2010 had the best fighters in the history of MMA

Forget weight classes and P4P, just talking about the HW’s and fighters that could bump up to HW as they were in 2010 to fight at HW/OW. I do not think you can go into any year of NHB/MMA history from 1993 to 2023 and find forty fighters that could beat the 2010 group in a dual meet where #1 fights 1, 2 fights 2, 40 fights 40 etc…

I’m strictly talking about the year that had the best 40 fighters on the planet that could beat the top 40 from any other year.

My pick is 2010, what year are you picking where you can find 40 fighters that will beat the 2010 version of these 40 in a dual meet? I’m not sure the order of the list is how I think it should be for the dual meet but you get my point. No year beats 2010 in a dual meet.

Lesnar and Carwin had arrived. Anderson was killing LHW’s. Shogun was champ. Werdum would shock the world. Fedor was still very dangerous. Roger Gracie and Jon Jones were starting to run through people. DC, Stipe, JDS, Konrad etc… were starting to climb the ranks. Couture, Coleman, Rizzo, Sylvia etc… were still around.

  1. Fedor
  2. Werdum
  3. Cain
  4. JDS
  5. Lesnar
  6. Big Nog
  7. Mir
  8. Overeem
  9. Carwin
  10. Barnett
  11. DC
  12. Gonzaga
  13. Arlovski
  14. Jones
  15. Sylvia
  16. Rizzo
  17. Crocop
  18. Kharitonov
  19. Anderson Silva
  20. Konrad
  21. Russow
  22. Stipe
  23. Bigfoot
  24. Couture
  25. Struve
  26. Pe de Pano
  27. Coleman
  28. Aleks
  29. Shogun
  30. Roger Gracie
  31. Vera
  32. Evans
  33. Nelson
  34. Hendo
  35. Rothwell
  36. Monson
  37. Ivanov
  38. Kongo
  39. Oleynik
  40. Hunt

Honorable mention: Aburakhimov, Nastula, Lashley, Lungu, Wuiff, Ishii

Editing messed up the list but you get my point

I can even edit in 10 more HW’s and LHW’s and the 2010 version of them if you want to take it all the way to 50 fighters from 2010 vs the 50 fighters from any other year in MMA history.

Minakov
Rampage
Teixeira
Bader
Davis
Aburakhimov
Wiuff
Yvel
King Mo
Ishii
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Hendo

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mood GIF

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Never heard of pe de pano or abdurakhimov

Rampage. Did Wanderlei already suck in 2010?

Good call but you just got Travis Wiuff kicked off the team man.

Pe de Pano was a BJJ world champ who KOed Mir in 2006 in the UFC. In 2007 through 2010 he beat solid fighters in small shows but had got cut from the UFC after dropping a split decision to Monson and getting TKOed by Arlovski in 2006.

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He just lost to Pavlovich and Blaydes recently as he is 41. He was 10-1 in 2010 including Monson and Soukoudjo wins that year and he had only ever lost to Thiago Santos via UD.

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Ah I do know him. Just forgot. Didn’t realize he’d been around for so long

Ivanov deserves to be on the list as well. By the start of 2010 he was 3-0 in MMA and had just beat Fujita in 2009 and he would reach 16-1 before he entered the UFC aftre being a Bellator tournament finalist and WSOF/PFL HW champ. In 2008 he did lose a combat sambo match to Fedor but then upset Fedor in the rematch in the semis of the world champsionships that he went on to win.

Minakov also started his career in 2010 before reaching 21-0 by 2017. Gilbert Yvel was also about to have the misfortune of entering the UFC vs prime JDS but he was already 36-13 in MMA.

2010 had…

Fedor vs Werdum
Cain vs Brock and Big Nog
Brock vs Carwin
Carwin vs Mir.
JDS vs Yvel, Gonzaga and Nelson
Mir vs Crocop
Overeem vs Duffee
Barnett vs Mighty Mo

2010 and then also 2011 were just a great couple of years at HW and LHW.

Its easy to forget, guys like Evans won the HW TUF tourny and then went all the way to 17-1 before losing to Jones and beat fighters like Davis, Rampage, Griffin, Chuck and Bisping to get there.

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I thought 2000-2010 was the best decade in MMA. But… In a thread I made a while back… user @DY3 posted this.

2011 was one of the best years, so many great/big fights.

SF HW Grand Prix
Nick Diaz vs Daley
Jon Jones v Shogun
Rockhold v Jacare
Fedor v Hendo
Brock Lesnar v Overeem
Hendo v Shogun 1
Machida v Couture
Wandy v Chris Leben
BJ Penn v Nick Diaz
Jon Jones v Machida
Mir vs Big Nog
Kongo v Pat Barry
Nate Diaz v Cerrone
Bisping v Mayhem
Wandy v Cung Le
Rousey v Tate
Alvarez v Chandler
Aldo was in his prime. Faber, Rampage Cruz, Lil Nog, Rashad were fighting.

2011 was great for MMA!

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Todd Duffee should be on that list. Also the peak of MMA and the UFC was from 2009 until 2012 or 13. In that time frame not only SF best fighters joined the UFC, but WEC light divisions brought a astonishing excitement also.

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I got into the ufc in 2009 at ufc 100 and a couple ultimate fighter seasons around then. Didn’t realize how good I had it at the time. So much was happening. Idk y but the fighters having their own sponsors just added something.

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2009-2013 was the UFCs Attitude Era?

Don’t know about UFC attitude era, but i think that time span was also when this website peaked (Had the most active members)

IDK about “suck”…he could still murder a Jardine or beat a Bisping on occassion…but yeah he had definitely fallen off and was way past his prime at that point. Wand’s prime was over in 06’ at the latest imo.

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Guys this is just hindsight, you’ll be able to make the exact same thread in 10 years we just don’t know what it’ll be yet. “Damn who knew Ilia Topuria would be that good? Wow we really didn’t give the first 3 weight champ Aljo Sterling enough credit early on. We sure missed out on Renier De Ridder and Khamzat never fighting before they both retired undefeated at 185 for 10 years.”

I know there are some great talent pools out there right now, for example I think the current talent pool at LW is the deepest I’ve seen in the history of the sport.

I’m just saying though at HW/OW…I’m not sure you can find 40 fighters from any other year that can beat that crew in a dual meet.

They would have to get through Fedor, Werdum, Overeem, Cain, Brock, Carwin, JDS, Jones, DC, Stipe, prime Anderson, Shogun, Kharitonov, Ivanov, Big Nog etc… and on and on.

Even if you want to expand it out to 50 fighters, then you can add Minakov to the lineup, a Minakov who was in the process of getting his 21 fight streak going, you can add Glover to the lineup, a fighter who in the middle of his 22 fight win streak. You can throw Phil Davis in there, a LHW who has never been finished. Ryan Bader throw him in the top 50. Put Rampage in there too.

So here are the fighters selected for 41-50…

  1. Minakov
  2. Rampage
  3. Teixeira
  4. Bader
  5. Davis
  6. Aburakhimov
  7. Wiuff
  8. Yvel
  9. King Mo
  10. Ishii

Sure 50th ranked Ishii was only 0-1 at the start of 2010 but there is a reason he went 14-0 over the next five years when he was not fighting Fedor or Crocop. And thats just the 50th HW/OW fighter in the 2010 list. Look at King Mo at the start of 2010, 7-0 and he was about to start the year by beating Mousasi and that is just the 49th fighter in the 2010 lineup.

Just don’t see another year you can grab 40 or 50 fighters from that are going to beat the 2010 fighters.

I’d love to know the year if there is one.

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