Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Heavyweights

1. Fedor Emelianenko

Emelianenko was a lock for the consensus No. 1, appearing as such on almost everyone's lists. Yet, it's easy to overlook that this wouldn't have been true for much of the past decade. During the early 2010s, Cain Velasquez would have topped the list, and in the late 2010s, Stipe Miocic. The reason Emelianenko is back on top is that the reign of those two other great champions were abruptly halted, and indicate how remarkable and immensely difficult Emelianenko’s lengthy time on the throne was. Velasquez won the title from Brock Lesnar in 2010, was knocked out in the first round by Junior dos Santos in his very next fight, won the title back at the end of 2012 from dos Santos, defended it twice in 2013, and lost it to Werdum in 2015 in one of the most shocking defeats ever. Miocic won the title in 2016 from Werdum and defended it three times, twice against men well past their prime in Alistair Overeem and dos Santos, then in 2018 was shockingly knocked out in a round by a nearly 40-year-old, badly undersized former light heavyweight in Cormier, and after winning two very close further fights against him, was convincingly knocked out in his rematch against Ngannou.

That's not to denigrate two great champions in Velasquez and Miocic, but to point out how incredibly difficult it is to remain the heavyweight king, even when one is a dominant champion with seemingly no rival, as a single missed punch can dethrone you at any time. Meanwhile, Fedor was essentially undefeated in his first 32 fights. His loss to Tsuyoshi Kosaka in Rings was due to an inadvertent but illegal elbow in the opening seconds that opened a huge cut on Emelianenko’s face. Since their bout was a tournament semifinal and someone needed to advance, a no-contest was not an option, and Kosaka was awarded a TKO victory. (There were a lot of shady results in that organization; just watch Randy Couture vs. Mikhail Iloukhine.) After his first victory over Nogueira at Pride 25 in March 2003, Emelianenko’s time as the top heavyweight in the world lasted seven years and 19 straight victories. There were plenty of weak touches during that time, like Wagner "Zuluzinho" da Conceicao Martins, Hong Man Choi and Yuji Nagata, but Emelianenko also dominated the trilogy against Nogueira, finished four former UFC heavyweight champions all in the first round (Andrei Arlovski, Tim Sylvia, Kevin Randleman, and Mark Coleman twice) and won the “Fight of the Century” against Mirko Filipovic in that span.

How did Emelianenko manage to stave off defeat for so long? It wasn't always easy, but in addition to lightning hand and foot speed for a heavyweight, enormous punching power, and a great judo and sambo-based grappling and submission game, Emelianenko's incredible cardio, heart and intelligence, combined with his very tough chin and good recuperative powers, allowed him to avoid many perilous situations, whether against Kazuyuki Fujita or Mark Hunt. Emelianenko's time at the top ended when he was about to turn 34, knocking down and hurting Fabricio Werdum early in their fight, but then being caught in a triangle the BJJ ace threw up off his back. He had fought off many similar situations against Nogueira, but Werdum's grappling was a little bit better and Emelianenko had just gotten that little bit slower—in addition to his luck finally running out. Still, even with injuries mounting and his chin becoming very brittle, Emelianenko has continued to have a good career and defy the odds, knocking out two more former UFC champions in the first round in Frank Mir and Quinton Jackson, and in his 40s, shockingly disposing of tough veteran Tim Johnson, a man who was utterly robbed of a victory against Alexander Volkov during his time in the UFC.

He is the worthy, clear No. 1.

Sherdog’s all-time rankings are compiled by a panel of Sherdog.com staff members and contributors, including Lev Pisarsky, Tristen Critchfield, Mike Fridley, Brian Knapp, Ben Duffy, Jay Pettry, Tudor Leonte, Keith Shillan, John Brannigan, Tyler Treese, Christian Stein and Sean Sheehan.