar fight). If the guy had cardio, he'd probably be unbeaten. But even without cardio he's still the greatest American MMArtist of all time, which just shows you the talent he possesses.

2. Dan Henderson - World Class wrestling and the deadliest right hand in the business. The guy's beaten the who's who of the sport, in names such as Big Nog, Wanderlei Silva, Rich Franklin, Vitor Belfort, Gilbert Yvel, Michael Bisping, Babalu Sobral (x2), Renzo Gracie, etc. And today at 40-years-old, after fighting professionally for almost 15 years, he's still kicking ass and taking names. The guy is simply remarkable.

3. Matt Hughes - Probably had the most dominating run in MMA history from 2001-2006. Throughout that time the only person to defeat him is the #1 guy on my list, BJ Penn. But other than that respectable loss, he completely dominated the Welterweight Division for 5 straight years. Think about that for a second. And when I say he dominated the division, I mean fucking DOMINATED. He didn't win boring ass decisions; he fucking DESTROYED his opponents. You watch that run and it's still incredible to this day how Hughes was able to hold that division by the throat for so long.

4. Chuck Liddell - For 2 years Liddell dominated the Light Heavyweight Division in the UFC, literally knocking out everyone who stepped in the octagon with him. The reason he's not higher on my list is because the UFC's LHW Division wasn't nearly as stacked as Pride's, and that was proven when Chuck ventured over to Pride to fight Rampage Jackson, only to get his ass completely kicked. Regardless though, Chuck's striking and takedown defense were mind-blowing throughout his prime. Knocking out guys like Couture, Ortiz, Babalu, Vitor Belfort... I mean, these are no easy task, and Chuck did it like it was nothing.

5. Rampage Jackson - This came down to Rampage and Randy Couture, but I had to go with Rampage at the end of the day. First of all, Rampage's win-loss record blows Couture's out of the water, and secondly... the value of Couture's opponents don't measure up to the value of Rampage's opponents. Couture's biggest win is Chuck Liddell, who he would then lose twice to, whereas Rampage knocked out Liddell in both of their encounters against one another. Plus Rampage's wins over Ricardo Arona, Wanderlei Silva, Dan Henderson, Lyoto Machida, MinowaMan, etc. are all more impressive than anything Couture has done (I mean, think about it... Couture's 2nd biggest win is against Tim Sylvia for goodness sake, lol). So, yeah.... no disrespect intended for Couture, but Rampage had to make my top 5 over him.

Honorable Mentions:
Randy Couture
Don Frye
Tito Ortiz
Mark Coleman

I thought about including guys like Jake Shields, Nick Diaz, and even that bastard Jon Fitch to the Honorable Mentions list, but it's still too early in all their careers to do so. However, don't be hesitant to include newer guys on your lists, if you really believe they deserve to be there already.

 

[The Best]

Wow this a a hard choice for me I thought of all of the guys you mentioned plus guys like Dan Severn, Jeremy HORN(112 bouts), Jens Pulver, and Pat Miletich.

Now overall i'm going to have to go with:
Chuck Liddell: The guy won 7 straight fights, all by knockout or TKO from 2004-2006, and the guy was considered unstoppable. When this guy was on his game you couldn't beat him, best striker in ufc history in my opinion, and also a division 1 wrestler, so it was hard to get him to the ground. Also, one thing that many people should consider, this guy revolutionized the sport of mixed martial arts, this guy brought it into the mainstream, this guy made people say, wow this guy is a fucking badass, I would love to see this guy take someone's head off. Anyways this guy knocked people out, made Dana White money, and is possibly the sole reason why mixed martial is as big as it is today.

 

[INDYjon22]

I would have to with Dan Henderson. The man has been very dominant for a long time. He has won titles in two major organizations, as well as being the only man to hold two belts in one major promotion. His Pride career may have been up and down but at the end of the day he held two titles by the end of his career. He is also now on a short list of men who have won titles in their 40's. It will be interesting to see if he can defend the belt now.

My runner up would be Randy Couture. Another great champion, only difference is he has always had a strange title/loss record. He wins titles but doesn't necessarily keep them for long. That's only a minor thing though. The man has been at the top for a long time and still wins well into his 40's. Depending on how he does against Machida he could take over the top slot in my book. But for now, he is second.

 

[Fizzy]

I'll just do the same thing as you JMT. Give a top 5 with honorable mentions.

1. Chuck Liddell Chuck is MMA. He is the largest name the sport has seen yet, and brought MMA into the mainstream with help from two other great american fighters. In his prime he was one of the most feared fighters of all time. You couldn't take him down, and when you stood with him it was only a matter of time before he knocks you out. Greatest American fighter of all time.

