Dominance: A Look at the Top Fighters of their Day

Every generation has top fighters, and so this is my tribute to those guys, giving a brief look at their period of dominance in their weightclass and the sport at large.

Royce Gracie: November, 1993 to January 1995 (loss to Kazushi Sakuraba)

While competing in the United States, Royce Gracie ruled the Ultimate Fighting Championship, dominating martial arts stylists from all over the world and of all sizes. His early fights set the standard for submission fighting in American MMA, but as soon as Royce went to the upcoming PRIDE Fighting Championships in Japan, he lost to up-and-comer Kazushi Sakuraba, who would acquire the monoquer of "the Gracie Hunter."

Rickson Gracie: November, 1980 to April, 2000 (retirement)

Over the course of his professional vale tudo/MMA career, Rickson went 11-0-0 in high profile matchups, though there is alot of speculation about how many wins he compiled all together. Over his 20 year career, he strung together one of the most dominant displays in any sport, beating opponents bigger than him on a regular basis and competing in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Submission grappling competitions with the same level of dominance.

Frank Shamrock: October, 1997 to March, 2006 (contreversial DQ loss to Renzo Gracie)

While Shamrock has been in and out of retirement over the last few years, he has dominated his opponents like no one else. He is the longest defending title holder to leave the UFC without losing (he won 5 UFC fights total, including a win over fellow 6 time champion Tito Ortiz). His list of wins includes Phil Baroni, Jeremy Horn, Elvis Sinosic and Cesar Gracie.

Mark Kerr: January, 1997 to January 2000

Kerr earned the monoquer of "the smashing machine" destroying his opponents with his world class wrestling skills and freakish strength. While other facets of his game were lacking, his ability to control opponents on the ground was unrivaled, as was his ability to get them there, and his dominance in both the UFC and PRIDE FC set the standard for pure wrestlers.

Wanderlei Silva: August, 2000 to December 2004 (loss to Mark Hunt)

They don't call him "the Axe-Murderer" for no reason. His brutal knees and open range standup led him to be undefeated in PRIDE Fighting Championships for 4 years until losing to K-1 veteran Mark Hunt. Silva held the PRIDE title at 2005 from it's forming after the grand prix until losing to Dan Henderson in February of this year. Wanderlei is still one of the most feared strikers in the sport, but has announced that he is nearing his retirement.

Matt Hughes: March, 2001 to January, 2004 and June, 2004 to November, 2006

Hughes is my own lower weight class fighter on this list, and is really the only one I consider dominant in the short existence of lighter weight class fighting. Hughes has more title fights than any other fighter except Randy Couture and will be fighting for the 170 pound title again soon. His dominant power and ability to slam his way out of submissions and control opponents on the ground has made him an exciting and impressive force in his weight class for a long time.

Fedor Emelianenko: April, 2001 to Present

There is no dispute about any of Fedor's losses. His dominance as both a grappler and a striker has left many opponents at a loss for a way to attack him, and even when they land an attack, it doesn't seem to phase him. While contractual troubles embroil him off of the mat, in competition Fedor has beaten more top 10 heavyweights than any other fighter ever and has won 23 consecutive fights.