Plenty of MMA fans like to honor the old guard. It’s not too difficult when the sport you follow is not even 20 years old. You get a lot of bang for your buck with the honoring.
And yet, there are some fighters who fall through the cracks when the conversation turns to the best in the sport’s brief history. Here are 10 fighters one might find in those cracks if one wanted to dig around in there.
These are pro MMA fighters only. No disciplinary pioneers like Helio Gracie or Gene Lebell. No “Big” John McCarthy, Dana White or other figures like that. These are actual fighters who were feared in their time, and/or made substantial contributions to the sport.