2. BJ Penn Easily the most talented American fighter of all time. BJ is one of two fighters whos record isn't a reflection of the fighter himself. BJ has never fought a can in his career except his first fight which is understandable. He is one of the only two division champion in the sport, and will fight anyone. He has fought from 155 all the way to 205. A real fighter, and the most talented on this list.

3. Randy Couture The other man where the record deceives the skill. Randy has fought good fighters in every fight he has had. Hell his third fight he was fighting Vitor Belfort. He helped bring MMA into the mainstream, and also has won championships in two divisions. Randy will fight anyone. If they are considered the best he will go out of his way to fight them. Hell at 47 he is fighting Machida. Randy is my favorite fighter, and deserves to be on this list.

4. Tito Ortiz Say what you want about Tito, but nobody can argue his role in making MMA a much larger sport. He was loved, and hated by many, and when he was on the card you paid to see it. He was so charismatic, and you either wanted to see him fuck his opponent up, or get his ass kicked. In his prime his GNP was some of the most feared in MMA. I love Tito.

5. Matt Hughes Matt used to be one of my favorite fighters. Than I read his book, and my opinion of him went to shits. With that said I still respect Hughes greatly. He could be considered the most dominate champion in MMA history, and his wrestling was outstanding. Maybe the most impressive thing about Matt was his heart. He was a true fighter. His comeback against Frank Trigg is quite possibly the greatest comeback in MMA history. I may not like Matt Hughes as a person, but as a fighter there aren't many I respect more than him.

Honorable mentions
Dan Henderson
Rampage
Dan Severn
Frank Shamrock
Pat Miletich

 

[Tha Wolfpac]

It is a toss up between BJ Penn and Chuck Liddell. Both amazing and decorated fighters. Even though i dislike BJ Penn you have to give him credit for his shear amount of skill, and the type of class he brings to MMA. Liddell on the other hand brought MMA to the mainstream and really showcased the sport.

But BJ Penn, like JMT and Fizzy stated, has just fought a stack of amazing fighters that he has either put away or just barely failed. He really has fought a long list of MMA royalty and that for me puts him ahead of the pack.

Chuck Liddell hs done so much for the sport and really brought in new audiences. The man has never had a boring fight but his opponents don't stand out like BJ's. But no doubt, the contribution Chuck has put into MMA is second to none.

 

[Ace Sleeper]

1. Chuck Liddell: You can't disagree, this guy was the top American Light Heavyweight in the world for years. You can argue he was only fighting cans, but he was the face of MMA for a long time. The can thing isn't even true. I'll get to that one in a little bit. The fact is, One guy you knew back then was Chuck Liddell. He did everything there was to do before his downfall, and now he's sitting tall as the legendary Hall of Fame champion. Even in his recent fights, he wasn't losing, before the actual loss. He was beating the hell out of Rich Franklin, and was having competitive matches with Shogun and Evans.

Even his list of wins is one of the more impressive for his time.

Alistair Overeem
Randy Couture (x2)
Renato Sobral (x2)
Tito Ortiz (x2)
Vitor Belfort
José Landi-Jons

Along with others. Truly an American MMA legend.

2. Matt Hughes: I've always been a gigantic Matt Hughes fan. That probably helps him a lot to get to number 2 on my list, but he shouldn't need that help. He was the most dominate champion of all time before the current wave of champions. His career is legendary and no one can argue that or that he was the most dominate champion of his time. Beating Carlos Newton to become champion, Sakurai (very underrated), Carlos Newton again, Sean Sherk and Frank Trigg.

And that's just his first reign of dominance.

After he lost to BJ Penn, he beat a young Georges St. Pierre, Frank Trigg again, Joe Riggs, Royce Gracie and eventually BJ Penn. When you think about all of these wins you have to remember he destroyed them all, and when he was getting destroyed he would come back and choke you the fuck out (see Matt Hughes vs Frank Trigg 2). After that he had his downfall but still stuck in there with some good gatekeeper wins, including a submission of a Gracie black belt, along with an induction to the UFC Hall of Fame. He truly was the man, you can argue he's an arrogant dick, but you can't argue that he beat the hell out of everyone put in his way for a long time.

3. BJ Penn: This was a stalemate for me with number 2, but I put Hughes ahead on preference. BJ Penn is the prodigy. A black belt before at the age of 20 beating some of the best BJJ practitioners in the world. You could tell from the start this guy was special. Some of the best takedown defense in history and a dominate boxing game helped him become the man in both of his respective divisions.

