We’re not talking legacy here, solely skill sets.
For me, the Ubereem that smashed Todd Duffee after buzz sawing through the K1 GP takes the cake.
Whilst there's criteria that one can come up with to disqualify Fedor, such as best wrestler or best bjj HW. The best undefeated streak at the prime of the division utilising plenty of striking and grappling does demonstrate that Fedor had the best all round HW skill set ever.
Best all around has to be Cain right?
Great striking, wrestling and grappling mixed with a good chin, unstoppable Cardio and great fight iq.
Fedor
/thread
A guy that can KO Overeem and submit Barnett.
Cain or Cormier
DC. Excellent Wrestling, Scary Power from short distance. Solid striking to close the distance. Great Submission skills and Excellent cardio for a man that loves chicken as well as a chin that still holds up.
An argument could be made for Werdum too I suppose.
chupecabre - An argument could be made for Werdum too I suppose.
He's top 5 for sure maybe top 3
Miguel cro cop -Best all around has to be Cain right?
Great striking, wrestling and grappling mixed with a good chin, unstoppable Cardio and great fight iq.
The fuck has cain done other than beat the same 3 people multiple times over his last few fights? Rogan has a hard on for him for some odd reason so you chimps just mimic it. Sad.
Ryann Von Doom -Miguel cro cop -Best all around has to be Cain right?
Great striking, wrestling and grappling mixed with a good chin, unstoppable Cardio and great fight iq.
The fuck has cain done other than beat the same 3 people multiple times over his last few fights? Rogan has a hard on for him for some odd reason so you chimps just mimic it. Sad.
Cain was touted as the best in the world by fighters and trainers long before Rogan joined his fan club.
Werdum submitted Overeem, Cain, Fedor, and Nogueira. Didn’t just beat them–SUBMITTED them. In MMA.
That is one hell of a resume, as any of the above could be the HW GOAT.
kingofpancakes
I’m surprised nobody is mentioning Stipe. At heavyweight, a single fight isn’t enough to truly determine which fighter is truly the best. Everybody has a big puncher chance. I personally think if he rematched DC he could definitely win this time. He was doing great before the KO. And he has most UFC heavyweight defense ever.
Fedor is also obviously an amazing fighter, especially considering his size, but its sometimes hard to compare past fighters with today’s fighters since the game evolved a lot.
There is no one right answer.
Fedor is the GOAT and a very strong argument can be made for him. He beat a murderers row of HWs using G&P, submissions, and striking. His flow from power punching to throw attempts was unique in MMA history, and made him difficult to defend. He also had amazing timing and killer instinct.
He might not have been the very best striker or grappler in terms of specific technique – but he was the best fighter in the world in terms of putting it all together and getting the job done – which is the goal of the skill of fighting.
Fedor was a sum greater than the whole of his parts.
Josh Barnett belongs in the conversation.
Solid and dangerous standup. Very high level grappling with solid subs and a smothering top game. Exellent in the clinch and with inserts (dirty boxing) at close range.
The Verdum that beat Cain is high in the list too.
World class BJJ with great and effective striking.
Ubereem was not only a world class successful striker – he is also a bit underrated as a grappler – and had a slick guillotine we haven’t seen in a while.
DC is obviously right up there too.
World class wrestling, high level striking for MMA, and putting all the little in-between things together to make good use of both.
Stipe for similar reasons.
Big Nog at his best I don’t think loses most of the fights he did while declining in the UFC.
He had crisp boxing, excellent ring generalship, and was simply an amazing grappler.
Randy Couture – while he probably wouldn’t argued at #1 career-wise – is an excellent example of a guy who evolved a total game with the sport.
Randy always seemed to be at the front of the learning curve as he developed an overall skill set that went far beyond his world class wrestling.
Gameplanning is a skill – and Couture had great ability to make adjustments for specific fighters.
There are others…
Ryann Von Doom -Miguel cro cop -Best all around has to be Cain right?
Great striking, wrestling and grappling mixed with a good chin, unstoppable Cardio and great fight iq.
The fuck has cain done other than beat the same 3 people multiple times over his last few fights? Rogan has a hard on for him for some odd reason so you chimps just mimic it. Sad.
I don’t necessarily disagree with you, but to be fair the question pertained to respective skill sets rather than achievements.
I’ll say DC though
If Jones decided to compete at heavyweight then he would be the best heavyweight ever and would beat any heavyweight ever.
But out of the fighters who have actually competed at heavyweight
1. Fedor - outstruck CroCop and Hunt. Outgrappled Nog and multiple Olympic judoka and wrestlers
2. Nog - Best jiu jitsu practitioner in HW history (outgrappled Werdum) along with amazing boxing, cardio, etc.
3. Crocop - World class kickboxer with impeccable TDD
4. Overeem - World class kickboxer with impeccable TDD
5. Werdum - 2nd best BJJ practitioner in HW history with high level striking. Dangerous everywhere
Honorable mention: Cain
leifdawg -Ryann Von Doom -Miguel cro cop -Best all around has to be Cain right?
Great striking, wrestling and grappling mixed with a good chin, unstoppable Cardio and great fight iq.
The fuck has cain done other than beat the same 3 people multiple times over his last few fights? Rogan has a hard on for him for some odd reason so you chimps just mimic it. Sad.
Cain was touted as the best in the world by fighters and trainers long before Rogan joined his fan club.
yeah… his teammates… Rogan is the only reason he’s still mentioned lol.
1. DC
2. Fedor
3. Cain
Healthy Cain is one of my biggest what if’s in MMA history.