Best MMA Fighters By Country (All-Time)

Ever wonder who the top-rated fighters by country are?  Wonder no more…

Below are the “best” fighters by nationality, using all-time rating points.  For the purposes of this article, I combined the men and the women into one list.  Though, the value of a “point” isn’t exactly the same between genders, I think it will be good enough for this.

Canada

#1 – Georges St. Pierre [26-2-0, 37917 pts]

If you expected to see Jones at the top spot, make sure you revisit GSP’s ledger.  He faced a murderer’s row of Welterweight contenders, beat all of them, and avenged both of his losses in doing so.

Honorable Mention: Rory MacDonald (#105)

 

United States

#2 – Jon Jones [28-1-0, 35995 pts]

What more can you say about Jones, that hasn’t already been said?  He’s right on GSP’s heels.  With one more big win, he should at minimum, move into a virtual tie with GSP.

Honorable Mentions: Matt Hughes (#6), Max Holloway (#8), Demetrious Johnson (#9), and on and on…

 

Brazil

#3 – Jose Aldo [32-10-0, 26405 pts]

Far from the top two, but securely in third, Jose Aldo is easily the best fighter south of Welterweight.  Unfortunately, we saw a mostly listless Aldo at the end of his career.

Honorable Mentions: Anderson Silva (#5), Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (#17), Lyoto Machida (#22)

 

Russia

#4 – Fedor Emelianenko [40-7-0, 22375 pts]

Sorry Dana, Fedor is the best heavyweight of all-time… and it really isn’t close.  Sadly, Fedor’s legend has been dimmed by recency bias and the UFC’s monopoly on the sport.  Don’t fall into that trap.

Honorable Mentions: Khabib Nurmagomedov (#11), Islam Makhachev (#18)

 

Australia

#7 – Alexander Volkanovski [27-4-0, 17993 pts]

Volk has rushed up the list in the past several years.  I’m not sure he has the steam left to move up the list further, but who knows?

Honorable Mention: Robert Whittaker (#66)

 

Nigeria

#15 – Israel Adesanya [24-5-0, 12994 pts]

Adesanya is essentially the MMA history for Nigeria.  I don’t even have a second place for an honorable mention.

Honorable Mention: None

 

United Kingdom

#33 – Leon Edwards [22-5-0, 8324 pts]

We do throw all of the UK countries into the same bucket, but that wouldn’t change the top pick here.  I’m a little surprised by Bisping’s ranking as it seems a touch low.  As we move into the unpublished section of the rankings, things get congested and should be treated as somewhat approximate.

Honorable Mention: Michael Bisping (#80)

 

Ireland

#43 – Conor McGregor [22-6-0, 6987 pts]

One of the most overrated fighters of all-time, McGregor does deserve a spot near the bottom of the Top 50.

Honorable Mention: None

 

Japan

#44 – Takanori Gomi [36-15-0, 6923 pts]

It took a long time to get to Japan, didn’t it?  Gomi sequestering himself and dominating the Japanese scene, then coming to the UFC very late in his career, did cause some rating disruption.  However, I think #44 is a pretty accurate spot for the “Fireball Kid”.  Sadly, Tapology (one of the few sites that has an all-time ranking) does not even have him in the Top 100.  Pathetic.

Honorable Mentions: Shinya Aoki (#56), Hatsu Hioki (#95)

 

Netherlands

#50 – Gegard Mousasi [49-9-2, 6561 pts]

When people complain about a fighter’s ranking, I often tell them to focus on the points, more so than the rank.  Here, a few points makes all the difference in the ranking, as Gegard edges out Bas for this spot in what is essentially a virtual tie.  If I was creating a ranking from scratch, I’d likely have Bas ahead.  It is what it is.

Honorable Mention: Bas Rutten (#51), Alistair Overeem (#62)

 

Cameroon

#54 – Francis Ngannou [18-3-0, 6347 pts]

A different oddity presents itself here.  Does Ngannou represent Cameroon or France, or both?  I don’t know.  We have one nationality per fighter.  Ngannou’s biggest combat achievement may be his split decision loss against Tyson Fury, in a boxing ring.  Ngannou deserved that decision.

Honorable Mentions: None

 

Spain

#60 – Ilia Topuria [16-0-0, 5763 pts]

Here we go again.  Does Topuria represent Spain or Georgia?  Why is this nationality thing so hard to sort out?  Topuria looks to have plenty of gas left, so I’d expect to his ranking rise significantly in the coming years.

Honorable Mentions: None

 

Croatia

#71 – Mirko Filipovic [38-11-2, 5096 pts]

Right leg, hospital… left leg, cemetery.  Was it “leg” or “kick”?  I don’t know.  Doesn’t it seem like Mirko should’ve won more major titles and tournaments?  He spent a significant amount of his career ranked somewhere around #5.

Honorable Mentions: None

 

South Africa

#73 – Dricus Du Plessis [23-2-0, 5090 pts]

South Africa has long been a “sleeper” country for boxing, particularly for weight classes between 130-147lb.  I can’t say the same for MMA, but Du Plessis is putting MMA on the map.  Do you remember the name, Trevor Prangley?  He’s second, just outside of the Top 800!

Honorable Mentions: None

 

Poland

#74 – Jan Blachowicz [29-11-1, 5081 pts]

Poland is another country that surprised me, in that we didn’t hit it sooner.  Polish Power!

Honorable Mention: Joanna Jedrzejczyk (#177)

 

Kyrgyzstan

#77* – Valentina Shevchenko [25-4-1, 4924 pts]

As stated earlier, I combined the men and women for this post, even though the points are computed differently.  In either case, this ranking feels about right.  Valentina’s recent win was not included in this computation, hence the asterisk.  If it were, I suspect she would be 10ish spots higher.

Honorable Mentions: None

 

Mexico

#97 – Brandon Moreno [23-8-2, 4013 pts]

A solid ranking for a Flyweight, where points are harder to come by.

Honorable Mentions: Yair Rodriguez (#161)

 

A few more for the record….

Norway – Joachim Hansen (#102)

France – Ciryl Gane (#106)

Cuba – Yoel Romero (#118)

China – Weili Zhang (#128)

Belarus – Andrei Arlovski (#130)