Fedor Emelianenko
Stipe Miocic
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Fedor Emelianenko leads 2 of 4 categories. Our all-time ranking places Fedor Emelianenko at #7 and Stipe Miocic at #12.
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The case for Fedor Emelianenko
'The Last Emperor' was the consensus best heavyweight in the world through the mid-2000s and the defining icon of Japan's PRIDE era. A master of combat sambo, he combined unorthodox looping punches with slick submissions and an unshakable calm, going undefeated for nearly a decade — a run of 28 fights without a legitimate loss from 2000 to 2010. As PRIDE heavyweight champion he beat Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mirko Cro Cop, Mark Coleman and a young Andrei Arlovski, whom he stopped with a flying-punch knockout. He never competed in the UFC, which fuels endless debate about his placement, and his level of competition in some later fights is questioned. But at his peak, against the best heavyweights alive, he was untouchable, and he retired around 40-7 as one of the most beloved and mythologized figures the sport has produced.
The case for Stipe Miocic
The most accomplished heavyweight in UFC history, Miocic set the record for most consecutive successful heavyweight title defenses with three, a mark that stood alone in the sport's most volatile division. A working firefighter and paramedic, he won the title by knocking out Fabricio Werdum in Brazil at UFC 198 in 2016, then defended against Alistair Overeem, Junior dos Santos and Francis Ngannou. After dropping the belt to Daniel Cormier he reclaimed it in their 2019 rematch at UFC 241, avenging the loss. Built on crisp boxing, an underrated clinch and championship-round cardio, his reign gave heavyweight a rare stretch of stability. His career sits around 20-5, with the closing chapters — a knockout loss to Ngannou in 2021 and a stoppage by Jon Jones at UFC 309 in 2024 — coming against two of the hardest hitters the division has ever seen.