There was some confusion last year when it was announced that the MMA Freak Hall of Fame was celebrating a decade of existence. That was wrong, it is this year. What was celebrated last year was a decade of MMA Freak. Here’s to a decade of the MMA Freak Hall of Fame:
“The Hall of Fame classes are decided by an open ballot which all writers for the site are eligible to cast. Each writer has the power to vote for up to five individuals ranked from lowest (5) to highest (1) with the highest ranks being given priority. The top five individuals with the highest number of votes are inducted into the Hall of Fame this year and are ranked based on the number of votes they received.”
*Please note that from 2013 to 2015 and in 2020, the Hall of Fame classes consisted of 10 inductees. From 2016 to 2019 and from 2021 onward, the Hall of Fame classes were shortened to 5.
Here are the previous seven Hall of Fame classes:
Class of 2013
1) Chuck Liddell – UFC Hall of Fame, UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, IFC Light Heavyweight Champ
2) Ken Shamrock – UFC Hall of Fame, 1st UFC Super Fight Champion, 1st Open Weight King of Pancrase
3) Anderson Silva – Longest serving UFC Middleweight Champion, Cage Rage Middleweight Champion
4) Royce Gracie – UFC Hall of Fame, UFC 1 Tournament Winner, UFC 2 Tournament Winner, UFC 4 Winner
5) Tito Ortiz – UFC Hall of Fame, UFC Light Heavyweight Champion
6) Georges St.-Pierre – UFC Hall of Fame, 2x UFC Welterweight Champion, Interim UFC Welterweight Champion, UFC Middleweight Champion, UCC/TKO Canadian Welterweight Championship
7) John McCarthy – 3x Referee of the Year (World MMA Awards)
8) Rorion Gracie – Co-founder of the Ultimate Fighting Championship
9) Dana White – President of the UFC, Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards 11x Promoter of the Year
10) Randy Couture – UFC Hall of Fame, 3x UFC Heavyweight Champion, 2x UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Interim UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, UFC 13 Heavyweight Tournament Winner
Class of 2014
1) Wanderlei Silva – Pride Middleweight (204 lbs) Champion, Pride Middleweight Grand Prix Winner
2) Fedor Emelianenko – Last Pride Heavyweight Champion, Pride 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix Winner
3) Matt Hughes – UFC Hall of Fame, 2x UFC Welterweight Championship, Extreme Challenge 29 Winner
4) BJ Penn – UFC Hall of Fame, UFC Welterweight Champion, UFC Lightweight Champion
5) Dan Severn – UFC Hall of Fame, UFC Superfight Champion, UFC 5 Tournament Winner, UU ’95 Winner
6) Mark Coleman – UFC Hall of Fame, UFC Heavyweight Champion, Pride 2000 Grand Prix Winner
7) Frank Shamrock – Interim King of Pancrase, First UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, First WEC Light Heavyweight Champion, First Strikeforce Middleweight Champion
8) Art Davie – Co-founder of the UFC, Legends of MMA Hall of Fame
9) Jens Pulver – First UFC Lightweight Champion (called Bantamweight)
10) Ronda Rousey – UFC Hall of Fame, First UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion, Last Strikeforce Bantamweight Champion
Class of 2015
1) Bas Rutten – UFC Hall of Fame, UFC Heavyweight Champion, King of Pancrase Openweight Champion
2) Evan Tanner – UFC Middleweight Champion, USWF Heavyweight Champion, Rest in Peace
3) Pat Miletich – UFC Hall of Fame, 1st UFC Welterweight Champion, UFC 16 Welterweight Winner
4) Renzo Gracie – World Combat Championships 1 Tournament Winner
5) Dan Henderson – Last Pride Middleweight Champion, Only Pride Welterweight Champion, Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion
6) Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira – UFC Hall of Fame, Pride HWT Champion, Interim Pride Heavyweight Champion, Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion, 2000 RINGS King of Kings Tournament Winner