His record does not show what he is made of. His run as a young up and comer was one of the better ones in UFC history, with his 11 second win over Caol Uno, a close ass championship match with Jens Pulver for the title in only his 4th fight, Matt Serra, Takanori Gomi, and Matt Hughes for the Welterweight title. The guy was coming up strong, and won other fights in other promotions against other big names. I think if he had decided not to fight GSP he would be close to undefeated. He fought Matt Hughes again and lost because of cardio, but he dropped to Lightweight and became the greatest Lightweight of all time. He beat everyone put in his way and in dominate fashion too. Sean Sherk, Joe Stevenson, Kenny Florian and bigger guys like Diego Sanchez.

He just seemed to stop caring the Frankie Edgar fights (nothing taken from Frankie), but if he still had that fire he would have probably ran through him too. Hell, even without him being the same as he used to be, he put on a close fight against Jon Fitch who has been undefeated for years. Penn is a future Hall of Famer, and I honestly think he has a good run left in him and a possible championship reign.

4. Dan Henderson: Amazing fighter. One of the greats and he deserves to be seen as so. His only losses in the UFC were against Rampage Jackson and Anderson Silva, and he put on a hell of a show against those two. He beat the best Pride had to offer and held two titles at once along with winning the Pride world Welterweight grand prix. His wins are impressive by themselves beating the likes of Wanderlei Silva, Renato Sobral, Vitor Belfort, Ninja Rua, Gilbert Yvel, Renzo Gracie and Ryo Chonan to name a few. Now he's making a run as the Strikeforce light heavyweight champion and at 40 he's still showing that hes got it. His only losses have come from the top fighters in his current weight division. I can only hope he finishes out his career in the UFC so that he can be inducted into the hall of fame some day. The guy's a legend.

Also, he knocked Michael Bisping the fuck out. That's enough for him to make this list alone.

5. Randy Couture: The mans still got it. At 47, he is still fighting to this day and making his legacy even bigger then it already is. He's beaten Vitor Belfort, Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Gabriel Gonzaga, Tim Sylvia and Pedro Rizzo. Those are no names to take lightly. The guy is one of the best wrestlers ever and even stopped Chuck Liddell for the first time by TKO with his legendary wrestling. Like someone said before, he just has a weird title record, but that shouldn't overshadow the fact he was here from UFC 17 all the way to his next fight against Lyoto Machida, winning big fights all along the way. Despite issues with the UFC in the past he still managed to work them out and come back to be a Hall of Fame champion. A living, and possibly still relevant legend.

Honorable Mentions
Rampage Jackson (Stalemate with Randy)
Jon Fitch
Tito Ortiz
Mark Coleman
Dan Severn
Frank Shamrock
Pat Miletich

 

[Uncle Chester]

Chuck Liddel is the Hulk Hogan of MMA in America and based on that it seems he would be the front runner for this important recognition. Solely based on importance of course. But if we're speaking in terms purely their work in the cage/ring then I have to say BJ Penn would be a very good pick. He crushed everyone there was to crush really on his way to no 1. lightweight, including Gomi who started his rise after the loss to BJ. Though I do think his value by many fans is a bit exaggerated presently, Penn when on song will be the unquestionable favorite against anyone at lightweight and a defining hurdle in the welterweight division.

 

[Davi323]

Here is a name that I'll bet nobody would ever have considered, but once you learn the name, will go HOLY SHIT.

The greatest American born mixed martial artist, hell, the greatest martial artist period, was born on November 27, 1940 in San Fransisco, California. He could be thought of as the inventor of what is now MMA, by taking the best of what he saw among the various martial arts, and combined them to form his own art.

In English, it's name literally means "way of the Intercepting Fist". However, you may know it as Jeet Kun Do.

MMA is more than the octogon. Once you understand that, there can be only one true answer to the question. Even UFC owner Dana White calls him the father of MMA. Anyone who cannot see how heavily this man influenced MMA is simply uneducated.

Who is he?

The answer should be obvious. The MMA fighter in question is of course, the master. The one and only.

Bruce Lee.

 

[ITurnGirlsGay]

Dude, this one is an absolute no brainer. Shannon "The Cannon" Ritch. His record is an astonishing 47-73. He was also choked out by a ref, too.

This is, without a doubt, the premiere American Mixed Martial Artist of our generation.

In all seriousness, it's probably got to be Henderson.

Even though he lost both of his title fights in the UFC, he was still a champion coming in to those title fights as they were unification bouts.

He'd won the UFC Middleweight tournament, RINGS KOK MW tournament, Pride WW tournament, won Brazil Open LW tournament, won Pride MW and WW championship, and is now the StrikeForce LHW champion.

He's done all of this without ever even trying to get a BJJ black belt. Hell, even Couture got his. Oh, and did I mention he's NEVER been knocked out.

