The heavyweight division has long been the bright spot in combat sports. From boxing legends like Muhammad Ali and “Iron” Mike Tyson, to MMA greats Fedor Emelianenko and Fabricio Werdum, fans have always been drawn to heavyweights. From their towering structures, to their bone crushing knockout power, heavyweights have never had trouble drawing fans to
The heavyweight division has long been the bright spot in combat sports.
From boxing legends like Muhammad Ali and “Iron” Mike Tyson, to MMA greats Fedor Emelianenko and Fabricio Werdum, fans have always been drawn to heavyweights.
From their towering structures, to their bone crushing knockout power, heavyweights have never had trouble drawing fans to seats, or eyes to televisions.
Currently in MMA, the UFC’s heavyweight division is at an interesting stage.
With injuries running rampant throughout the upper echelon of the division over the last few years, a new champion has recently rose to prominence, as well as a wealth of new contenders who have made the division quite cloudy, yet exciting at the same time.
With that being said, it’s interesting to take a dive deep into the rich history of MMA’s most prolific division, and not only within the UFC, but within the sport as a whole.
Read on to see the 12 best heavyweights of all-time:
The permutation of the heavyweight ranks and infusion of new talent has created an unfamiliar landscape in the last eight years.
It was nearly a decade ago that Fedor Emelianenko was still the undefeated Russian nightmare, towering over every heavyweig…
The permutation of the heavyweight ranks and infusion of new talent has created an unfamiliar landscape in the last eight years.
It was nearly a decade ago that FedorEmelianenko was still the undefeated Russian nightmare, towering over every heavyweight on the planet, and Randy Couture was the real-life Rocky Balboa, brandishing UFC gold at the unprecedented age of 44.
Things change in sports. Rosters and rankings are modeled and shaped anew. But we never forget about the legacies that enthralled us for a moment in time.
Couture and Emelianenko were two of the greatest and most beloved fighters in MMA history, and we never got to see them share a ring. There was always some contractual holdup or corporate bigwig impeding the dream fight from ever coming to fruition.
Both men eventually retired and came to terms with the fact that they would never get an opportunity to fight one another.
But we all know you never say never in MMA.
Union MMA, per BloodyElbow.com, reported a week ago that Emelianenko would be coming out of retirement and returning to fighting. This news obviously piqued the interest of the now 52-year-old Couture, who hasn’t competed in over four years.
When speaking with MMA Fighting’s Chuck Mindenhall, Couture admitted he would contemplate a return fight with Emelianenko under the right circumstances:
You never say never — you never say ‘no, I’m not going to do that.’ But I’m very, very happy being retired doing all the other stuff I’m doing. If the stars align and the right situation came up…you know, Fedor’s not a cheap ticket. So I don’t know who’s going to pay that price right now. … I know the UFC would like to get it done, and more than likely I’m out if that’s the case.
VadimFinkelchtein, Emelianenko’s ex-manager, told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour that Emelianenko hopes to receive an offer to fight in the UFC.
Not much is known about Couture’s current contractual standing with the UFC, aside from him signing a six-fight deal with the promotion after his loss to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in 2009. He only fulfilled four of those fights before retiring nearly two years later.
The ball could once again be in the UFC’s court pertaining to this legendary heavyweight fight.
JordyMcElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He also is the MMA writer for FanRag Sports and co-founder of The MMA Bros.
Not every prospect pans out. You’ll see some guys and be sure they’re going to hold a championship, and maybe hold it for a very long time.
UFC 102 was a night where one of those guys was seemingly born. It’s a night remembered now f…
Not every prospect pans out. You’ll see some guys and be sure they’re going to hold a championship, and maybe hold it for a very long time.
UFC 102 was a night where one of those guys was seemingly born. It’s a night remembered now for its headlining tilt between legends Randy Couture and Rodrigo Nogueira, but on the undercard of the event was a young heavyweight by the name of Todd Duffee.
And on that undercard that young heavyweight scored a vicious stoppage of Tim Hague in only seven seconds, leaving the world sure that he would be a force to be reckoned with for a long time.
How could he not be? He was 24-years-old, undefeated, built like Hercules and coming off one of the most memorable UFC debuts in history. He was a lock to impress for years to come.
Only he lost his next bout to Mike Russow, best known more for fighting crime than fighting in the UFC, and was jettisoned from the promotion soon after for being anti-UFC – the greatest crime in the Zuffa handbook.