7) Jose Aldo – 2x UFC Featherweight Champion, Interim UFC Featherweight Champion, Final WEC Featherweight Champion
8) Kazushi Sakuraba – UFC Hall of Fame, UFC Japan Heavyweight Tournament Winner
9) Forrest Griffin – UFC Hall of Fame, UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, TUF 1 Light Heavyweight Winner
10) Mirk Filipovic – 2006 Pride Grand Prix Winner, 2016 Rizin World Openweight Grand Prix Winner
Class of 2016
1) Miesha Tate – UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion, Strikeforce Bantamweight Champion
2) Don Frye – UFC Hall of Fame, UFC 8 Tournament Winner, UFC Ultimate Ultimate 1996 Winner
3) Mark Kerr – UFC 14 Heavyweight Tournament Winner, UFC 15 Heavyweight Tournament Winner
4) Lorenzo Fertitta and Frank Fertitta III – Former co-owners of the UFC/oversaw the Zuffa era
5) Gina Carano – Women’s MMA Pioneer
Class of 2017
1) Ariel Helwani – World MMA Awards 7x MMA Journalist of the Year
2) Joe Silva – UFC Hall of Fame, retired longtime match maker at the UFC
3) Rich Franklin – Former UFC Middleweight Champion, One FC VP
4) Megumi Fuji – Women’s MMA Pioneer
5) Mike Goldberg – UFC play by play announcer, Bellator announcer
Class of 2018
1) Tom Heffernan – Recently retired MMA Freak Journalist
2) Marloes Coenen – Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight Champion
3) Urijah Faber – UFC Hall of Fame, WEC Featherweight Champion
4) Michael Bisping – UFC Middleweight Champ, TUF 3 LHWT Winner
5) Kevin Randleman – UFC Hall of Fame, UFC Heavyweight Champion, UVTF 4 Tournament Winner, RIP
Class of 2019
1) Israel Adesanya – UFC Middleweight Champion
2) Tim Sylvia – 2x UFC Heavyweight Champion, only PWP Heavyweight Championship
3) Rashad Evans – UFC Hall of Fame, UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, TUF 2 Heavyweight Winner
4) Cain Velasquez – 2x UFC Heavyweight Champion
5) Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto – Hero’s 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix Tournament Winner, Rest in Peace
Class of 2020
1) Amber Nicole Miller – Original Octagon Girl
2) Justyn Horner – Co-founder of MMA Freak and former CEO
3) Ben Askren – Bellator MMA Welterweight Champion, ONE Championship Welterweight Champion
4) Tiger Taylor – Former MMA Freak Podcast host
5) Jeff Blatnick – MMA regulating pioneer, former UFC Commissioner, Rest in Peace
6) Ben McPhee – Former MMA Freak Podcast host and contributor
7) Johny Hendricks – UFC Welterweight Champion
8) Andy Lancaster – MMA Freak Web Developer
9) Henry Cejudo – UFC Flyweight Champion, UFC Bantamweight Champion
10) Glenn Robinson – Founder of the Blackzilians, Rest in Peace
Class of 2021
1) Julie Kedzie – Jackson’s MMA Series Women’s Bantamweight Champion
2) Suzy Friton – UFC Hairdresser and make up artist, Rest in Peace
3) Kazuhiro Nakamura – DEEP Middleweight Champion
4) Renato Sobral – Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion and IFC Light Heavyweight Winner
5) Shannon Knapp – Invicta Fighting Championships President and Founder
Class of 2022
1) Anthony Johnson – Rocky Mountain Nationals Welterweight Tournament Winner, Rest in Peace
2) Frankie Edgar – UFC Lightweight Championship, Reality Fighting Lightweight Championship
3) Donald Cerrone – Ring of Fire Lightweight Champion
4) Chael Sonnen – DangerZone Light Heavyweight Championship, DangerZone Light HeavyweightWinner
5) Uriah Hall – 2x Ring of Combat Middleweight Championship
With that we welcome the MMA Freak Hall of Fame Class of 2023:
5) Marvin Eastman – KOTC Super Heavyweight Championship, WFA Light Heavyweight Championship
4) Shawn Thompkins – MMA Trainer, Rest in Peace
3) Igor Vovchanchyn – Ukrainian No Rules Championship Champion, Mr. Strongman SEKAI Champion
2) Antonio Inoki – MMA Pioneer, Rest in Peace
1) Khabib Nurmagomedov – UFC Hall of Fame, UFC Lightweight Champion, Pankration Atrium Cup 2008
Congratulations to the MMA Freak Hall of Fame Class of 2023 inductees!