I’m sure you’ve checked out MMA Junkie’s countdown of our fighters of the decade for the 2010s and have your own opinion on who would have made your list and what order you would have listed them. Now, with a new decade upon us, it’s time to look forward and ponder which names might dominate the MMA landscape over the course of the next 10 years.
And that hugely important job of pugilistic prognosticator fell to yours truly as I pick up the baton and attempt to compile a list of fighters who could lead our fighters of the decade list from 2020-2029.
So here, in no particular order, are my 10 selections in this way-too-early list:
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Jon Jones
Let’s not mess around here. [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] is the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet, and there’s nobody on the horizon that’s likely to change that soon. And with Jones dominating the UFC’s light heavyweight division, a brand-new chapter could soon open up for “Bones” when he takes the plunge and moves up to heavyweight.
Skill-wise, there’s no doubt he has everything in his locker to be every bit as dominant at heavyweight as he currently is at 205 pounds, but there’s always that X-factor of heavyweight punching power. Jones tends to drag his opponents into deep water, but at heavyweight it only takes one shot to end your night.
To that end, at 32, Jones’ style has avoided taking damage for the bulk of his career. Heavyweights tend to last longer and peak later than other weight classes: Witness Daniel Cormier holding the UFC belt past age 40. Current champ Stipe Miocic is 37, and his first reign began when he beat a then-38-year-old Fabricio Werdum.
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The challenge that lies ahead for Jones is arguably the most fascinating – and dangerous – of his MMA career. And the matchups he’ll face over the course of the coming years will make for some of the most-watched fights of the decade.
He was our No. 1 fighter for the 2010s, and he’s my early-money favorite to finish the 2020s as not only MMA Junkie’s fighter of the decade once again, but also as the consensus greatest mixed martial artist that ever lived.
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