1. Fedor Emelianenko
The sport’s greatest heavyweight has still never competed inside the UFC. His resume speaks for itself and includes wins over former K-1 World Grand Prix winners Mark Hunt and Semmy Schilt, Olympic medalists Matt Lindland, Satoshi Ishii and Naoya Ogawa, 2006 Pride Fighting Championships open weight grand prix winner Mirko Filipovic, former Pride heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (twice) and four former UFC titleholders: Andrei Arlovski, Tim Sylvia, Kevin Randleman and Mark Coleman (twice).
Emelianenko’s expression never changes, no matter the situation, and his stoicism only adds to the fear factor associated with him. He can take out opponents with a single punch, menace them with ferocious ground-and-pound or tap them with a variety of submissions. “The Last Emperor” is the rare heavyweight who does everything well and at an exceptionally high level.
The Russian went almost a full decade between losses and ruled Pride with an iron fist. Emelianenko, 39, came out of retirement in December to shoulder a Rizin Fighting Federation event on New Year’s Eve in Japan. As long as he remains active, rumors of a possible run in the UFC will persist -- especially when one considers the current state of the heavyweight division.