Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Brazilian Fighters

Welcome again folks, this time to Sherdog's list of the 10 greatest mixed martial artists to hail from Brazil. This was compiled as an average of many different Sherdog contributors' lists, and I will note where my own views deviated considerably. Personally though, the appeal of any such lists isn't the exact ordering, or who was included versus excluded, but the actual discussion below each entry. Anyone can come up with a list with no further commentary and it's no more “right” than another. However, the best such lists have entertaining and informative explanations, which is a goal I hope to accomplish.

A word about criteria: My main measure for this list was greatness for one’s era and how long that era lasted. I believe the majority of other contributors used a similar rubric. Ranking historical fighters based on who would beat whom doesn’t make sense, since the sport as a whole keeps improving and evolving. Nevertheless, fighters from earlier eras may be penalized for competitive their division was or was not. Even in the birthplace of BJJ and vale tudo, there were fewer decent fighters in the 90s when compared to even the 00s, let alone today.

On a special note, this was an exceptionally difficult list to make due to the incredible number of all-time great Brazilian champions. Numerous legends failed to crack the Top 10, including Lyoto Machida, Deiveson Figueiredo and Charles Oliveira, just to name the top three vote-getters not to make the cut. If this list had been extended to twice its present size, the No. 11 through 20 fighters from Brazil would be superior to the top 10 of all but two other countries.

Continue Reading » Number 10

10. Royce Gracie

MMA’s first great champion opens this list. Where to place Gracie is of course purely a matter of criteria. From one perspective, he is a legendary pioneer more influential than any fighter in MMA history, and by that standard could even be No. 1. On the other hand, he wasn't even the best fighter in his own family, and by some estimates was the level of a purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu in 1993 when he competed at UFC 1. Yet Gracie’s grappling, toughness and intelligence allowed him to score some legendary victories in the sport's earliest years. Winning the original Ultimate Fighting Championship by triumphing three times in a single night, the roughly 175-pound Gracie defeated 225-pound striker Gegard Gordeau in the finals, but his most impressive victory was submitting 225-pound Ken Shamrock, the only other competitor who had any grappling prowess or significant no-holds-barred fight experience.

Four months later at UFC 2, Gracie won an incredible four times in a single night against an even more impressive group of foes. He submitted future Pancrase mainstay Jason DeLucia, who had acquired some basic ground skills after being humiliated in a pre-UFC “Gracie challenge,” before tapping 240-plus pound heavyweight judoka Remco Pardoel with a lapel choke in 91 seconds. Obviously, lapel chokes are impossible in the modern UFC due to the gi being illegal, but it's still a very impressive victory over a much larger grappler, who was wearing his own gi that night. In the final, Gracie defeated world-class heavyweight striker Patrick Smith, who weighed 220 pounds and had learned enough grappling in the months since Shamrock eliminated him at UFC 1 that he had tapped out two opponents that night on his way to the final. Interestingly, Gracie elected to finish Smith with ground-and-pound rather than a submission.

At UFC 3, Gracie didn't win a tournament for the first time, being so depleted after defeating 235-pound Kimo Leopoldo that he couldn't continue. Many thought Gracie’s dominance was over, but he won for a third time at the UFC 4 tournament, with the finest moment of his career coming in the finals. Against 240-pound former NCAA All-American wrestler Dan Severn, Gracie was the one taken down, with seemingly no way to win. However, after almost 16 straight minutes of fighting, he executed a tactic that very few people in North America, including the commentators, had ever seen before. It was called a triangle choke, and Severn had no choice but to tap. At UFC 5, Gracie had a rematch with Shamrock, billed as a “special superfight attraction.” Showing his own improvement and that of MMA as a whole in terms of grappling and ground fighting, Shamrock was able to take down Gracie, neutralize his submissions and inflict some ground-and-pound. However, since there was no decisive result after 36 minutes and there were no judges yet, it was declared a draw.

After that, Gracie didn't reappear until Pride Fighting Championships’ 2000 Grand Prix where, after defeating Nobuhiko Takada by decision, he engaged in a truly epic 90-minute encounter with Kazushi Sakuraba, which ended when aged family patriarch Helio Gracie, the founder of Brazilian jiu-jitsu and Royce’s father, decided to wave the towel. Almost seven years after his debut, the original Ultimate Fighting Champion had finally been defeated.

