The Immortal One -cuttooth -The Immortal One -sparkuri -MM8 - The Lion King -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
Amazing boxing? lol wow
Name a better pure boxer at HW before Nog, or even after.
Ill name four: dc, cain, stipe, frank mir during mir's prime
Also Nog didn't get really dangerous on the feet until after 2005/2006 or after Pride when he was training regularly with Blackhouse and anderson silva
In pride, he was a good technical boxer but unfortunately didn't have takedown defense or the ability to KO guys on the feet just yet
Nog peaked technically & athletically when he outboxed Kharitonov in 2004 and only ever knocked out complete glassjaws like Schaub anyway, he also never learned particularly great TDD because he didn't need it, it was antithetical to his style
Big Nog sure as hell could have used takedown defense against fedor especially in their last fight.
Kharitonov was green with only 9 mma fights when he fought nogueria and kharitonov also didn't have TDD when he fought big nog, so he was worried about the takedown which negated his striking and STILL made it very close on the feet.
Big Nog beat Sergei with takedowns, if the fight stayed on the feet the whole fight, sergei would have beaten him.
Big Nog's peak was not 2004, it was closer to 2006 to arguably 2009, when he became more dangerous on the feet and sat back on his punches to drop guys. He didn't start seriously training with blackhouse mma until he left pride, and that's what took him to the next level.
If you don't believe me, watch nog starting in 2009 when he was dropping guys left and right. His timing and power was on point then.
In Pride, Nogueria was younger yes with less mileage but much less dangerous on the feet with no takedown defense.
If Fedor fought big nog in 2009, fedor would have been dropped and probably submitted. Look at Big Nog's improved boxing against couture vs Fedor getting easily jabbed by rogers on the feet with his looping hooks.
Big Nog got blasted by right hand leads and lancing jabs in the 3rd fight as much as he got taken down. Takedowns were just Fedor's natural tactic following a clinch entry from the outside. Nog couldn't keep up with him either way. Nog's boxing got very tight in the tournament, he was outboxing Sergei, outjabbing him, drawing out his jab and coming back over with the right hand, very sharp stuff.
Nog was basically washed in 2009, Herring all but knocked him out in 2007, Sylvia dominated and dropped him before getting submitted, he was slowing, and was gaining nonfunctional weight (ie fat). He was 240+ by that time, he was 225 at his physical peak (2001-2004).
Nog's boxing looked good against Couture because Couture was smaller and was always hurt easily by bigger man, Nog is using the same 1-2-3's he was using against Heath Herring the first time, there's no identifiable technical overhaul you can reference other than "Couture got dropped".