Two all-time great
Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters have been selected as
some of the best athletes this century.
Revealing the list of 100 athletes by sections of 25 at a time,
ESPN concluded its Top 100 list of pro athletes since 2000 on
Thursday. Two MMA fighters were listed: Jon Jones (66)
and Georges St.
Pierre (76). In ESPN’s past list of SportsCentury
for the 20th century, no fighters were selected although multiple
boxers including Muhammad Ali (3) and Joe Louis (11) made the list.
Jones and GSP were passed by Floyd
Mayweather (25) but the former was ranked higher than Manny
Pacquiao (71) and both came in above Bernard Hopkins (78).
Often considered to be the greatest MMA fighter of all time, Jones’
lone loss as a professional came against Matt Hamill
via disqualification in a fight he was dominating. Failed drug
tests, criminal activity and legal issues plagued a career that
could have been even more exceptional without lengthy patches of
inactivity and one major victory overturned to a no contest. Jones
celebrates the UFC light heavyweight record for title defenses, and
in his last performance, he throttled Ciryl Gane
in just over two minutes to secure the vacant heavyweight
throne.
Canada’s St. Pierre is also among most all-time great lists
involving competitors in MMA. While he holds two losses—both by
stoppage—St. Pierre went on to avenge those losses, going 3-0
against the men that beat him in Matt Hughes
and Matt
Serra after his respective defeats to them. “Rush” shattered
the UFC’s welterweight record of title defenses, vacating his belt
after nine in a row because of the pressure placed on himself to
succeed. Although he retired in 2013, he returned in 2017 to put
Michael
Bisping to sleep with a rear-naked choke and subsequently
claimed the middleweight strap.