The 25 Greatest Journeymen in MMA History

The MMA ecosystem has a lot of layers. Fighters might all be sharks when they're walking down the street, but many are mere plankton when inserted into the cage.

But as with most things, a large majority of fighters lie somewhere in the middle, somewhere between championship gold and tomato-can tin. And within that wide middle is perhaps the most unsung classification: the journeyman.

For MMA purposes, a journeyman is someone who enjoys a lengthy career, but never attains the highest levels. It's far from an insult, though; to hang around long enough to be a journeyman, you have to be doing something right.

These are the 25 greatest journeymen in the sport's history. Lest you consider this an arbitrary list, a few parameters.

First, you need a long career; 10 years and 20 fights are pretty good general guidelines.

Second, we're talking big promotions only here; no guys who toiled forever in the sport's minor leagues.

Third, no one who won a major title or tournament need apply; even fighting for a big belt or winning a minor title puts you on thin ice.

And fourth, no guys who entered also-ran status at the ends of their careers. That's not the journeyman lifestyle. Once a journeyman, always a journeyman. Or else, you never was a journeyman.

25. Alessio Sakara

Weight Class: Middleweight 
Record: 15-9-1
Career: 2002-Present

Legionarius is talented enough, especially with his boxing, to hold his own. Still, his biggest win was over Thales Leites.

24. Frank Trigg

Weight Class: Welterweight
Record: 21-9
Career: 1997-2011

"Twinkletoes" hasn't officially retired yet. He also hasn't fought in nearly a year.

Trigg has some good wins on his resume, but always seems to be on the wrong side of the highlight reel. His two losses to Matt Hughes doubled as two of Hughes's signature wins. So that's nice for Frank.

23. Jonathan Goulet

Weight Class: Welterweight
Record: 23-12-0 (1)
Career: 2001-2010

Goulet finished with a 4-5 record in the UFC Octagon. But he did a lot more damage in Canada's defunct TKO promotion, where he never lost in 12 bouts. Still never fought for a belt, though.

22. Evangelista Santos

Weight Class: Light heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight
Record: 18-15
Career: 1997-Present

The "other Cyborg" remains on the Strikeforce roster. However, after losing his last two and six of his last nine, he may not be long for the promotion.

Even if he was cut today, though, Santos leaves a reputation as a savage fighter and consummate showman. Think a poor man's Wanderlei Silva, which is no way intended as an insult (please don't hurt me).

He actually fought for the Strikeforce belt once, losing to Nick Diaz. Almost, but not quite, enough to DQ him from the list.

21. Phil Baroni

Weight Class: Welterweight and middleweight
Record: 14-15
Career: 2000-Present

Just when you think Baroni is out, they pull him back in. He's only fought once in 2012, and it was a TKO loss. Now he's got to find somewhere else to fight so he can get back to .500. A journeyman's work is never done.

20. Pete Spratt

Weight Class: Welterweight
Record: 25-21
Career: 1999-Present

Do any of these guys ever retire? Of course not. That's why they're journeymen. TRICK QUESTION, FOOL!

Spratt has tangled with some of the best, including Georges St-Pierre, Yves Edwards and Carlos Newton; and he came up short every time. His biggest claim to fame was probably defeating horrible felon Jeremy Jackson in the finale of that season of The Ultimate Fighter where they brought back all the journeymen and let them fight it out to see which journeymen was the best.

Spratt is now fighting in Brazil. He's like the Bad Blake of MMA welterweights. I wonder if the fight went down in a bowling alley.

19. Heath Herring

Weight Class: Heavyweight
Record: 28-14-0-1
Career: 1997-2008

Holding it down for the heavyweights, Herring quietly walked away from the sport after Brock Lesnar knocked him head over heels at UFC 87. 

18. Jason MacDonald

Weight Class: Middleweight 
Record: 25-16
Career: 1999-Present

The Canadian wanted to get out of the game in front of his home crowd at UFC 149. But a big KO loss to Tom Lawlor in his prior fight put him on the shelf. He is apparently still holding out hope for one more UFC fight, presumably in his native nation.

 

17. Sean Salmon

Weight Class: Light Heavyweight 
Record: 18-18
Career: 2005-2011 

His stats aren't quite as voluminous as those of others. But there's no way I was leaving Sean Salmon off the list.

Salmon is dangerously close to tomato can territory, especially given his nine-fight losing streak, the longest active such streak in big-league MMA. He has systematically and emphatically lost to every opponent of note that he has ever faced.

It's an unassailable commitment to mediocrity, is what it is. And here he is getting kicked in the face by Rashad Evans. 

16. Hikaru Sato

Weight Class: Middleweight
Record: 21-21-4
Career: 2000-Present


Some countries export coffee. Others export spices or, you know, fabrics. But Japan exports MMA journeymen. It would have been possible to have a list of 25 journeymen and never leave the Land of the Rising Sun. Even their best fighter, the great and inimitable Kazushi Sakuraba had, er, has some decidedly journeyman-esque characteristics.

As for Sato, a longtime Pancrase veteran, he's still officially active, though his career effectively hit the skids in 2008, when he began to transition to pro wrestling. He's only fought in MMA three times since then.

