In case you didn’t know, we feature career-long All-Time MMA Rankings. Using monthly snapshots as fuel (that we refresh every month), we derive Top 25s for each division, Women and Absolute. We also have a Peak Divisional Dominance list, but this is quite different as it looks at absolute peak, relative to the state of the division at that sliver of time.
We stop each list at Top 25, partially because every list has to stop somewhere, but mostly because we really don’t want to get into arguments as to why #74 is ranked higher than #76 — the list can get quite noisy once you get beyond the Top 25…. where things become really tight.
Two weeks ago, we took a look at the highest ranking fighters of all-time who never fought in the UFC, WEC, or any organization eventually acquired by ZUFFA. In this list, we take a look at fighters who never fought in a pro, non-exhibition match in Japan or the USA. We had to dig awfully low for this.
Fighters are listed with their career records and all-time rankings:
5. Maxim Tarasov (18-4 | Light Heavy: #51 | Absolute: #505)
Behind Jimmo by a hair, at both Absolute and Light Heavyweight, Tarasov can be considered sort of a pioneer at 205. We have three more wins for him than Sherdog does, but who knows if they actually happened and under what ruleset.
4. Ryan Jimmo (19-3 | Light Heavy: #50 | Absolute: #503)
Amazingly, Jimmo has yet to fight within the USA, with the exception of the lone TUF Qualifying fight, which technically was an exhibition fight. His ledger from an all-time perspective is fairly scant.
3. Luiz Fraga (7-4 | Lightweight: #63 | Absolute: #468)
One of the first top-ranked Lightweights in MMA history, he, like Tarasov feasted on a weak division. In our retroactive lineal championship history, we had Fraga squaring off against Wander Braga for the championship, a fight in which Fraga lost. Whereas Tarasov ended on a high note, Fraga ended on a low note. Sherdog lists him as a Welterweight, so we’ll have to agree to disagree on this one.
2. Rey Docyogen (11-2 | Strawweight: #7 | Flyweight: #129 | Absolute: #437)
Still a productive fighter, Docyogen has managed to gain enough traction to reach #2 on this list. You have to think at some point, he’ll make it to Japan and possibly go back to Strawweight.
1. Alex Owen (11-1 | Featherweight: #129 | Absolute: #362)
Even without being quite sure about which of his fights were pro, semi-pro, amateur, or something in between, Owen tops this anemic list where he holds wins over two solid names; Brad Pickett and Paul McVeigh.
The Next Three: Robbie Olivier (#510), Eduard Vdovenko (#530), Vanderci Garcia (#667)