Welcome again folks, this time to Sherdog's list of the 10 greatest mixed martial artists to hail from Brazil. This was compiled as an average of many different Sherdog contributors' lists, and I will note where my own views deviated considerably. Personally though, the appeal of any such lists isn't the exact ordering, or who was included versus excluded, but the actual discussion below each entry. Anyone can come up with a list with no further commentary and it's no more “right” than another. However, the best such lists have entertaining and informative explanations, which is a goal I hope to accomplish.

A word about criteria: My main measure for this list was greatness for one’s era and how long that era lasted. I believe the majority of other contributors used a similar rubric. Ranking historical fighters based on who would beat whom doesn’t make sense, since the sport as a whole keeps improving and evolving. Nevertheless, fighters from earlier eras may be penalized for competitive their division was or was not. Even in the birthplace of BJJ and vale tudo, there were fewer decent fighters in the 90s when compared to even the 00s, let alone today.

On a special note, this was an exceptionally difficult list to make due to the incredible number of all-time great Brazilian champions. Numerous legends failed to crack the Top 10, including Lyoto Machida, Deiveson Figueiredo and Charles Oliveira, just to name the top three vote-getters not to make the cut. If this list had been extended to twice its present size, the No. 11 through 20 fighters from Brazil would be superior to the top 10 of all but two other countries.

Continue Reading » Number 10