Thales Leites isn’t exactly the most popular fighter among fans right now—most fans are pretty upset with him for his performance against Anderson Silva recently at UFC 97.
If this was a list for “Top Ten Fan Favorites”, Leites would not even be close to making the list right now.
However if you can look past the Silva fight—Thales Leites is still one of the most talented BJJ black belts in the sport right now.
Once he gets you to the ground it’s pretty much a 90 percent chance that he is going to submit you (unless you are one of the fighters that I have ranked above him).
MMA fans—I am begging you, please don’t disrespect Thales Leites skills as a fighter. Sure his fight with Anderson Silva was horrible and sure Thales might not be the most exciting fighter in the world—but you cannot deny his talent.
His Jiu-Jitsu is world class and he’s got a very durable chin—plus he has only lost twice in his career. Please give this kid another chance because one bad performance does not make you a bad fighter.
No. 6- Fabricio Werdum
The casual fans mostly remember Werdum as that guy who got knocked out by Junior Dos Santos at UFC 91 in November. However those of us who have followed the sport for a long time know all about Werdum and his incredible talent on the ground.
Many people ask me “Well who has the best Jiu-Jitsu in the Heavyweight division?” (Ok fine nobody asks me that but let’s just use it as an example) and I always tell them it’s between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Fabricio Werdum.
If we are talking about the best pure Jiu-Jitsu guys that are now fighting in MMA then Werdum would probably be ranked number one on this list—but for MMA Jiu-Jitsu he is not nearly as dominant.
Don’t get me wrong—he is still one of the most talented guys on the ground in MMA right now but the fact of the matter is—the last time he won a fight by submission was in 2006 against Aleksander Emelianenko and that was three years ago.
I still consider Werdum one of the best Heavyweights in the world—going on pure talent over anything else—and I would love to see him back in the UFC in the near future.
No. 5- Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira
Type in the word “legend” on google right now and it will pull up hundreds of results on “Minoatauro” Nogueira.
You’re talking about a guy who can take your best beating and still manage to make a huge comeback by catching you in a submission to win the fight. If they were to create an MMA version of “Rocky” it would be based on Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
Both he and his twin brother Rogerio are high level BJJ black belts and both have transitioned very well into MMA.
Rodrigo was very successful in the Pride Fighting Championships with big wins over the likes of Mirko Cro-Cop, Josh Barnett, Heath Herring, Ricco Rodriguez, Dan Henderson, Fabricio Werdum and several others.
His only losses in Pride were to Josh Barnett (which he avenged) and to the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world—Fedor Emelianenko (twice), both of those losses came by way of decision.
Once the UFC bought Pride in 2007, Nogueira made the move over to the UFC and defeated Heath Herring and Tim Sylvia to become the interim UFC Heavyweight champion.
He was recently knocked out for the first time in his career by Frank Mir at UFC 92 back in December but I am confident that he has what it takes to win his belt back in the future.
No. 4- Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza
The term “Jacare” might not mean a lot to the casual observer but those that follow MMA like a religion know all about this Jiu-Jitsu God and his flawless technique on the ground.
Jacare began training in Jiu-Jitsu at the young age of 17 and since then he has gone on to win several championships in Jiu-Jitsu. He made the move to MMA back in 2003 and has accumulated a record of 10-2, with nine of those wins coming by way of submission.
He was the runner up in the Dream Middleweight Grand Prix eventually losing by knock out to top ranked Middleweight turned Light Heavyweight—Gegard Mousasi.
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