2. Stipe Miocic
Just as Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira was an iron-clad No. 3, Miocic was the near-unanimous choice for second. I believe I had him lower than anyone else in the poll, yet he was still No. 4 for me. That mirrors how interesting and unusual I find his career, which I've written about before. Miocic was very, very good, but never quite reached the heights achieved by multiple men lower on this list. When it comes to absolute prime versus absolute prime, I would take Daniel Cormier, Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos over Miocic handily, and believe even Alistair Overeem at his very best might have won at least five times out of 10 against him. But Miocic, thanks to his indomitable will, toughness and constant desire to train and improve, had two things none of those others did: consistency and longevity. Velasquez and dos Santos had very short primes and were well past it by their early 30s, while Cormier didn't spend long enough at heavyweight. Miocic was a champion well into his mid and even late 30's. That's rarer than we realize, as many heavyweights stay contenders into that age, but few are the best. Furthermore, even I have to bow my head in respect to Miocic's victory in his first encounter against Francis Ngannou, one of the greatest, most impressive triumphs in the division's history.
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