Ranking UFC Heavyweight Champions

What do you guys think?

This list takes into account competition faced, title reigns and what they meant to the UFC...

1. Randy Couture (Legend, 3x Champ)
2. Bas Rutten (Legend, title reign only ended through injury)
3. Tim Sylvia (2x Champ)
4. Frank Mir (Lost title via injury & interim champ)
5. Andrei Arlovksi
6. Brock Lesnar
7. Kevin Randleman
8. Maurice Smith
9. Mark Coleman
10. Ricco Rodriguez
11. Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira (Only an interim champ)
12. Josh Barnett (Drug cheat)

not sure about a few of them mate... starting with tim

Tim's a two time champ with defences against Monson and Arlovski.

1. Randy Couture
2. Bas Rutten
3. Tim Sylvia
4. Mark Coleman
5. Frank Mir
6. Andrei Arlovksi
7. Brock Lesnar
8. Ricco Rodriguez
9. Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira
10. Kevin Randleman
11. Maurice Smith
12. Barnett

Yeah but you also said what they did for the UFC... Tim was an aweful HW in my opinion. Mark Coleman has done alot more for the UFC, as much as it pain me i'd also say Brock has too

Really makes UFC's Hw devision look piss poor when Timbo is top 3!

At a glance those ratings look fair enough, Its based on Defences and number of titles which is hard to argue with I take it? Coleman was down there looks weird though he didnt even Defend the title once.

Randleman won a Vacant Title, which is no better than an Interim title. Technically at one defence each you could argue that Mo Smith is above Randleman as he beat the Champ to get the belt.

I would say if you take the "what they did for the UFC" quote out then yeh thats fair enough, but to claim Tim is third is poor, if anything he made the HW division piss poor, HAHA Randy actually saved the day!!

If its who's done most for the sport then Lesnar is top 3, if not one. Sylvia was a shit champion because he was always boring and got the shit kicked out him by Fedor and Mercer losing both in a combined time of less than a minute. Fedor is very understandable but the Mercer fight was an embarassment of himself, the UFC and MMA in general.

If it's based on what a UFC champion has done throughout their career then Nog is miles and miles ahead of all the rest.

I made a stupid error in my previous post, ofc i meant Lesnar had done the most for the UFC, not the sport!

If its whole career then I agree with Anfield, it has to be Nog.

Surely Royce should be in there as the original champ, pre weight classes?

jimmyboypost wrote:
3. Tim Sylvia (2x Champ)
10. Ricco Rodriguez

Not to be pedantic but these two have also been busted on drug charges relating to MMA.

And most importantly Randy Couture makes his way on to that list by being the UFC's face of MMA (which would be Liddell if hadn't become punch drunk.) The Natural has done a number of things for the sport but he is deservedly overated.

Royce wasnt heavweight champ Paolo... He is rating guys who held the Hw title, not tournament winners. Strangely Shammy never held the belt as well. Its a real shame we never saw either of them vs Coleman the more I think about it.

haha good point Tom, PED's are far far more widespread in MMA than people acknowlege, I dont see why Barnett takes 10X more shit than anyone else...

Sherk is smart enough not to show up when he knows he will Piss hot... he avoided what 3 fights in a row because he knew he would fail the tests again.

Monson Openly admits he takes Steroids but being smarter than Barnett he beats the tests by timing his cycles. I dont get why Barnett gets far far more shit... other than the fact he made us miss out on the Fedor fight!! He would have beat Couture roids or no roids... and if Couture is the best Champ surely Barnett diserves credit for beating him for the title and never actually loosing it in a fight.

It'd be great if UFC signed Barnett for a Couture rematch,

"Royce wasnt heavweight champ Paolo"

Yeah I know bro, but I'm saying maybe he should be considered since he beat heavyweights to be the original UFC champ? Just sometimes seems like he's removed from considerations purely because of the lack of weight classes in his day, when in reality that just makes his achievements all the more impressive?

rudeboyben84 wrote:Monson Openly admits he takes Steroids but being smarter than Barnett he beats the tests by timing his cycles. I dont get why Barnett gets far far more shit... other than the fact he made us miss out on the Fedor fight!! He would have beat Couture roids or no roids... and if Couture is the best Champ surely Barnett diserves credit for beating him for the title and never actually loosing it in a fight.