 

[Dark Horse]

I'm not going to pretend to be as knowledgeable in MMA as you guys, but I have to ask you all a question. What about Ken Shamrock? He really did put this whole thing on the map back in the day, why no mention of him? I know he's not as good technically as a lot of those other guys but he does have a significant role in the history of MMA doesn't he? I'm not asking why no one picked him as the number one guy or anything, that is obvious. But I noticed he has yet to even receive a mention. So why has everyone forgot about him, when even Dan Severn has been mentioned?

 

[xAsianRejectx]

I have to agree on BJ Penn. Penn has god given talents and abilities. It just comes natural to him and he was born for this. However, there is a flaw with BJ and it's his motivation. I don't need to explain how much of a zombie BJ looked in his Edgar fights and his poor cardio in the 2nd GSP fight. Moving that aside, I still think BJ is one of the most talented fighters to date. A motivated and in shape BJ is dangerous.

Chuck Liddell is also on my list. Mostly because he got me into MMA. And I'm sure I'm not the only one Chuck has recruited into the MMA fandom. Not only did Chuck help pull MMA into mainstream, he was knocking down asses from left and right. His flame may have lit out, but he's still a legend in my book and rightfully earned his in the UFC Hall of Fame.

Randy Couture- What's there to say about Randy that you don't already know? They don't call him Captain America for nothing. Randy still kicks ass to this day. I look forward towards his match against Machida. "Not bad for an old guy."

Matt Hughes- Now, I hate Hughes as much as the next guy, but I can't ignore the fact that he used to dominate the WW division. I mean, he pummeled through fighters and put on stellar performances. His powerbomb KO to Carlos Newton is one of my absolute favorites.

While on the subject of powerbomb KOs, Rampage Jackson gets a nod from me. That KO was so beautiful and I believe it was better than Hughes. Rampage literally lifted Ricardo up and slammed his body into jelly. Rampage has a nice list of highlight KOs and this dude is one entertaining guy. Whether he's fighting or trash talking his opponent, I always avert my attention to him. Entertaining guy to watch.

For the sake of my laziness to write more, special mentions go to:
Dan Henderson
Tito Ortiz
I'm sure I'm forgetting a few folks.

 

[ITurnGirlsGay]

I'm sticking to my guns here. Hendo has the most titles, he has done the best in multiple organizations, and he's done it all sticking to one style. Unlike Liddell, he's never been KO'ed.

Win Percentages among fighters

Hendo 77%

Rampage 79%

Liddell 72%

Hughes 85%

Couture 65.5%

Penn 64%

Tito 62.5%

When you couple winning percentage vs. the opponents that Henderson has beat and the fact that he was a multiple title holder in Pride and multiple tournament winner in Pride, won a tournament in the UFC, and is now the StrikeForce title holder, I don't really see any way to make a case for other people. Hendo just gets the job done, no matter where he is at.

 

[ArcherCC]

Forrest Griffin.

My Reasons.
- TUF Season 1, his fight with Bonnar at the end brought MMA into the mainstream in America.
- 18-6, Yea not a great record, but at the same time 11 of those fights have been against top level talent, and out of those 11 he is 8-3. His losses have come to Anderson Silva, the P4P best bar none. Tito back in 06 when Tito was in top form, Evans who is always dangerous, 3 men who are or were some of the best in the MMA world.

 

[ITurnGirlsGay]

Keith Jardine, too.

I have to man up, though. For some reason I thought Tito lost both fights to Forrest, so I screwed up when I said Tito lost both fights in a different thread.

 

[JWGunslinger]

Alot of names come to mind such as Chuck Liddell,Randy Couture,Matt Hughes,Dan Severn,Etc....

But the name that stands atop that list is none other than Dan Henderson. This man has accolades that few others posess, he's won the Pride Middleweight and Welterweight titles, the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight title, he won te UFC 17 tournament and scored a knockout of the year against opposing TUF coach Michael Bisping. The list of big names he has defeated range from Wanderlei Silva and Vitor Belfort to most recently Fedor Emilienenko. That is why Dan Henderson is the greatest American fighter.

Maybe one day Brian Stann will take his place

 

[CapnKabuki]

I'd have to go with Dan Henderson as well, simply because, let's face, Dan Henderson won the Cold War for the U.S.A.

In all seriousness though, look at what he's accomplished in his career. Hell, the guys he's lost to are a murderers row of some of the top fighters not just in their division, but some of the best of all time. But then again, look at the list of who he's defeated; another murderers row that some people could only with they could match. Does he rely to much on his thunderous right hand lately? Yes. Does it change the fact that the fights are entertaining and someone is probably going to get KO'd? Not in the slightest.

A close second in my opinion would have to be Randy Couture. He isn't called Captain America for no reason.