UFC TOP 100 Greatest Fighters Ever – 90 to 81

Ray Thomson, owner of MMA promotion Almight Fighting Championsip has spent the last 18 months devising a points system to show which fighters have had the most success in the UFC.

Fighters score points based on card placement, winning, which round they win or lose in and UFC bonuses. Title fights are worth double.

The system has gone from UFC 1 up to Ultimate Fight Night OSP v Okami (latest event).

While the system isn’t perfect it has intrigued us enough at MMA UK to publish the results to gauge the thoughts of the MMA community.

Here is part one of the rankings starting from 90-81.

90th Ed Herman 162pts

We first saw Ed on the Ultimate Fighter Season 3, he made it to the middleweight final and lost an exciting fight via decision to Kendall Grove, he did get a fight of the night bonus for his efforts. Ed then made it two defeats in a row being submitted by Jason MacDonald before going on a three fight winning streak beating Chris Price (submission of the night bonus), Scott Smith (another submission of the night) and Joe Doerksen (knockout of the night and third bonus in a row). He then lost two fights in a row losing to Demian Maia and Alan Belcher before beating David Louiseau. He then lost to Aaron Simpson before going on a three fight win streak beating Tim Creuder, Kyle Noke and Clifford Starks. He then lost to Jake Shields before having one fight outside the UFC. In is next fight he beat Trevor Smith and also won a fight of the night bonus. He then lost to Thales Leites, beat Rafael Natal and then lost to Derek Brunson before moving up to light heavyweight, beating Tim Boestch and getting a performance of the night bonus. He has since lost two fights in a row at light heavyweight to Nikita Krylov and CB Dollaway.

89th Erick Silva 162pts

Erick made his debut at UFC 134 beating Luis Ramos in forty seconds in the welterweight division. He then suffered a controversial loss to Carlo Prater as he was disqualified for strikes to the back of the head. In his next fight he submitted Charlie Brenneman and was awarded submission of the night before losing in a war to Jon Fitch and picking up a fight of the night bonus. He then beat Jason High and picked up his third bonus in three fights (another submission of the night). Next up was a knock out loss to Dong Hyun Kim before picking up another stoppage win (over Takenori Sato) and picking up another performance of the night bonus. He then suffered another loss in an absolute war with Matt Brown which seen him pick up yet another fight of the night bonus. He bounced back after that loss submitting Mike Rhodes and picking up another performance of the night (his sixth in seven fights). He then submitted Josh Koscheck before losing two fights in a row (Neil Magny and Nordine Taleb). His last win to date was over Luan Chagas (another bonus as well, fight of the night). His last fight in the UFC as it stands is a loss to Yancy Medeiros.

88th Royce Gracie 165pts

Royce was the first UFC star, he made his debut on UFC 1 and won an 8 man tournament submitting three opponents in one night (Art Jimmerson, Ken Shamrock and Gerard Gordeau). UFC 2 was a sixteen man tournament, but again it was business as usual as Royce submitted four opponents in one night (Minoki Ichihara, Jason DeLucia, Remco Pardoel and Pat Smith). UFC 3 was the first time we seen Royce in trouble, in the opening round of the eight man tournament he submitted a tough Kimo Leopaldo, but Kimo made it such a physical fight that Royce was to exhausted to carry on in the tournament. He returned at UFC 4 and won the eight man tournament again submitting Ron Van Clief and Keith Hackney before facing Dan Severn and sinking in a triangle armbar after having Dan in his guard for around fifteen minutes. Royce returned to UFC 5 to face the other standout from the early UFC’s Ken Shamrock in a superfight championship match. They fought for thirty six minutes and the fight was declared a draw. Royce left the UFC but returned one last time eleven years later to fight the welterweight champion Matt Hughes in a catchweight fight. Matt was to much for Royce beating him in the first round via strikes from back mount.

86th Cub Swanson 166pts

Cub made his UFC debut after the UFC introduced the lower weight classes and adopted the fighters from WEC. His debut was on the first ever UFC on Fox card against Ricardo Lamas. Cub lost the fight via submission. After that loss Cub went on an amazing winning streak winning six fights in a row, he stopped George Roop, then Ross Pearson (picking up a knockout of the night bonus), then Charles Oliviera (at a catch weight as Charles missed weight), another knockout and another knock out of the night bonus, then Dustin Poirier, then Dennis Siver and Jeremy Stephens (both fights earning a fight of the night bonus). He then lost two fights in a row to Frankie Edgar and Max Holloway. He is currently on a four fight win streak beating Hacran Dias, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Doo Ho Choi (another fight of the night plus this fight was called the best fight of 2016) and finally Artem Lobov (another fight of the night).