Amusingly, Gracie would have some success in MMA in his later years. While a main event at UFC 60 against then welterweight champion Matt Hughes ended with Hughes injuring Gracie's arm during a submission attempt and then brutally pounding him out in under a round, Gracie got the better of two of his old rivals. First, a preposterously chemically enhanced Gracie beat a faded Sakuraba by decision at K-1 Dynamite! USA in 2007. Then, in his last fight in 2016, Gracie won the trilogy against Ken Shamrock by, of all things, a knockout from a knee and punches in less than half a round. Certainly, the sport of MMA owes a large debt of gratitude to Gracie.

Continue Reading » Number 9

9. Fabricio Werdum

The great, yet mercurial Werdum is ninth on this list after finishing fourth on Sherdog's list of top 10 heavyweights. At his best, Werdum was simply a superior version of his fellow Brazilian legend Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, whom we will see later: even better jiu-jitsu, better wrestling, better striking and a similarly iron chin that could take endless punishment—and Werdum actually beat Fedor Emelianenko. In fact, Werdum defeated a slew of great heavyweights at various points in their careers: Emelianenko, Alistair Overeem, Nogueira himself and of course, the amazing upset of then seemingly unbeatable Cain Velasquez.

Trouble is, Werdum was inconsistent and never had a sustained period of dominance, frequently losing to other top heavyweights, including Overeem and Nogueira, being knocked out in the first round by Stipe Miocic and Junior dos Santos in poor performances, and even dropping decisions to guys that didn't make the all-time heavyweight top 10, like Andrei Arlovski and Sergei Kharitonov. He didn’t always give his best in the way that Nogueira did, and that's why he's lower. In fact, there's really no reason Werdum should have lost to Nogueira in 2006. He was less experienced but more fundamentally skilled in all areas, a year younger, and had far less mileage on the odometer. Sometimes Werdum would show incredible fighting spirit, but not always. Still, while his time at the top was short and inconsistent, his collection of best victories is as good as anyone's.

Continue Reading » Number 8

8. Patricio Freire

Patricio Freire, who was the unanimous champion of Sherdog's list of the 10 greatest Bellator MMA fighters and fifth on the list of top 10 featherweights, finishes eighth here. Personally, I had him much higher, at third. It should also be noted that since his placement on those earlier lists, he has recorded another major victory, only making his career that much greater. I've written glowingly about “Pitbull” before, noting that he is an excellent striker and an outstanding grappler, but his most amazing quality is his unmatched intelligence and discipline, exploiting even the smallest opponent weakness and implementing the most complex gameplans perfectly for 25 straight minutes. Despite having fought for more than half his life and being 35 years old, Freire is an amazing 35-5, which includes three stints as Bellator featherweight champion and an eye-popping eight title defenses. He has defeated a slew of good and even great opposition, though many of his opponents don't get their due, including Wilson Reis twice, the second by knockout, Georgi Karakhanyan, Daniel Weichel twice, once by knockout, dominating Pat Curran, demolishing Diego Nunes in slightly over a minute, submitting Henry Corrales, defeating Emmanuel Sanchez twice, beating Juan Archuleta from bell to bell, going 3-1 against Daniel Straus, shutting out Adam Borics and most recently, dominating all three rounds against Rizin Fighting Federation champion Kleber Koike Erbst. Freire also became a champ-champ when he knocked out Bellator lightweight champion and fellow promotional legend Michael Chandler, a man who has knocked out multiple UFC champions and came within a whisker of becoming UFC lightweight champion himself against Charles Oliveira. Freire's time at the top seemed to be at an end when undefeated dynamo A.J. McKee beat him for the title in 2021 in just under two minutes, but one should never have counted out the brilliant Brazilian, who fought a perfect fight in the rematch to win a close decision. He may never get his proper due, but Freire is truly a legend among legends.