Not to be funny Ben but do you have any solid quotes or film footage of Monson admitting taking performance enhancers? Otherwise, I take most rumours to do with steroids with a pinch of salt. I like to see most claims proven and Barnett still keeps trying to fight the most recent steroids bust but his case keeps being pushed back.

i thought the same thing, but i looked it up and found this:

http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Monson-Talks-Steroids-Legalize-Everything-8781

"It's hard to get to get to this level without having used something. When people ask me on the street or in the gym and they're polite about it, I'll tell 'em, and I've used things before. And it's been quite a while. Like I said, I've been tested for the last couple years in the UFC and I've been clean and will continue to be so. You just can't do it anymore. You just can't risk your career by taking something like that."

"You can have a great career and they find out you used, and then you have a black mark on you forever," continued Monson. "It's just not worth it. You can't do those things. You're playing kinda 'chemistry set' with your career and I don't think there's enough knowledge out there to be able to do that, unless you're like a doctor.

Good post mate, Fair play to Monson, he is one of the coolest characters in MMA... even if he can Box for shit!

I didnt know Monson had stopped using... hard to believe he stacked on that much Muscle Naturally though. The Guy is 250lbs noe. he has stedily got bigger and bigger... I dont know, not that I dont believe him just there are other fighters who I think are beating the system.

Sherk claims he is injured when he cant beat the piss test and get his cycles right. Nick Diaz was beating the Piss test for Smoke every time... not that its the same but the tests can be beat in one way or another, Id imagine PED use is far more widespread that the ones who have been caught red handed!

Chestie, thanks so much for the quick reply. Well, if he's quoted as having taken them there then I'll believe it. It's interesting that he says that he has historically taken them but doesn't do it any more and that it comes down to two things for him, the black mark that you get and the long term health risks.

I always find it very interesting that lots of people always forget about Sylvia taking PEDs. Although, I read in a book, "Heart of a Fighter" (which I thoroughly recommend), that he admits to having taken it but not to enhance his performance. Sylvia says that he took it in order to make his physique look better for promotional reasons. Remember, one of the number one reasons that Dana White claims that he didn't pick up Roy Nelson after the break up of the IFL was because he's fat so Sylvia may well have had a point...

"Sylvia says that he took it in order to make his physique look better for promotional reasons"

Ha Ha!! How did that work out for Timmeh? I don't recall seeing him on the cover of any Men's Health magazines lately!!

well he looked alot better back then.


here he is at UFC 44 (roiding)



weighing the same weight as here (clean)

A lot of fighters have been caught roiding. Nate, Leben, Sherk, Belfort ect and a lot more were taking them in Pride. But that was it, they got caught and learnt there lesson. Even guys like Monson and Wandy, they might have taken it before but atleast there smart enough to stop when they compete in a country or organisation where its against the rules.

Barnett never learnt his lesson, THREE fucking times. What the fuck, ofcoarse he deserves shit for it. Its one thing doing it in Japan where its legal but when its illegal, its just bullshit. Id also like to point out if I was Barnett, I would be embarassed to have a physique like he does. He is still a fat cunt

Overoid and Sherk deserve the same treatment because where they fight its not allowed. Its garbage what there pulling, Overoid hasn't defended his belt in 3 years and Sherk keeps pulling out of fights. Somehow I don't think he really is injured, I used to really like Sherk as a fighter but this is bullshit.

He decided to give up on the Idea of being ripped and embraced comfort eating insted... See the Mercer fight for evidence!

Must say I agree with Chelsea on the Barnett comment he is indeed a fat shit, I guess it may not always be Roids though, look at Mark Kerr the guy was addicted to pain killers, and that was purely down to the stress training and fighting put on his body... I'm sure their are plenty more cases like this. When the pressures to win are as big as they are in MMA nower days, some fighters feel they need the extra edge.... Steroids.