86th Thiago Tavares 166pts

Thiago made his UFC debut on UFC Fight Night: Stevenson v Guillard at lightweight beating Naoyuki Kotani. In his next fight he submitted Jason Black and picked up a submission of the night bonus. He then lost to Tyson Griffin but picked up a fight of the night bonus. He then beat Michihiro Omigawa before losing two fights in a row to Matt Wiman and Kurt Pellegrino (picking up fight of the night for both of those losses). He the beat Manny Gamburyan, drew with Nik Lentz and then beat Pat Audinwood. In his next outing he was knocked out by Shane Roller before winning two on the bounce over Spencer Fisher and Sam Stout. He then had two more fights at lightweight ( a loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov and a win over Justin Salas) before dropping down to featherweight. In his feather weight debut he submitted Robbie Peralta and picked up a performance of the night bonus. Then he lost to Brian Ortega (another fight of the night bonus) and then had a quick submission win over Clay Guida (another performance of the night bonus). In his last UFC fight to date he was knocked out by Doo Ho Choi.

85th Ovince St Preux 167pts

Ovince made his UFC debut at UFC 159 beating Gian Villante via a technical decision in the light heavyweight division. He then won three more times beating Cody Donovan, Nikita Krylov (with the rare Von Flue Choke, winning a performance of the night bonus) and Ryan Jimmo. He lost his next fight to Ryan Bader before blasting his way through Mauricio Rua in thirty four seconds picking up another performance of the night bonus. He then beat Patrick Cummins before losing to Glover Teixeira (picking up a fight of the night bonus). He then beat Rafael Cavalcante before facing and losing to Jon Jones for the interim light heavyweight title. He then lost another two on the bounce to Jimi Manuwa and Volkan Oezdemir before winning his latest two fights to Marcos Rogerio de Lima (catchweight as Marcos missed weight) and Yushin Okami. Both wins were by the rare Von Flue Choke (5 in UFC history and 3 belong to him). He also picked up a performance of the night bonus for his stoppage of Okami.

83rd Yoel Romero 170pts

Yoel made his UFC debut at UFC in Fox: Henderson v Melendez at middleweight knocking out Clifford Starks and picking up a knockout of the night bonus. He went on to win seven more fights working his way up the rankings with wins over Ronny Markes, Derek Brunson (fight of the night), Brad Tavares, Tim Kennedy (fight of the night), Lyoto Machida (performance of the night), Ronaldo Souza and Chris Weidman (performance of the night). His last fight was for the interim title which he lost in a five round war to Robert Whittaker which saw him pick up another fight of the night bonus.

83rd Jake Ellenberger 170pts

Jake made his UFC debut on UFC Fight Night: Guillard v Diaz at welterweight losing a split decision to Carlos Condit. He then won six fights in a row beating Mike Pyle, John Howard, Carlos Eduardo Rocha, Sean Pierson, Jake Shields (knockout of the night bonus) and Diego Sanchez (fight of the night bonus). He then lost to Martin Kampmann before winning two more in a row against Jay Hieron and Nate Marquardt (another knockout of the night bonus). He then lost three in a row against Rory MacDonald, Robbie Lawler and Kelvin Gastelum. He then submitted Josh Koscheck picking up a performance of the night bonus before losing to Stephen Thompson and Tarec Saffiedine. His last win to date was a stoppage win over Matt Brown which saw him pick up a performance of the night bonus. He is currently on a two fight losing streak with losses to Jorge Masvidal and Mike Perry.

81st Stephen Thompson 173pts

Stephen made his debut at UFC 143 at welterweight knocking out Dan Stittgen and picking up a knockout of the night bonus. In his next fight he lost to Matt Brown before winning seven fights in a row against Nah-Shon Burrell, Chris Clements, Robert Whittaker (performance of the night), Patrick Cote, Jake Ellenberger (performance of the night), Johny Hendricks (performance of the night) and Rory MacDonald. This earnt him a title shot at the champion Tyron Woodley, after a five round war the fight was declared a draw and also won fight of the night. In the rematch Stephen lost by decision.

81st Gleison Tibau 173pts

Gleison made his UFC debut at UFC 65 losing to Nick Diaz in the welterweight division. He then dropped to lightweight winning three fights in a row against Jason Dent, Jeff Cox and Terry Etim. He then lost two in a row to Tyson Griffin and Joe Stevenson. He then beat Rich Clementi and Jeremy Stephens (at a catchweight as Jeremy and Gleison both missed weight). He then lost to Melvin Guillard before winning two in a row again beating Josh Neer (another catchweight as they both missed weight) and Caol Uno. He then lost to Jim Miller. Next up was a three fight win streak beating Kurt Pellegrino, Rafaello Oliviera (submission of the night) and Rafael dos Anjos. Next up was a loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov, then a win over Francisco Trinaldo and then another loss to Evan Dunham. He then picked up two wins in a row beating John Cholish and Jamie Varner before losing to Michael Johnson. He then won three fights in a row beating Pat Healy, Piotr Hallman (fight of the night) and Norman Parke. He then lost to Tony Ferguson before submitting Abel Trujillo. He hasn’t fought since 2015.