15. Steve Berger

Weight Class: Welterweight
Record: 21-21-2
Career: 1998-2010

 
Again with the 21-21. It's the Number of the Journeyman.

Berger is also 0-3 UFC and 0-1 Strikeforce. He's fought about as many times as you can and still not come close to being anything other than anonymous.

Plus, his nickname is "The Red Nose Pitbull." So there's that. He was also great in "The Lord of the Rings"; there's no way Frodo makes it to Mount Doom without him.

14. Joe Doerksen

Weight Class: Middleweight
Record: 47-16
Career: 1999-2011

Wow...lots of middleweights on this list. Call it "The Curse of Dave Menne."

I'll be honest; I had no idea Doerksen had this many fights. Pretty impressive, actually.

13. Rich Clementi

Weight Class: Lightweight, Welterweight
Record: 44-21-1
Career: 1999-Present

Fun Rich Clementi Fact: he was one of only two men to choke out Melvin Guillard in 2007. 

12. Yuki Sasaki

Weight Class: Middleweight, Welterweight
Record: 23-20-1
Career: 1998-Present

An ultimate journeyman...a good record, lots of fights, nothing resembling a title fight.

11. Vernon White

Weight Class: Middleweight
Record: 26-34-2
Career: 1993-2010

It doesn't get much more old school than Vernon "Tiger" White.

White's toughest opponent ever? Not Chuck Liddell. Not Pedro Rizzo. Nope, according to the man himself, it was Vladimir Matyushenko. Why? Apparently he has "hands like Barney Rubble." And he's like the hardest cartoon character out there.    

10. Valentijn Overeem

Weight Class: Heavyweight
Record: 32-30
Career: 1996-Present

Valentijn Overeem is holding down the fort for famous fighter siblings. Somewhere, Murilo Rua weeps in his ninja jammies. That's what you get for winning a belt, Murilo.

Alistair's older brother never found his sibling's success. But he found enough to amass more than 30 wins (and about as many losses) fighting in Pride, Strikeforce and a slew of European promotions.

9. Dennis Hallman

Weight Class: Welterweight and lightweight 
Record: 51-14-2-1
Career: 1996-Present

Hard to believe he's only 36. Just when you leave him for dead, he comes crawling back up through the soil, as he did against John Makdessi at UFC 140.

8. Brian Ebersole

Weight Class: Welterweight
Record: 50-15-1 (1)
Career: 2000-Present

Brian Ebersole checks in one spot above the man he beat in his second UFC bout. He defeated fellow journeyman Chris Lytle in his debut, a bout that—and this can't be said enough times—took him 63 pro fights to get.

After a loss at UFC 149 to James Head (a promising potential journeyman in his own right), Ebersole looks like he's on his way down to lightweight. 

7. Gary Goodridge

Weight Class: Heavyweight 
Record: 23-23-1
Career: 1996-2010

The armwrestler-turned-mixed martial artist is now a very visible victim of brain injury. But during the happier times of his career, he could put on a good fight with a bowl of rice pudding. 

6. Hiromitsu Kanehara

Weight Class: Light heavyweight
Record: 27-27-4
Career: 1998-Present

That's it, right there. That's the perfect journeyman's record. Weird trivia fact: he only fought seven times outside of his native Japan.

5. Travis Wiuff

Weight Class: Light Heavyweight
Record: 68-14 (1)
Career: 2001-Present

On the cusp of his 84th pro fight, Wiuff has a chance to get off this list with a win in the Bellator light heavyweight tourney final on August 24. 

4. Kevin Randleman

Weight Class: Heavyweight and light heavyweight 
Record: 17-16
Career: 1996-2011

First of all, dang...that choke is deep.

Secondly, as with others on this list, it's hard to keep track of the number of great fighters whose highlight reels include Randleman's signature silver-white 'do.

3. Jeremy Horn

Weight Class: Middleweight and light heavyweight 
Record: 89-21-5
Career: 1996-2011

The uber-durable jiu-jitsu ace has, among other feathers in his cap, three wins over Chael Sonnen. He also remains the only man to ever choke out Chuck Liddell. 

2. Travis Fulton

Weight Class: Heavyweight 
Record: 247-49-10-1
Career: 1996-Present 

Good lord! That record defies comprehension. And he's still adding to it!

Plus, he looks like my favorite bartender at my local watering hole.

1. Chris Lytle

Weight Class: Welterweight 
Record: 31-18-5
Career: 1999-2011 

To me, Lytle is the ultimate journeyman. He put in the sweat equity, gave the clients (us) what they wanted and came to work each day with a smile on his face.

Lytle never fought for a UFC belt in 20 contests in the Octagon, and only held one title his entire career—the Cage Rage welterweight strap, which he never defended.

But he does have one record that sums up his career: 10 UFC post-fight bonuses. Does that not sum it up? A guy who, win or lose, did what he was supposed to do: put on a freaking show.

And to show that not every journeyman's career has to end with a sad chapter, Lytle went out on top by defeating Dan Hardy last August, taking Fight of the Night and Submission of the Night honors with him.

Hats off to Lights Out, the greatest journeyman in MMA history.

Scott Harris is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report MMA. Follow him on Twitter@ScottHarrisMMA.