8. Jimi Manuwa
I was a huge fan of Manuwa when he was active and had him fourth on my own list. There is a tinge of sadness when I regard his career, as I think he had the potential to be one of the greatest fighters ever, and he arguably had more pure talent than anyone else on this list. In fact, a few weeks ago we did the Top 10 Underachievers in MMA, and if that list had gone to 20 spots, I would have included Manuwa. Sadly, Manuwa spent much of his teens and early twenties involved in crime, including a stint in prison, and didn't even begin training in MMA until age 27. Despite this, he had some of the best striking I've ever seen in MMA, with gorgeous, fast and powerful punches that he could effortlessly throw as combinations or rip to the body. Neither was Manuwa lacking in the grappling like so many other British fighters, being a terror in the clinch with his knees and possessing excellent takedown defense. Manuwa began his career a perfect 14-0, including 3-0 in the UFC, easily knocking out Kyle Kingsbury, Cyrille Diabete and Ryan Jimmo. Manuwa then faced Alexander Gustaffson, only one fight removed against his famous first fight against Jon Jones, which could have gone either way.
Unfortunately, this proved too much for Manuwa, who was knocked out in the second round. Manuwa recovered by soundly defeating future UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz. Manuwa was then paired up with another all-time great striker in the late Anthony Johnson and again came up short, being knocked out early in the second round. Yet again, he recovered nicely by knocking out Ovince St. Preux, a hugely impressive win in 2016, and then brutalizing the exceptionally talented Corey Anderson, who is arguably the second-best light heavyweight in the world right now. Unfortunately, Manuwa was 37 years old at that point and both his speed and chin were eroding. He lost the last four fights of his career, three by knockout, though all were against excellent opposition, first being knocked out in 22 seconds by Volkan Oezdemir, then losing a rematch to Blachowicz, being knocked out by Thiago Santos and finally retired with a gorgeous Aleksander Rakic head kick in 47 seconds. Manuwa called it a career, having been a Top 5 light heavyweight at his peak with some great victories, but I can only imagine how much greater he could have been if his life had been different.
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