Sherdog’s Top 10: Most Aggressive Fighters

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10. Fedor Emelianenko

During the prime of his career, all-time great Emelianenko embodied the principle of ice-cold, calculated aggression. Every facet of his polished, complete game focused on ending the fight quickly and in violent fashion, whether that opportunity came at range, in the clinch or on the ground.

Emelianenko wasted no time or energy with unnecessary movement. When he fought Semmy Schilt early in his Pride Fighting Championships career, for example, Emelianenko caught the first knee the future K-1 World Grand Prix winner threw and immediately took him to the ground, where he could work his extensive repertoire of topside strikes. The moment Schilt tried to scramble out, the Russian transitioned to a belly-down armbar.

While the enormous Dutchman survived to a decision, the fight embodied the crafty, relentless pressure that eventually came to define Emelianenko’s game. His bout with Mirko Filipovic embodied the depth of that skill set, as Emelianenko spent the entirety of the fight carefully stalking “Cro Cop” and taking away the space and angles the Croatian kickboxer needed to land his wicked left hand and left kick. It was a master class in short, efficient movement and cool calculation rather than berserker rage, but the willingness to keep moving forward in the face of Filipovic’s brutal striking prowess was something to behold.

The Tim Sylvia fight under the Affliction banner, perhaps the last in which the Russian was at his absolute best, summed up the mature Emelianenko’s approach. Twelve seconds into the fight, he stung Sylvia with a sharp left hook and jumped on the Maine native with a relentless, brutal salvo of strikes. When Sylvia turtled up, Emelianenko hopped on his back and choked him out. The whole thing took only 36 seconds.

At the end of his career, Emelianenko’s formerly calculated aggression morphed into something more direct and less subtle. The willingness to hop into Fabricio Werdum’s guard led to the first legitimate loss of his career, and Dan Henderson capitalized on it, as well. In the end, however, Emelianenko’s aggression melded perfectly with his skill sets to create one of the greatest fighters of all-time.

Number 9 » He is notable for the fact that his aggressiveness transcends a single phase of the fight. Whether at range, in the clinch or on the ground, he is always looking to produce offense and finish his opponent.