Sherdog’s Top 10: Middleweights of All-Time

10. Gegard Mousasi

A native of Iran, Mousasi and his family relocated to Europe when he was a child, and he became part of a long line of great fighters to rise out of the Netherlands. His formal training started in judo and shifted to boxing before he turned to mixed martial arts. Once Mousasi hit his stride in MMA, he grew into a dominant force in multiple weight classes. He started his career 12-1-1 before signing with Pride Fighting Championships, where he won twice in three appearances. After parting ways with the Japanese promotion, Mousasi emerged as one of the sport’s premier fighters. He captured the Cage Warriors Fighting Championship middleweight crown and then moved on to Dream, where he laid claim to organizational gold as a middleweight and light heavyweight. By the time he arrived in the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2013, Mousasi had also gotten his hands on the Strikeforce light heavyweight title. He has compiled an 8-3 mark in the UFC -- the 31-year-old has lost only to Lyoto Machida, Ronaldo Souza and Uriah Hall, the latter defeat later avenged -- and ranks among the top 10 fighters in the sport at 185 pounds.

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