Is Randy Couture the second best MMA fighter of all time?

Question

Royce Grace is probably the best MMA fighter of all time, besides Matt Hughes and Anderson Silva. So who would be the second fighter of all time? Randy Couture?

Answer 1

gracie was champ when the sport was pitiful. He was one of the biggest innovators, but no where near the level of current guys who blend styles for fighting.

Answer 2

Ok, I'll bite just for kicks.

Royce Gracie's record: 14 wins  3 loses 3 draws

Far from being the best MMA fighter of all time.

He's a pioneer of the sport though, but on his last match he was positive on steroids, so his legacy has been tarnished.

Matt Hughes record: 42 wins 7 loses 0 draws

An impressive record, hall of famer material for sure, but not the second best of all time.

Anderson Silva's record: 21 wins 4 loses 0 draws.

Impressive record, but time will tell how he will do, as he has no more competition in the UFC.

Randy Couture's record:

16 wins  8 loses  0 draws.

He's lost a third of his fights, so he's far from being one of the best, he's a great fighter no doubt.

Fedor Emelianenko's record:

27 wins 1 loss (cut due to illegal elbow), 0 draws

that's your best MMA fighter of all time.

*** good observation by James***

Answer 3

One word.....FEDOR  Frank said it best.  He is going to kill Silvia!!!!   First round sub. easy.

Answer 4

You can't strictly base this off of "records".  Guys like Melvin Guillard have awesome records, but no one would confuse him with the greatest of all time.

Royce was destroyed by Matt Hughes and then beat Sakuraba, but tested positive on both A and B samples for steroids after the fight.  He has also never KO'd someone.  

Randy Couture has lost 1/3 of his fights, not half.  16-8 is his record. But he has fought Chuck Liddell 3 times (1-2) and Vitor Belfort 3 times (2-1), he has lost to Josh Barnett and Ricco Rodriquez, and beaten the likes of Tito Ortiz, Pedro Rizzo (twice), Jeremy Horn, Kevin Randleman, Tim Sylvia and Gabriel Gonzaga.  He has arguably fought tougher competition than Royce.

You have to deal with current fighters, and former fighters.

UFC Hall of Fame has these:

    * Royce Gracie (Inducted UFC 45)

    * Ken Shamrock (Inducted UFC 45)

    * Dan Severn (Inducted UFC 52)

    * Randy Couture (Inducted The Ultimate Fighter Season 3 Finale)

    * Mark Coleman (Inducted UFC 82)

Whereas current champs GSP, BJ Penn and Anderson Silva and former champs Chuck Liddell and Matt Hughes may gain that HOF honor later in their careers.

Fedor has an impressive record, but many people challenge his competition.  I think Tim Sylvia will be the first legitimate heavyweight Fedor has fought since 2005.  We'll see how the long layoff hurts or helps him on 07/19.

This question is like asking what's your favorite color?

James

Answer 5

First off, Royce Gracie was a stud. I have to believe the reason some of you disagree is because you werent interested / around to see the early days of UFC or MMA for that matter.  The evolution and use of Ju Jitsu in MMA is in large part due to the success Royce had using it.

Anyways on to your question. I dont think it is fair to say Randy Couture is the second best of all time. He lost twice to Chuck in pretty convincing fashion so thats a big knock against him. I think it would take a win over Fedor to vault him into that kind of class.

Answer 6

the gracies made a name for themselves decades ago challenging different styles against bjj. ufc became the ultimate platform for that. and of course royce dominated, why wouldn't he. but when other fighters with kick boxing and wrestling backgrounds started learning it they started evolving the sport. the gracie's could no longer shine and left using the excuse of "they changed the rules". who is the best will always be a changing answer . the more the mma grows the better the fighters will have to become.

Answer 7

you list three fighter as the best, i'm not even sure any of them are the best mma fighters. They have all been beat it's too hard to call

Answer 8

matt hughes is an awful fighter..seriously......royce gracie only won because nobody knew ju jitsu....randy couture is also an awful fighter.....silva is good but won't be the best ...come on

chuck liddel is awesome....go 'Rampage' Jackson whoo......guillitine him

nope

Answer 9

you'd have to break it down in weight divisions. how can you compare BJ Penn with Fedor?

my opinion.

Randy Couture. aweful fighter? get in the cage with him smart*ss....didn't think so.

hes a multiple time champ in multiple weight divisions. he's beaten almost everyone there was to beat. and noone has done more for the sport as far as getting it legalized than Randy. he did it to kids twice his age when noone thought he could. he is the upset king. he did it without any performance enhancing drugs of any kind. and unlike guys like tito ortiz or phil baroni, even frank shamrock...he did it without talking a bunch of nonsense about his opponent.

there are alot of good fighters...Randy is a legend....a truly great ambassador for the sport.

the shamrocks..especially frank would be up there in my opinion if...they didnt try to beat everyone at their own game. ken tries to beat royce on the ground. frank tries to stand up with cung le....if they would take their opponents out of their game...they'd have alot more wins..and alot less losses.

Answer 10

Gracie did well against fighters from other arts. He wasn;t really MMA, but proved BJJ can beat almost anyone. Anderson Silva is a beast, and will in about 2-3 years end up as the greatest MMA fighter who ever lived - believe me.

Randy is a true MMA fighter. He's about 44 now and still the best in his weight class in the world.

RANDY!!!!!

Answer 11

chuck liddel