Continue Reading » Number 7

7. Cristiane Justino

“Cris Cyborg” is the first female representative on this list—but will not be the last—and adds a seventh-place finish here to her No. 3 spot on Sherdog's pound-for-pound list of the greatest women in MMA history. Justino was promoted as the greatest female fighter ever by the UFC for a while, and Bellator still does so to this day. Regardless of whether one agrees, her abilities have made her the terror of WMMA for the entirety of her career. She possesses underrated grappling skills, with solid wrestling and BJJ, while being exceptionally hard to take or keep down herself. However, her main skill is her phenomenal seek-and-destroy muay thai striking, which calls to mind the golden days of Chute Boxe, drawing comparisons to Wanderlei Silva and Mauricio Rua. After losing her debut, she would go an amazing 20-0 over the next 13 years, a truly unprecedented winning streak at the elite levels of the sport—and every single one of those wins was a one-sided beating. That includes knockouts of Shayna Baszler, Gina Carano, Marloes Coenen twice, Tonya Evinger, Leslie Smith, Yana Kunitskaya, and a dominant decision over Holly Holm. It's a good list of names, and “Cyborg” always fought the absolute best opposition she could, but due to the lack of talent at 145 pounds, her opponents were often undersized as well as overmatched. Justino famously lost her UFC featherweight championship to Amanda Nunes in only 51 seconds. I don't look at that loss as negatively as some do. “Cyborg” was way too aggressive and paid the price, especially since Nunes in Round 1 is a force unlike anything else in WMMA history, Ronda Rousey included. It is certainly possible Justino could have won a rematch had fought less recklessly, especially considering that we have since seen Nunes fade and be defeated under pressure by Julianna Pena. “Cyborg” continued winning after her UFC title loss, delivering a one-sided beating to Felicia Spencer to finish out her contract before winning the Bellator women's featherweight crown with a nice knockout of another all-time great in Julia Budd and defending it four times, adding a second knockout of Leslie Smith and two wins over tough striker Arlene Blencowe, one a submission triumph, the first of her career. At 37 years old, I can't see “Cyborg” climbing this list but neither can I see her slipping for a good while.

Continue Reading » Number 6

6. Mauricio Rua

The recently retired “Shogun” is sixth on this list, after coming in fifth place on Sherdog's list of the greatest light heavyweights and third on the list of greatest Pride FC fighters. Rua, like the other top Chute Boxe representatives, aged poorly, being notably past his best by his early 30s, and even before then he was prone to the occasional lapse. However, let us consider Rua at his best. He achieved his absolute peak in Pride and was nearly perfect at 12-1. He had outstanding, underrated grappling, being exceptionally difficult to take down and fantastic at getting back to his feet, with excellent BJJ. However, it was on the feet where he was the best, perfecting the Chute Boxe style that Wanderlei Silva made iconic, with blinding speed and athleticism in his prime. Shogun was also harder to hit than Silva, and nothing was quite as terrifying as him jumping with both feet to head-stomp a downed opponent. His performance in the 2005 Pride Grand Prix was one of the most spectacular I've ever seen in the sport. Rua demolished Quinton Jackson in the opening round, won a clear decision over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in the quarterfinal, flattened Alistair Overeem with punches in the semifinals and then overwhelmed perhaps the best grappler in the sport at the time, Ricardo Arona, in under three minutes in the final. I can't think of a harder road to a tournament win, or a more amazing series of victories. Aside from a setback in his first fight against Mark Coleman, Rua would continue dominating in Pride, scoring a nice kneebar victory over Kevin Randleman and knocking out Alistair Overeem a second time.

However, he came in flat and overconfident against Forrest Griffin for his UFC debut and was submitted in the third round. That loss has aged fairly well, as Griffin would go on to become UFC light heavyweight champion, but those dismissing Shogun were in for a shock. After getting his revenge against Coleman and knocking out Chuck Liddell, he challenged for the UFC title against then-undefeated Lyoto Machida. Most observers scored it for Rua, myself included, but the decision went to Machida. Rua left no doubts in the rematch, knocking out Machida in the very first round, a shocking, amazing win. After that, “Shogun” had a good but checkered career, getting revenge against Griffin with a first-round knockout, but being stopped by Jon Jones and losing one of the greatest fights ever against Dan Henderson. As noted, he was well past his best by his early 30s, but that doesn't change how amazing he was in his prime.

