Who is the greatest UFC heavyweight of all time? (Part four)

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This is my fourth edition of the five of the greatest UFC-bred heavyweights of all time. For part three click here.
Ultimate Fighting Championship(UFC) has been around a mere 18 years and has seen some of the best fighters to date walk through its Octagon door.
The most notable fighter to not yet compete inside the "Sin City" cage has to be Fedor Emelianenko, who may also be the greatest heavyweight of all time.
This time last year fight fans were raving about how stacked the UFC heavyweight division was with the likes Brock Lesnar, Cain Velasquez, Shane Carwin and Junior Dos Santos leading the pack.
With the recent plight of injuries, the promotion's heavyweight division was overshadowed by the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix which features Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum, "Bigfoot" Silva, Brett Rogers, Sergei Kharitonov and Josh Barnett.
Between 1998-2005 Japanese promotion Pride FC had three of the very best heavyweights ever in Emelianenko, "Minotauro" Nogueira and Mirko "Cro Cop." Those three would fight each other for the top spot which was undoubtedly held by "The Last Emperor."
I would love to see who you guys feel are the top five UFC heavyweights of all time and perhaps choose the one you think outranks them all.

Candidate #4: Dan Severn (98-17 with 7 draws)

Notable wins: Oleg Taktarov (2x), Paul Varelans, Tank Abbott, Ken Shamrock, Paul Buentello, Travis Fulton (3x), Marcus Silveira, Wes Sims, Forrest Griffin, Dan Christison (2x), Justin Eilers, Johnathan Ivey, Rueben Villareal and Robert Berry.
Notable Losses: Royce Gracie, Mark Coleman, Ken Shamrock, Pedro Rizzo, Josh Barnett, Seth Petruzelli and James Thompson.
Notable accomplishments: UFC 5 & Ultimate Ultimate 1995 tournament winner, UFC Superfight champion, UFC Hall of Famer, Current Elite-1 MMA heavyweight champion, Current Continental FreeFighting Alliance heavyweight champion, Current Gladiator Challenge Superfight heavyweight champion, Arizona state wrestling hall of famer, three-time Summer Olympic freestyle wrestling alternate (1980,1984,1988) and 1985 Canada Cup gold medalist in freestyle wrestling.

Wow.
At 52, Severn has accomplished more in the sport of mixed martial arts and wrestling than anyone else without debate. His record is a staggering 98-16 with seven draws and still has two fights booked coming up. He has fought in the UFC, Pride FC, WEC and just about every notable professional wrestling company.
Known as "The Beast" and sporting the most famous 'stache in MMA, he's fought all over the world against some of the best ever. A love for competition has led to Severn holding the UFC Superfight championship and National Wrestling Alliance belt at the same time.
His knowledge of combat has earned him 5th degree black belts in both Judo and Jui-Jitsu alongside his outstanding credentials in collegiate wrestling. Like other wrestlers Mark Coleman and Randy Couture have done, he transitioned to the UFC after his wrestling days were done.
A thirst for combat brought him to the UFC in December of 1994. He would enter the UFC 4 tournament. His opening bouts lasted just over two minutes as he stopped both Anthony Macias and Marcus Bossat with rear naked chokes.
Severn would advance to the finals against the grappling wizard himself, Royce Gracie. Severn had little-to-no knowledge of the guard in BJJ but still managed to survive 15 minutes within Gracie's before a triangle choke snuffed his night.
Eager to get back on track and into the Octagon, he entered the UFC 5 tournament. He would go on to win with two submissions and a TKO (cut) over Russian menace Oleg Taktarov.

The UFC saw that star match-ups could be troublesome with a tournament format. With fans seeming to enjoy the likes of Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, Tank Abbott and Dan Severn, they decided to create 'Super Fights"
'Super Fights' were featured bouts that were not in the tournaments which featured the biggest and best fighters from the UFC. The promotion decided the fans get what the fans want. The UFC even created the Super Fight championship belt
The crowd was explosive as the two fan favorites engaged for just under five minutes of action. "The Beast" was bested by the leader of the Lion's Den.

Shamrock guillotine choked Severn at just 2:14 of round one.
Severn entered into the heavily star stacked Ultimate Ultimate 1995 that featured Tank Abbott, Steve Jennum, Paul Varelans, Marco Ruas and Keith Hackney.
Severn eliminated the much larger Paul Varelans in the quarterfinals and stopped Tank Abbott in the semifinals to earn a showdown with familiar face Oleg Taktarov.
The two fighters didn't disappoint one person as they fought for a 30-minute brawl. "The Beast" would win another tournament and earn another shot at Super Fight  champion Ken Shamrock.
The UFC was heavily scrutinized by the US Congress and most notably by then-congressman John McCain. The UFC had to be in court to fight for the show's life until 4:30 on the day of the event.
After a day before a judge, the UFC had to modify its rules to be allowed permission to operate. The special rules included: no clinched fists, or the fighter committing so would be arrested.
No fighters were arrested.
Ken Shamrock feared he would be arrested and decided to use his striking method from Pancrase, open palm strikes. Given his troubled past and prior run-ins with the law, Shamrock feared it was a melting pot.
Severn had created a gameplan in which he would purposely bore the crowd and get inside Shamrock's head.
The 'Dance in Detroit' was a 30-minute snooze-fest as neither man really engaged one another and even prompting the Detroit crowd to chant "Let's go Red Wings."
The fight went a judge's decision which was split for Severn and giving him his first major title in mixed martial arts.
Severn left the UFC for quite some time before his last meaningful bout for the UFC came at UFC 12 against powerhouse wrestler Mark Coleman.
The fight was the birth of the UFC heavyweight championship and the death of the UFC superfight championship. The fight featured two wrestlers in a sport that was designed to feature Gracie jui-jitsu.
The muscle bound Coleman tore through "The Beast" and unified the belts to form the UFC heavyweight championship. The bout was the last time the UFC would see Dan Severn until UFC 27.
During his stint away from the UFC Severn would fight stars like Jeremy Horn, Pat Miletich and Paul Buentello.
Severn competed against a UFC vet in the first ever Pride FC event. The two would go all the way to a draw and this would be Severn's first and only fight under the Pride FC banner.
Severn would return to the UFC against Brazilian kicking machine Pedro Rizzo. The fight lasted what seemed like three kicks before a kick injured Severn severely, giving Rizzo the TKO win.
Severn made another promotion debut when World Extreme Fighting (WEC) was formed. Severn would win a decision over Travis Fulton for his first and only WEC fight.
"The 'Beast" would never fight in a big show in North America but remained a tough opponent. He would fight the ever popular Ultimate Fighter (TUF) season one winner Forrest Griffin.
Severn would beat Griffin in what happened to be Griffin's professional MMA debut in 2001 at RSF: "New Blood Coming."
Severn would have an impact on stars throughout his career.
His protégé Don Frye would grow his now famous mustache in a tribute to his mentor. His Michigan roots led him to also train with former UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans. He has also trained or helped Ultimate Fighter contestant Luke Zachnick and former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson.
He has built a mixed martial arts training facility in Cold Water, Michigan and is currently fighting still and has even expressed interest in finalizing his career with a hundredth win.
The UFC honored Severn at UFC 52 by inducting him into its Hall of Fame.