A recent guest on the Club Shay Shay podcast, UFC boss Dana White stated how, in his opinion, MMA fighter Jon Jones ranks as “the most bad-a** fighter of all time.” White said that he strongly feels Jones would defeat Francis Ngannou in crushing fashion should the fight take place. White said Jones was “the scariest, most bad-a** fighter of all time.”
This statement got the folks at Givemesport busy compiling a top 10 list, ranking the ten baddest combat sports fighters in history. It’s a fun idea, to be sure, and the subsequent list makes for interesting reading. Just who are the ten “baddest” fighters from boxing and MMA of all time?
The ranking factors in this one were ability, willingness to fight, aura, method of victory, and overall brutality. The following top 10 was compiled.
See what you think.
In reverse order:
10: Max Holloway, MMA fighter
9: Nate Diaz, MMA fighter
8: Chuck Liddell, MMA fighter
7: Jon Jones, MMA fighter
6: Deontay Wilder, boxer
5: Roy Jones Jr, boxer
4: Larry Holmes
3: George Foreman
2: Mike Tyson
1: Muhammad Ali
So, what do you think? Ali himself, along with saying he was “the greatest,” also proclaimed how “bad” he was……….. “I’m a bad man!” Ali said numerous times with much justification. Indeed, as brilliant and beautiful as Ali was as a boxer, his inner beast was really something. Tyson, a student of the game, once remarked of Ali how he “was a savage, an animal, a different breed of person, not like us, nobody could beat him.”
Ali had these qualities, as picked up by Tyson’s keen eye. Still, some fans may be surprised to see Ali at the top of this particular list. It’s subjective, of course, as well as fun, and no list of this kind can possibly please everyone. For me, Sonny Liston should make the top 10 here, and Roberto Duran……and what about Carlos Monzon and Gerald McClellan? I could go on. Still, the fact that there is only a limited number of places for an individual’s picks when attempting to compile a list such as this one is what makes the job so difficult.
Who do YOU think deserves to rank as the baddest, meanest, most able, and most brutal fighter in combat sports history?