Sherdog’s Top 10Sherdog’s Top 10: Overachievers
Number 3
3. Jeremy Horn (91-21-5)
While few today would rank Horn among the sport’s all-time greats, he deserves recognition for his longevity, incredible durability -- only two knockout losses in 127 career fights -- and exceptional savvy and killer instinct on the mat. His 62 submission wins are an incredible achievement that will probably never be matched, and he has adapted to massive changes to rules and norms in 18 years as a professional fighter.
Horn, a native of Nebraska, spent most of his formative years as a fighter working under the tutelage of Pat Miletich in Bettendorf, Iowa. Back in the early days of MMA, nobody was cross-training with the aplomb or the brutal, punishing effectiveness of the students at Miletich Fighting Systems, and Horn further honed the combined wrestle-grappling game that made him such a difficult fighter with which to deal.
Horn not only beat guys like Sonnen (three times, no less), Liddell, Griffin and Gilbert Yvel, but he also fought for the light heavyweight title and managed to work his way back to the UFC at the tender age of 33 and with more than 100 fights on his record. That run did not go as planned, but it hardly diminishes the incredible accomplishment; Horn was one of the best fighters of his generation and was still competitive with the one that followed.
Horn most recently fought in September and spends most of his time training fighters in Utah. He has seen and done it all. Here is to hoping that he passes some of that on to the next generation of fighters.
Number 2 » There was a time when he was one of the best heavyweights in the world -- and the legitimate UFC champion. What is even more notable is that he achieved all of that without much in the way of physical talent. He was at heart a lumbering and not particularly powerful striker who survived by dint of his height and a game that utilized it perfectly.
More Top 10s