Continue Reading » Number 4b

(Tie) 4. Wanderlei Silva

A tie for fourth on this list is a tremendous accomplishment, but it is actually Silva’s lowest finish in this series of articles so far, as he finished third on Sherdog's list of the greatest light heavyweights and second on Sherdog's Top 10 Pride FC fighters. A lot of people remember Silva during his time in the UFC, during which he had some great battles and scored a few great knockouts, including memorable finishes of Keith Jardine and Brian Stann, but alternated wins and losses, including dropping decisions to UFC poster boys Chuck Liddell and Rich Franklin, who defeated Silva twice in catchweight contests. The reality is that Silva was already well past his prime at that point, which was clear even in Pride, where Silva had been knocked out in his last fight by Dan Henderson, a man he had beaten previously, and had lost three of his last five, including splitting two very close fights against Ricardo Arona in which he looked noticeably declined. One can blame that on the tremendous damage Silva had already received, not only from his fights but from the infamous Chute Boxe sparring sessions, where guys were regularly concussed, and became washed-up long before their time, with Murilo Rua being the most notorious example.

Of course, Silva's first stint in the UFC, when he was in his early 20s, featured the famous knockout loss to Vitor Belfort and being losing soundly by decision to Tito Ortiz. However, Silva was undefeated from 1999 until New Year's Eve 2004 in Pride, when he dropped a split decision to Mark Hunt, having gone undefeated in 20 outings, with 18 wins, an incredible 14 by stoppage, a draw against Mirko Filipovic and an abbreviated no contest against Gilbert Yvel. Truly a marvelous run during which time he was arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter in the entire sport. Silva's grappling during his prime was always underrated, as he had good takedown defense and excellent BJJ for the time. However, his bread-and-butter was his seek-and-destroy muay thai striking, which came to define his team, Chute Boxe, as a whole. He eschewed jabs for vicious power punches, especially hooks and overhands, and was especially lethal in the clinch. Pride’s rules worked to his advantage too, as Silva loved to soccer-kick and head-stomp downed opponents. Highlights during that time include knockouts of Quinton Jackson twice, Guy Mezger, Yuki Kondo and three finishes of all-time legend Kazushi Sakuraba, plus decision wins over iron-chinned Dan Henderson and previously undefeated Olympic heavyweight judo gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida. It's one of the great runs in the sport.

Continue Reading » Number 4a

(Tie) 4. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

It's appropriate that “Minotauro” would tie with fellow Pride Fighting Championships legend Wanderlei Silva, even if they were part of camps that were bitter rivals, as Nogueira represented Brazilian Top Team and Silva Chute Boxe. Nogueira also finished third among Sherdog's 10 greatest heavyweights and fourth on the Top 10 Pride fighters. When “Big Nog” submitted reigning Grand Prix champion Mark Coleman at Pride 16 and then defeated Heath Herring a month later at Pride 17 for the vacant heavyweight title, he ushered in a new era of heavyweight talent and skill. Tall and athletic, Nogueira could do a lot more than what one expected of BJJ virtuoso, as he was also a capable wrestler and had solid muay thai striking that would only get better over the years. Furthermore, he had a titanium chin and endless toughness, which was exemplified in his classic victory over Bob Sapp, a man 150 pounds of muscle heavier who piledrove Nogueira’s head into the canvas at one point. Yet after only a year and a half and five more wins, the two most impressive being submissions of Semmy Schilt and Dan Henderson, Nogueira was shockingly and convincingly defeated by an unheralded Russian fighter from the Rings organization, Fedor Emelianenko.

