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The 10 best MMA fighters from the 1990s

By Chad Porto

LOS ANGELES, CA - JULY 06: Actor Bas Rutten arrives at the premiere of "The Zookeeper" at the Regency Village Theatre on July 6, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Buckner/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - JULY 06: Actor Bas Rutten arrives at the premiere of "The Zookeeper" at the Regency Village Theatre on July 6, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Buckner/Getty Images) /
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Who are the 10 best MMA fighters from the 1990s?

Mixed martial arts really started in earnest in the 1990s, and from the earliest days to the start of the new Millenium, the sport evolved and changed rapidly. Men who were once the stars of the sport were being phased out.

Younger fighters took over and older fighters, who would be young by today’s standards, started falling off. It makes it hard to accurately pinpoint who really was the best of the 90s.

Not only that, but so many big names, legends of any decade, started in the 90s. So how do we fairly and accurately rank those 10 best fighters? By forming a criteria checklist.

The six criteria in order are:

  1. Historical significance
  2. Significant wins over other top talents
  3. Championship wins.
  4. Wins vs. losses
  5. When and how long their peak was

It’s obvious what criteria are supposed to highlight and thereby what things to eliminate when talking about these fighters. It must be emphasized, this is not an All-Time list. This is an All-Decades list. Matt Hughes, Chuck Liddell, Wanderlei Silva, and others aren’t on this list.

Why?

They didn’t hit most of their criteria requirements until 2000 or later. Yes, there are guys who started in the late 90s that are better than the guys on this list. That’s not the point, these are the guys that from 1990 to 1999 could be considered the best. That’s it.

So who didn’t make the list? Well, Kevin Randleman didn’t win a championship until late 1999 and hadn’t really faced the top-of-the-line guys. As good as he was, Yuki Kondo lost out on the fact he beat up on the same guys over and over. Tito Ortiz, Dan Henderson, and Vitor Belfort were just beginning their careers. Igor Vovchanchyn didn’t fight a lot of name-value until 2000, while Kazushi Sakuraba‘s best years were in the late 90s but his star-making, name-brand-solidifying years came in 2000 and later. Same for Wanderlei Silva. Despite his fan appeal, Mark Kerr didn’t defeat anyone of note.

Rickson Gracie only had a handful of impressive wins.

There were some guys who barely missed the list, like Don Frye, Guy Mezger, and Oleg Taktarov, who both had great runs but just missed out on those above them.