From there he was cannon fodder for Alistair Overeem in DREAM and left the sport for a year and a half. When he came back, he won a single fight before the UFC came calling again for a warm body in their shallow heavyweight division.
Another win, another year off, another win, and he lined up a fight with former champion Frank Mir.
This was the one. This was the fight where he’d realize his potential and show the world what he’s capable of.
Only he didn’t.
After years of ups and downs and falling short right when he needed to clear a hurdle, his greatest fall came in trying to clear his biggest hurdle.
On paper beating Mir meant something. This was an all-time heavyweight great, a man possessing some of the best jiu-jitsu in the sport and who looked obviously rejuvenated in his last bout only months ago. To beat him would be to draw major attention to the Duffee that was finally arriving in the way so many had predicted.
In practice though, this was a diminished Mir. This was a man who showed up doughy at the weigh-ins for the first time in his career, wearing every scar, pound and inch that 14 years as a heavyweight in this game will provide. This was the same man who’d lost four straight before beating Antonio Silva in February to save his UFC life.
This was a man waiting to be beaten. And Duffee couldn’t do it.
In a short burst of highly entertaining violence, he looked wild and technically outclassed by Mir. For every swinging barn door of a shot that Duffee threw, it seemed like his opponent was landing two or three more swift shots and hurting him. Accumulation of such damage at heavyweight is usually a precursor to an early night, and when Duffee crumpled to the canvas he proved to be no different.
That frustrating outcome against a veteran tailor-made to be the premiere scalp on his wall is the exact slip-up that defines Duffee as an unfortunate never-was for the UFC to this point. It was a win that was easier to obtain than people would admit going in and would retroactively look better on a resume than it really was, and Duffee simply couldn’t reach out and grab it.
It was all opportunity, and it was lost before it ever got particularly close to being seized.
There may be hope for him down the line. He’s still under 30, he’s still got frightening power in his punches and his frame and he still looks like a star. But this one against Mir, this felt like the contest to link it all together.
But Wednesday night in San Diego, Todd Duffee killed off whatever momentum he had. Without starting anew and getting over the hump, that never-was tag is in danger of sticking for good.
Not every prospect pans out. You’ll see some guys and be sure they’re going to hold a championship, and maybe hold it for a very long time.
UFC 102 was a night where one of those guys was seemingly born. It’s a night remembered now f…
Not every prospect pans out. You’ll see some guys and be sure they’re going to hold a championship, and maybe hold it for a very long time.
UFC 102 was a night where one of those guys was seemingly born. It’s a night remembered now for its headlining tilt between legends Randy Couture and Rodrigo Nogueira, but on the undercard of the event was a young heavyweight by the name of Todd Duffee.
And on that undercard that young heavyweight scored a vicious stoppage of Tim Hague in only seven seconds, leaving the world sure that he would be a force to be reckoned with for a long time.
How could he not be? He was 24-years-old, undefeated, built like Hercules and coming off one of the most memorable UFC debuts in history. He was a lock to impress for years to come.
Only he lost his next bout to Mike Russow, best known more for fighting crime than fighting in the UFC, and was jettisoned from the promotion soon after for being anti-UFC – the greatest crime in the Zuffa handbook.
From there he was cannon fodder for Alistair Overeem in DREAM and left the sport for a year and a half. When he came back, he won a single fight before the UFC came calling again for a warm body in their shallow heavyweight division.
Another win, another year off, another win, and he lined up a fight with former champion Frank Mir.
This was the one. This was the fight where he’d realize his potential and show the world what he’s capable of.
Only he didn’t.
After years of ups and downs and falling short right when he needed to clear a hurdle, his greatest fall came in trying to clear his biggest hurdle.
On paper beating Mir meant something. This was an all-time heavyweight great, a man possessing some of the best jiu-jitsu in the sport and who looked obviously rejuvenated in his last bout only months ago. To beat him would be to draw major attention to the Duffee that was finally arriving in the way so many had predicted.
In practice though, this was a diminished Mir. This was a man who showed up doughy at the weigh-ins for the first time in his career, wearing every scar, pound and inch that 14 years as a heavyweight in this game will provide. This was the same man who’d lost four straight before beating Antonio Silva in February to save his UFC life.
This was a man waiting to be beaten. And Duffee couldn’t do it.
In a short burst of highly entertaining violence, he looked wild and technically outclassed by Mir. For every swinging barn door of a shot that Duffee threw, it seemed like his opponent was landing two or three more swift shots and hurting him. Accumulation of such damage at heavyweight is usually a precursor to an early night, and when Duffee crumpled to the canvas he proved to be no different.