But this is where things get interesting. While he would stay firmly as the No. 2 heavyweight behind Emelianenko, including decisively losing their rematch at Pride Shockwave 2004, Nogueira's resume after losing the title is actually far more impressive than it was while being the champ. He armbarred Mirko Filipovic, choked out Herring in a rematch, defeated Sergei Kharitonov by decision, beat Fabricio Werdum, avenged a loss to Josh Barnett and, after moving to the UFC, choked out former champ Tim Sylvia. It's an absolutely amazing run, with only the losses to Emelianenko and Barnett marring 12 victories against excellent opposition. Alas, by the time of his next fight against Frank Mir, Nogueira was already past his prime at just 32, having endured brutal punishment in over 35 professional fights. Aside from a dominant 2009 decision win over similarly faded legend Randy Couture and knocking out future comedian Brendan Schaub in 2011, the Brazilian legend's last years were more sad than anything. Still, he enjoyed over eight years of great wins and dominance against everyone except Fedor.

Continue Reading » Number 3

3. Amanda Nunes

Nunes, who topped Sherdog's list of the 10 greatest female fighters, is a highly impressive third here. At her best, Nunes achieved a level of fighting ability that no other woman, not even rival Valentina Shevchenko, ever has. Nunes is a tremendous threat anywhere a fight goes, with excellent wrestling, arguably the best in her division, fantastic, slick submission skills and brutal ground-and-pound. Of course, her biggest weapon is her fast, technical, and above all, viciously powerful striking, arguably the best in WMMA history at any weight. Nunes' talent for fighting was immediately apparent, scoring a TKO stoppage between the second and third round of highly skilled and far more experienced Vanessa Porto in Brazil before knocking out Julia Budd and Germaine de Randamie, two of the best fighters in women’s MMA history. However, Nunes suffered from cardio woes as well as a certain mental weakness, wilting when an opponent offered significant resistance. Thus, in addition to a submission loss in her pro debut, which is absolutely forgivable, Nunes was stopped by far less skilled fighters in Alexis Davis and Cat Zingano via ground-and-pound, and even dropped a decision to Sarah D'Alelio that wasn't remotely close, with D'Alelio sweeping every round on every card. After that, however, Nunes moved to American Top Team and won 12 straight fights, a legendary streak that cemented her as the most dominant fighter in the sport. The only two close fights during that time were against fellow pound-for-pound elite Valentina Shevchenko. Everything else was a one-sided beating, and that included many of the other greatest female fighters ever. She knocked out Ronda Rousey, Holly Holm and even Cristiane Justino, with “Cyborg” and Rousey succumbing in less than a minute. She submitted Sara McMann, Miesha Tate and Megan Anderson in the first round, obliterated Raquel Pennington before stopping her in the fifth round, delivered a hellacious 25 minute beating to Felicia Spencer and easily defeated de Randamie in their rematch. Alas, the flaws from her earlier losses were not completely exorcised. In what I consider the second most shocking upset in UFC championship history, surpassing Georges St. Pierre losing by knockout to Matt Serra, and trailing only Maurice Smith defeating Mark Coleman, Nunes was submitted by Julianna Pena as a -1100 favorite. Nunes easily dominated the first round, but then showed poor cardio and seemed to give up when the fight got tough. Nunes won the title back in a rematch in a one-sided decision, but she didn't look the same. She fought cautiously and was closely managing her energy, yet still couldn't stop Pena, and occasionally got into bad situations. Nunes seems to be past her prime now at 34, but on the flipside, there is no one to challenge her at 135 pounds, especially since virtually all the new elite female talent is at 115 and 125 pounds. It will be interesting to see where her career goes from here and whether she will be higher or lower on this list in future iterations.

