Fans Furious Over Conor McGregor, Jose Aldo, and Daniel Cormier Missing from ESPN’s Top 10 MMA Fighters of the 21st Century List

ESPN recently released their picks for the Top 10 Men’s MMA fighters of the 21st century. Naturally, the list included legendary names like ‘The Last Emperor’ Fedor Emelianenko, Jon ‘Bones’ Jones, ‘The Iceman’ Chuck Liddell, and even Kamaru Usman but no Conor McGregor! While this simple fact enraged the community, some also couldn’t stand how popular fighters, including Jose Aldo and Daniel Cormier were dropped from the list.

Reacting to the supposed embarrassment of a list, ardent MMA fans picked up arms and brutally denounced the rankings without any second thoughts.

“I’d put Connor and DC in over Kamaru for sure. Hard to argue with the rest of this list,” Wrote an avid fan who was let down to see both ‘The Notorious’ and the promotion’s former champ, Daniel Cormier snubbed.

Meanwhile, another simply asked,

“Where’s Conor????” 

A third fan was pretty sound in his criticism, as he stated that the Irish superstar was a better souped-up version of Liddell, bringing in the much-deserved money, attention, and fame for the sport.

“This is about as solid of a list as ESPN has released tbh but I’m surprised Conor is not there. Mcgregor was basically a better version of the Iceman, huge for the sport. Double champ. Great on the mic. Sold PPVs. You could put him anywhere between 7-10 IMO.” 

So did another fan, mentioning that McGregor & DC deserve to be on the ranking as opposed to former welterweight champion, Usman.

“I’d put Connor and DC in over Kamaru for sure. Hard to argue with the rest of this list.” 

Pressing on that same point, another fan expressed his disbelief,

“Cormier can replace Khabib and Aldo can replace Usman.” 

Whereas, some others found the opportunity and threw some shade on the undefeated former champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov –

“The fact that Khabib is on here and not McGregor is embarrassing.” 

While the ranking soon became the talk of the town with frenzied fans poking questions at the American international basic cable giant, let us dive deeper and dissect the list from top to bottom.

ESPN’s Top 10 men’s MMA athletes of the 21st century

The list has Jon Jones occupying the top. Jones certainly is at the pinnacle of MMA for many simply due to his unmatched supremacy. Undoubtedly his unbeaten run of 16 years has made him the best, as he suffered his only loss via disqualification and even became the youngest champion in the history of the promotion.

Next up is the calm and cool, George ‘Rush’ St Pierre, and there isn’t a lot of argument against this. After all, the man dominated the welterweight division, avenging all his losses only to climb up to middleweight and bow out with a belt. Likewise, Anderson Silva’s #3 ranking hasn’t witnessed any disagreements simply because he was the best during his prime years. ‘The Spider’ during his heyday was like Saiyan having attained Ultra Instincts, dropping killers with unmatched precision, and racking up 16 consecutive wins in the process.

Demetrious Johnson and Khabib Nurmagomedov sit at #4 and #5 with the great Emelianenko occupying the #6 spot only because of his glory days in Pride. Furthermore, close rivals, Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell are seventh and eighth on the list, while the protege, BJ Penn is ranked above #10 Kamaru Usman.

For some, the list indeed is a bit controversial, especially considering the history of PEDs associated with Jones and Silva. Moreover, the emission of McGregor, Aldo & DC from the list is nothing but absurdity. Still, one cannot blame the organization for the included names either simply due to their impeccable resumes.