Jon Jones, Georges St. Pierre Listed Among ESPN’s Top 100 Athletes of 2000s

Two all-time great Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters have been selected as some of the best athletes this century.

Revealing the list of 100 athletes by sections of 25 at a time, ESPN concluded its Top 100 list of pro athletes since 2000 on Thursday. Two MMA fighters were listed: Jon Jones (66) and Georges St. Pierre (76). In ESPN’s past list of SportsCentury for the 20th century, no fighters were selected although multiple boxers including Muhammad Ali (3) and Joe Louis (11) made the list. Jones and GSP were passed by Floyd Mayweather (25) but the former was ranked higher than Manny Pacquiao (71) and both came in above Bernard Hopkins (78).

Often considered to be the greatest MMA fighter of all time, Jones’ lone loss as a professional came against Matt Hamill via disqualification in a fight he was dominating. Failed drug tests, criminal activity and legal issues plagued a career that could have been even more exceptional without lengthy patches of inactivity and one major victory overturned to a no contest. Jones celebrates the UFC light heavyweight record for title defenses, and in his last performance, he throttled Ciryl Gane in just over two minutes to secure the vacant heavyweight throne.

Canada’s St. Pierre is also among most all-time great lists involving competitors in MMA. While he holds two losses—both by stoppage—St. Pierre went on to avenge those losses, going 3-0 against the men that beat him in Matt Hughes and Matt Serra after his respective defeats to them. “Rush” shattered the UFC’s welterweight record of title defenses, vacating his belt after nine in a row because of the pressure placed on himself to succeed. Although he retired in 2013, he returned in 2017 to put Michael Bisping to sleep with a rear-naked choke and subsequently claimed the middleweight strap.