UFC: 20 Years

Matt Hughes takes on B.J. Penn. (kickassmma.com)

There's a lot of reasons I love the UFC. As it reaches the 20th anniversary, set to culminate on Saturday at UFC 167 in Las Vegas, there have been multiple media outlets and the UFC themselves parading out some of the greatest of. A retrospective for a 20 year-old sport seems premature, but at the same time the growth and story of the UFC amazing enough that it needs to be documented. I don't have the time or wherewithal to dive deep into my history with the sport, but I'm sure I'll share a couple of thoughts in my Looking for a Fight column later this week when I discuss the Georges St-Pierre v. Johny Hendricks fight, but for now, I wanted to pass along a quick ranking I did on ESPN.com for the best UFC fighters over the past 20 years.

Check out my SportsNation Rankings http://t.co/4g1bXZxSft
— Rob Grundlock III (@grundlock_3rd) November 13, 2013

My rankings are also listed below, and you can vote for your own selections as well.

SportsNation Rankings	Points	#1 Votes	Your Rankings
1.Anderson Silva	6312	303	1.Anderson Silva
2.Georges St-Pierre	5552	89	2.Georges St-Pierre
3.Jon Jones	5256	101	3.Jon Jones
4.Chuck Liddell	4478	43	4.Chuck Liddell
5.Randy Couture	3933	31	5.Matt Hughes
6.Royce Gracie	3762	65	6.Randy Couture
7.Matt Hughes	2938	7	7.B.J. Penn
8.B.J. Penn	2683	4	8.Tito Ortiz
9.Tito Ortiz	2588	5	9.Royce Gracie
10.Frank Shamrock	2260	4	10.Mark Coleman
11.Mark Coleman	1407	6	11.Frank Shamrock