Vote Now: CBSSports.com’s “King Quest” to determine the greatest fighter of all-time
July 13, 2008 by Sam Caplan
CBSSports.com is currently running an “MMA King Quest” series in which several contributors to the site’s MMA section have voted on the top-25 fighters of all-time. The top 32 fighters have been seeded and an imaginary tournament to determine the number one fighter is ongoing. The readers are in charge of voting on which fighters will advance.
You can see the full rules and cast your votes by clicking here. Vote soon as the first round will be closed out on Tuesday.
The first-round matchups are as follows:
1. Fedor Emelianenko vs.
32. Rich Franklin
16. Tito Ortiz vs.
17. Urijah Faber
9. Kazushi Sakuraba vs.
24. Dan Severn
8. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs.
25. Miguel Torres
5. Matt Hughes vs.
28. Sean Sherk
12. Bas Rutten vs.
21. Rickson Gracie
13. Frank Shamrock
20. Mauricio Rua
4. B.J. Penn vs.
29. Don Frye
3. Chuck Liddell vs.
30. Matt Lindland
14. Quinton Jackson vs.
19. Mirko “Cro Cop” Fililpovic
11. Royce Gracie vs.
22. Mark Coleman
6. Anderson Silva vs.
27. Cung Le
7. Wanderlei Silva vs.
26. Vitor Belfort
10. Georges St. Pierre vs.
23. Takanori Gomi
15. Dan Henderson vs.
18. Ken Shamrock
2. Randy Couture vs.
31. Josh Barnett
Poor Rich Franklin
Bas should be way higher
Two years from now, I bet Miguel Torres is seeded higher than 25th.
Anderson’s been dominant lately, but I don’t know that he’s Wanderlei dominant. I might’ve switched those two berths.
Ken Shamrock? Royce Gracie? Cung Le? Don Frye?
Why not add Kimbo Slice to the list?
Who in their right mind would ever put Couture over Barnett? Barnett defeated Couture soundly AND went on to become a MUCH MUCH better fighter.
this is stupid….Faber vs a heavy weight… how does this show who the best fighter is.. size has alot to do with it
randy isnt called the natural for nothing, and barnett loves the sauce hence his tantrums when he loses and why he doesnt fight in the us often, testing is too strict. btw these matchups are all rediculous, not sure why this was posted.
@#5 He went on to become a BIGGER fighter, thanks to roids…
Way too many unnecessary names here. You could immediately narrow this down to:
Royce Gracie, Bas Rutten, Josh Barnett, Ken Shamrock, Frank Shamrock, Randy Couture, Dan Henderson, GSP, Anderson Silva, Cro Cop, Chuck Liddell, Matt Hughes, BJ Penn, Nogueira, Faber, and Fedor.
Of course, it’s too early to tell with the best current guys, like GSP and Penn. And guys like Hughes have lost their luster with recent losses.
Bas Rutten had the best career of the older guys. Whoever wins the Penn/GSP superfight has great potential to head this list down the line. Anderson Silva is the obvious current choice, along with Fedor.
Sam, honestly why is Cung Le on there?
at #4 are u serious kimbo slice what the hell he has not fought any sort of top filght comp
#10 - The Legend. I’m going to guess because CBSsports.com is for the common sports fan and a lot of causal MMA fans my have seen him on showtime. While I am sure Sam doesn’t expect him to win its better than obscure names that people may have never heard of but the Die Hards know.
With that said I am sure Cro Cop is going to lose handily.
Sorry, but this is funny to me.
When you discuss something like the greatest ever, it is similar to a hall of fame conversation. You have to be at the top of the sport, for an extended period of time and make a significant contribution or difference in the sport.
Cung Le? Even Anderson could be argued as not being deserving…yet. Same for many of the guys on there, they just haven’t come close to completing their careers yet. Seriously, who has Cung fought to deserve mention here? Nothing against him, but his only significant win is an aging Frank Shamrock. And by aging, I mean his career is nearing the end.
I know, much of this is about generating the debate, but it is laughable. This is like asking which baseball player had the best career and include guys that have only played a couple of years and who have mostly played currently or recently.
If you dont say Saku, then you are very new to the sport, like say the last five years, and all you’ve watched was the UFC.
MoreThanUFC…its not Sakuraba.
Now will you please send me a plaque that clearly states my personal level of a fan? It would look beautiful above my octagon shaped fire place.
“”Ken Shamrock? Royce Gracie?
Why not add Kimbo Slice to the list?”"
…
Are you a total newb or a total tard?
Cung Le? FTW?
frank shamrock no.1
If Cung Le is allowed on this list so should Frank Dux and Joe Armstrong, since we are obviously shooting to determine the Greatest Fantasy Land Absurdist Champion Of All Time. My vote is for Ivan Drago.
I’ll counter Ivan with Clubber Lang for the #1 seed. Who’s this “Fedor” anyway?