50 Most Important MMA Fighters of the Decade

[AA484]

I'm bored. Think of this is as Time's Person of the Year, only in MMA and it covers the whole decade of the 2010s. I tried to equally weight in-cage/ring success and influence/popularity/intangibles.

50. Luke Rockhold
49. Weili Zhang
48. Cody Garbrandt
47. Valentina Shevchenko
46. Tyron Woodley
45. Quinton Jackson
44. Renan Barao
43. Rafael dos Anjos
42. Francis Ngannou
41. Rose Namajunas
40. Anthony Pettis
39. Nick Diaz
38. Alistair Overeem
37. Vitor Belfort
36. Cris Cyborg
35. Urijah Faber
34. Dan Henderson
33. Kamaru Usman
32. T.J. Dillashaw
31. Robert Whittaker
30. Chael Sonnen
29. Benson Henderson
28. Frankie Edgar
27. Holly Holm
26. Junior dos Santos
25. Dominick Cruz
24. Henry Cejudo
23. Donald Cerrone
22. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
21. Johny Hendricks
20. Stipe Miocic
19. Robbie Lawler
18. Michael Bisping
17. Nate Diaz
16. Israel Adesanya
15. Max Holloway
14. Jose Aldo
13. Brock Lesnar
12. Jorge Masvidal
11. Amanda Nunes
10. Chris Weidman
9. Khabib Nurmagomedov
8. Cain Velasquez
7. Demetrious Johnson
6. Daniel Cormier
5. Anderson Silva
4. Ronda Rousey
3. Jon Jones
2. Georges St-Pierre
1. Conor McGregor

 

[Youth N Asia]

I’m not doing a list. But Mas is way high at 12. He kinda made himself known on a major level with just a few months left in the decade.

 

[AA484]

I’m not doing a list. But Mas is way high at 12. He kinda made himself known on a major level with just a few months left in the decade.

I thought maybe he was too high but he had a great year both in and out of the cage so I wanted his ranking to reflect that. He may be the biggest draw out of currently active fighters (unless you count McGregor as active).

 

[Lord of The Curry]

Masvidal over Aldo?

NOPE

 

[Lord of The Curry]

Masvidal over Joanna?

NOPE

 

[Lord of The Curry]

Masvidal over JDS?

NOPE

 

[AA484]

Masvidal may have been the biggest name in the sport last year. He was all over ESPN. That has to count for something. If someone had a break out year I tended to rank them higher. Maybe I weighted it a little bit more than I thought to the "non-fighting" side of things.

 

[Lord of The Curry]

Jose Aldo defended a title for five years straight.

Five years.