Was Brock Lesnar the best UFC heavyweight champion?
The UFC heavyweight division has not seen dominating champions in the same way its other divisions have: Randy Couture, Andrei Arlovski, Tim Sylvia, and Brock Lesnar are the only fighters to defend/unify the title twice in a row, whereas fighters like BJ Penn, Matt Hughes, Georges St. Pierre, Anderson Silva, Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, and Frank Shamrock have 3+ consecutive defences of their class championships.
There have been 13 heavyweight champions in UFC history (not including interim champs): Mark Coleman, Maurice Smith, Couture, Bas Rutten, Kevin Randleman, Josh Barnett, Ricco Rodriguez, Sylvia, Frank Mir, Arlovski, Lesnar, Cain Velasquez, and Junior Dos Santos. Coleman, Rutten, Barnett, Rodriguez, Mir, and Velasquez did not defend the title once, whether due to retirement, injury, drug test failure, or just losing their 1st defence match. JDS faces a big challenge in Alistair Overeem for his 1st title defence.
Smith had 1 successful defence, which was against Tank Abbott. Smith is generally considered a forgettable champ who beat Coleman because Coleman gassed out. He almost never had a .500+ record in MMA and his win over Coleman was the peak of his career.
Kevin Randleman’s name is always thrown around when athleticism and explosiveness come up. He beat Pete Williams for the UFC heavyweight championship and defended against Pedro Rizzo before losing to Randy Couture. Randleman will always be known however for having poor submission defence and never becoming a complete fighter.
Arlovski and Sylvia traded the title a couple times in the era after Frank Mir’s motorcycle accident. Arlovski defended the interim title against Justin Eilers and then was promoted to Undisputed champ after it became clear that Mir’s return would continue to be a long ways off. Arlovski then knocked out Paul Buentello for defence #2 before losing his duology and trilogy matches with Tim Sylvia.
Sylvia beat Arlovski, then beat Arlovski in a rematch, then beat Jeff Monson in title defence 2. Timmy finally lost the title due to Randy Couture’s comeback tour. It should also be mentioned that Sylvia had won the belt on a previous occasion, beating Ricco Rodriguez. In his 1st go-around as champion, Big Tim defended against Gan McGee, then was stripped of the title due to a positive drug test.
Randy Couture is a UFC Hall of Famer and has won the UFC heavyweight championship 3 times. He only lost the belt due to defeat twice, and you could make an argument that he is the only person who has defended it 3 consecutive times. After beating Maurice Smith at the end of 1997, Randy didn’t come back to the UFC until late 2000, when he beat Kevin Randleman to win the belt once again. He defended against Pedro Rizzo twice before losing to Josh Barnett. Barnett of course lost the belt due to a positive drug test. Couture came back in 2007 and beat up Tim Sylvia to win the title again, then defended against Gabriel Gonzaga before losing to Lesnar.
Lesnar defended/unified the title against Frank Mir and Shane Carwin. Lesnar was rushed into a title shot, but the fact that he beat Couture without controversy demonstrated that he was worthy of holding the belt. If there were any doubts, the fact that he dominated Mir and turned the tables on Carwin should solidify his worthiness as a champion. Moreover, Lesnar’s last 3 fights have come after life-threatening bouts with diverticulitis.
Sylvia and Arlovski didn’t have to deal with a prime uninjured Mir. Besides each other, their list of opponents wasn’t that impressive. Couture’s record isn’t great, but that just reflects that fact that he spent nearly his entire career facing top contenders at both heavyweight and light heavyweight. Lesnar beat Couture plus Mir and Carwin, who are much more threatening than fighters like Pedro Rizzo, Paul Buentello and Gan McGee. From 2000-2007, heavyweights like Fedor Emelianenko, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Cro Cop, Josh Barnett, and others weren’t even competing in the UFC. When Lesnar started his MMA career, the UFC had a much better roster of heavyweight talent.
Also, MMAth: Randy Couture > Tim Sylvia > Andrei Arlovski
Brock Lesnar > Randy Couture
Therefore Brock Lesnar = best UFC heavyweight champion ever, QED.
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