By E. Spencer Kyte (espencerkyte@mmaratings.net)
Welcome to The UFC 100!
After months of not so hard work and a late night ranking session yesterday, the list is complete and we’re ready to roll out to you our picks for the 100 Best Fighters in UFC history.
A few things to remember heading into the list:
- Records aren’t everything
- Who you’ve lost to means something
- Only UFC fights are taken into account
- Half the fun of lists like this are the arguments
In the words of Big John McCarthy, “Let’s Get It On!”
100. Harold Howard
UFC Record: 2-2
Victories Over: Royce Gracie
He was the first man to beat the legendary Royce Gracie, earning the win at UFC 3. Now, it was because Gracie got hurt in his previous fight and couldn’t continue, but everyone needs their 15 minutes of fame and this is Howard’s, and a mighty fine piece of MMA trivia.
99. Patrick Cote
UFC Record: 5-6
Victories Over: Scott Smith, Kendall Grove, Ricardo Almeida
“The Predator” nearly got cut from the list altogether, but having 11 UFC fights and having earned a title fight after an 0-4 start inside the Octagon saved him. Now he needs to get healthy and remind us why he was in the ring with Anderson Silva in the first place.
98. Dave Menne
UFC Record: 2-4
Victories Over: Gil Castillo and Fabiano Iha
Meet the original Matt Serra. Menne was the first UFC Middleweight Champion, earning the belt by defeating Castillo at UFC 33. That win was his last in the UFC, as he surrendered the title to Murilo Bustamante four months later before getting knocked out by Phil Baroni and fading into the sunset.
97. Thiago Silva
UFC Record: 4-1
Victories Over: James Irvin, Tomasz Drwal, Houston Alexander
While you probably couldn’t have named all of Silva’s wins, you certainly know his one loss, a brutal knockout at the hands of Lyoto Machida that propelled “The Dragon” onto the Light Heavyweight title. Silva has the makings of a middle tier murderer in the UFC, crushing weaker foes, but unable to beat the best of the bunch. We’ll see how he does against Keith Jardine.
96. Nate Diaz
UFC Record: 5-2
Victories Over: Manny Gamburyan, Josh Neer, Kurt Pelligrino
Maybe Nate Diaz should take the confidence down a notch. It’s not going to happen, but his impressive 5-0 start in the UFC was full of wins over guys he should have beaten, while his two losses came against tougher opponents in Clay Guida and Joe Stevenson. Sometimes, you’ve just gotta shut your mouth and let your skills do the talking. Lately, that hasn’t been the case for Nate.
95. Chris “Lights Out” Lytle
UFC Record: 6-9
Victories Over: Kevin Burns, Paul Taylor, Tiki Ghosn
The picture used to lead off this list is the perfect representation of why Chris Lytle is still around. Even when he’s covered in blood (and that is his own blood), he keeps coming forward and puts on a good fight. He hasn’t beaten anyone above mid-card status in his UFC career, but he gives the fans and the UFC what they want to see.
94. Nate “The Rock” Quarry
UFC Record: 6-2
Victories Over: Pete Sell (2), Kalib Starnes, Jason MacDonald
A member of the original Ultimate Fighter series, Quarry is best known as the guy who punched himself when Kalib Starnes wouldn’t engage him at UFC 83. Quarry could conceivably be higher up this list had he not lost two years to back surgery and rehab, as his two losses are to Rich Franklin (pre-injury) and Demian Maia (post-injury), two fighters you’ll see much higher up in the charts.
93. Wilson Gouveia
UFC Record: 6-3
Victories Over: Jason MacDonald, Jason Lambert, Carmello Marrero
Gouveia fits nicely with all the guys around him here in the bottom 10 of The UFC 100. He beats up on the guys he should beat up on and gets beaten by the tougher competition, as his three losses are to Nate Marquardt, Goran Reljic and Keith Jardine. His UFC 102 fight with James Irvin will be very, very important for his future.
92. Din Thomas
UFC Record: 5-4
Victories Over: Matt Serra, Clay Guida, Rich Clementi
The American Top Team member has fought the best there is over his career, as three of his four UFC loses come at the hands of B.J. Penn, Caol Uno and Kenny Florian. Thomas has now dropped down to fight at 145, so chances are we won’t see him again in the UFC.
91. Jeremy Horn
UFC Record: 6-7
Victories Over: Chuck Liddell, Trevor Prangley, Chael Sonnen
“Gumby” is one of a select few fighters with over 100 professional fights in his career. 13 of those came under the UFC banner. Lately, they have been losing efforts, dropping three straight to Rousimar Pahlares, Dean Lister and Nate Marquardt, but way back at UFC 19: Ultimate Young Guns, he secured an arm triangle on some newcomer named Liddell.
Join us tomorrow as we tackles No. 90 – 81 and as always, your comments are encouraged.
Originally posted at Keyboard Kimura.