That frustrating outcome against a veteran tailor-made to be the premiere scalp on his wall is the exact slip-up that defines Duffee as an unfortunate never-was for the UFC to this point. It was a win that was easier to obtain than people would admit going in and would retroactively look better on a resume than it really was, and Duffee simply couldn’t reach out and grab it.
It was all opportunity, and it was lost before it ever got particularly close to being seized.
There may be hope for him down the line. He’s still under 30, he’s still got frightening power in his punches and his frame and he still looks like a star. But this one against Mir, this felt like the contest to link it all together.
But Wednesday night in San Diego, Todd Duffee killed off whatever momentum he had. Without starting anew and getting over the hump, that never-was tag is in danger of sticking for good.
(Tim Sylvia, in his bantamweight debut. / Photo via Getty)
UFC 182 was certainly the talk of the town this weekend, yet we couldn’t help but notice a former UFC Heavyweight Champion call it a day after going on an Arby’s world tour to train for his most recent bout.
According to The Underground, Maine’s own Tim Sylvia retired yesterday, shortly after his super-heavyweight fight against Juliano “Banana” Coutinho at Reality Fighting 53 was cancelled. Sylvia, who was planning on entering the battlefield at a whopping 371 pounds, was not cleared to fight by the Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic Regulation at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT., and thank the good Lord for that.
However, manager Monte Cox confirmed on Facebook there was a problem with his pre-fight MRI, and the bout was cancelled due to other issues apart from his weight. Nevertheless, the face-off picture of a bloated Timmeh surfaced on social media and MMA sites around the world, and that was enough for its experts to stare at it without blinking for the whole duration of the UFC 182 main card (except for the main event, of course).
(Tim Sylvia, in his bantamweight debut. / Photo via Getty)
UFC 182 was certainly the talk of the town this weekend, yet we couldn’t help but notice a former UFC Heavyweight Champion call it a day after going on an Arby’s world tour to train for his most recent bout.
According to The Underground, Maine’s own Tim Sylvia retired yesterday, shortly after his super-heavyweight fight against Juliano “Banana” Coutinho at Reality Fighting 53 was cancelled. Sylvia, who was planning on entering the battlefield at a whopping 371 pounds, was not cleared to fight by the Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic Regulation at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT., and thank the good Lord for that.
However, manager Monte Cox confirmed on Facebook there was a problem with his pre-fight MRI, and the bout was cancelled due to other issues apart from his weight. Nevertheless, the face-off picture of a bloated Timmeh surfaced on social media and MMA sites around the world, and that was enough for its experts to stare at it without blinking for the whole duration of the UFC 182 main card (except for the main event, of course).
On the tail end of a three-fight losing streak, last night would have been the 42nd time Sylvia competed in a professional MMA contest. As one of the proud Miletech boys fighting out of Bettendorf, IA., Sylvia made his debut at UFC 39, earning a TKO stoppage over Wesley “Cabbage” Correira. He would go on to win the heavyweight strap in his next fight, knocking out Ricco Rodriguez in one round at UFC 41. However, a failed post-fight drug test saw him stripped of the title after his win over Gan McGee at UFC 44.
After his arm was snapped like a wishbone courtesy of Frank Mir at UFC 48 for the vacant heavyweight title, Sylvia would lose to arch rival Andrei Arlovski shortly after, being his second unsuccessful attempt at claiming back his gold. After winning three fights in a row, “The Maine-iac” bested “The Pit Bull” to win back his title at UFC 59, and went up 2-1 in their rubber match at UFC 61. Considering their heavyweight trilogy was part of the UFC’s dark days, most fans will remember Sylvia’s title reign for the amount of times he showed up to the arena as a spectator with the belt around his waist, not to mention walking into restaurants with it on as he accompanied Matt Hughes to umpteen dosages of fried foods on UFC All Access.
Sylvia would eventually lose the belt to Randy Couture at UFC 68, and despite numerous title fights in the UFC, his loss against Pride champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira would be his last one, and ultimately, his final fight inside the Octagon.
Hell, he even tried to get back into the UFC not long ago, but it wasn’t going to happen as long as UFC head honcho Dana White was pulling the strings, even though he’s still tied for most successful heavyweight title defenses.
We bid you adieu, Mr. Sylvia … but for God’s sake, lose some weight.
The permutation of the heavyweight ranks and infusion of new talent has created an unfamiliar landscape in the last eight years.