Continue Reading » Number 2

2. Jose Aldo

Aldo, who was No. 1 on Sherdog's list of top 10 featherweights and the fourth greatest fighter pound-for-pound, is the runner-up on this one, though he did get three first-place votes as well. Unsurprisingly, one of those was mine, as I also voted Aldo the greatest pound-for-pound fighter in MMA history on that earlier list, ahead of Georges St. Pierre, Jon Jones and everyone else. His career is truly unprecedented and might never be matched again. In terms of ability, he was an all-time great striker who could completely nullify even the best opponent grappling, while also being a very good wrestler with fantastic BJJ himself. He was ahead of his time with his striking style and how well he blended his legendary leg and body kicks with outstanding boxing. From his debut in 2004 to December 2015, Aldo went 25-1, with a 2005 loss to Luciano Azevedo the lone blemish. That included an astonishing 15-0 mark against elite competition in World Extreme Cagefighting and UFC, and an eye-popping nine straight title defenses. His legendary wins include a stoppage of Shooto legend Alexandra Franca Nogueira, an eight-second destruction of Cub Swanson, a knockout of Mike Thomas Brown to claim the WEC featherweight throne, a one-sided beating of fellow legend Urijah Faber, a knockout of Manny Gamburyan, dominant decisions over Mark Hominick and Kenny Florian, badly beating recent UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar who had been robbed of the 155-pound belt just one fight earlier, a beating of Ricardo Lamas, a late stoppage of Chan Sung Jung and two wins over the ultra-talented Chad Mendes, one by a famous first-round knockout, and the second by decision in one of the greatest fights ever. None of those fights were even close, so far ahead of his competition was Aldo.

Eventually, fighting fellow legends yielded losses. Aldo was caught early by Conor McGregor and, after beating Edgar again, was knocked out twice by Max Holloway. Aldo showed he was far from done, though, recording knockouts of Jeremy Stephens and Renato Carneiro before dropping another decision to an all-time legend in Alexander Volkanovski. Then, at 33 years old, with 33 fights on his odometer, a time when even the greatest of featherweights and lightweights are badly washed-up, Aldo made the decision to go down to 135 pounds, an even faster and arguably more talented weight class. It seemed like suicide, but Aldo once again showed why he is possibly the greatest ever, establishing himself as a Top 5 bantamweight, including fantastic victories over Marlon Vera, Pedro Munhoz and Rob Font. He finally decided to call it a career in 2022 after losing a decision to Merab Dvalishvili. Aldo's 15-0 run at 145 pounds in the WEC and UFC is perhaps the sport's greatest streak when considering his opponents and the nature of his dominant victories.

Continue Reading » Number 1

1. Anderson Silva

Silva, who already finished as Sherdog’s greatest middleweight of all time and fifth among the top 10 greatest pound-for-pound fighters, snags another crown on this list. Interestingly, Silva finished one spot behind Aldo on that pound-for-pound list but finishes ahead of him on the country-specific one, despite the pool of voters being the same. Silva had a legendary run of dominance as the UFC middleweight champion, with 14 straight victories after obliterating Rich Franklin at UFC 64 in 2006, all the way until fighting Chris Weidman in 2013 almost 100 numbered events later. Silva is considered a candidate for the greatest fighter of all time, but what gets rarely discussed is that even at the age of 29, he was the most unlikely GOAT candidate imaginable. At 28, he was submitted via triangle choke by Daiju Takase, a very limited Japanese fighter who had almost twice as many losses as wins. That was actually a bigger upset than Georges St. Pierre losing to Matt Serra, as Silva had been an astounding -1500 favorite. At the age of 29, Silva was stunned again by Ryo Chonan with a flying scissor heel hook. Unlike Takase, Chonan was a pretty good fighter, but aside from an exotic submission game, there was nothing special about him. Silva was a -300 favorite for that one, and even before the incredible submission, had arguably been losing the fight. Both those losses seemed to reinforce the idea that as tremendously talented a striker as Silva was, he was just too easy to take down or submit.

Luckily for Silva and MMA fans around the world, he perfected his style for MMA and became much harder to defeat with grappling. Silva holds wins over numerous other champions and top contenders, decimating Franklin with strikes twice, knocking out Vitor Belfort with a front kick that is a candidate for greatest stoppage ever, finishing Yushin Okami, two stoppages of Chael Sonnen, one a buzzer-beating submission in a fight he was badly losing, choking out Dan Henderson, finishing Nate Marquardt, easy decision wins over top grapplers Demian Maia and Thales Leites, and even a Round 1 knockout of former UFC light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin. To this day, even with all the evolution and improvement in MMA, one can argue that Anderson Silva in his prime was the greatest striker the sport has ever seen. Eventually Silva lost to an excellent fighter in his own right in Weidman, but keep in mind that he was already 38 for their first fight and had a lot of miles on his body. None of that takes away from how amazing he was at his best, or for how long.