4. Gegard Mousasi
The period of time where Mousasi was probably the best middleweight in the world was relatively short, from 2017 to 2019. However, he has been a key part of that conversation since 2008, when he won the Dream middleweight grand prix with an unforgettable upkick knockout of Ronaldo Souza in the final. That is a dizzying period of time to spend as an elite middleweight, even surpassing Anderson Silva in that regard. Over that time, he has defeated countless top middleweights, including brutal knockouts of two men on this list: Chris Weidman and Dan Henderson. Mousasi has also vanquished Souza, Hector Lombard, Vitor Belfort, Renato Sobral, Mark Munoz, Thales Leites, Uriah Hall, Rory MacDonald, Lyoto Machida, Douglas Lima and John Salter, plus light heavyweight contenders Thiago Santos, Ovince St. Preux and Ilir Latifi and heavyweight contender Mark Hunt. It is an incredible list of names. Mousasi has some of the best standup in MMA history, as well as some of the best ground-and-pound, decimating countless opponents with strikes from the top.
Mousasi has a few notable losses, too, including his first bout with Machida, his rematch against “Jacare” and his Bellator decision defeats to the unbeaten Rafael Lovato Jr. and undefeated Johnny Eblen. He always had a relative weakness to elite grapplers with at least decent striking and solid defense. Still, his time at the top is unprecedented in nature and he was arguably the best middleweight in the world from 2017 to 2019.
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