Top 26 Sports Trash Talkers of All Time

Words before the bell, words during the game, words at the microphone afterwards. Loudest is not automatically best.

1. 1
   Muhammad Ali

   The heavyweight champion who rhymed his predictions and made the pre-fight press conference part of the sport.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Conor McGregor

   The Irish fighter whose promotional tours often drew more attention than the fights themselves.
   822pts
3. 3
   Brad Marchand

   Boston Bruins winger regarded as hockey's most effective pest, chirping opponents throughout a Stanley Cup-winning career.
   792pts
4. 4
   Mike Tyson

   Heavyweight champion whose menacing pre-fight threats became almost as famous as his knockouts.
   768pts
5. 5
   Gary Payton

   'The Glove', the SuperSonics point guard whose nonstop chatter matched his elite defence; many players call him the best talker the NBA has seen.
   742pts
6. 6
   Colby Covington

   UFC welterweight who built his career on deliberately outrageous insults aimed at rivals and their hometowns.
   742pts
7. 7
   Shannon Sharpe

   Hall of Fame tight end whose sideline call for 'the National Guard' while routing the Patriots became a trash-talk classic.
   685pts
8. 8
   Draymond Green

   Golden State Warriors forward whose relentless verbal jousting helped fuel four NBA championships.
   621pts
9. 9
   Michael Jordan

   A relentless in-game needler who used slights, real or invented, as fuel.
   621pts
10. 10
    John McEnroe

    Tennis champion whose 'You cannot be serious!' outbursts at umpires made him the sport's most famous verbal combatant.
    621pts
11. 11
    Larry Bird

    The Celtics forward who told opponents where he would shoot from before shooting.
    548pts
12. 12
    Kevin Garnett

    One of the NBA's most feared talkers for two decades.
    548pts
13. 13
    Rasheed Wallace

    NBA forward who set a single-season record for technical fouls and gave the game the phrase 'Ball don't lie'.
    464pts
14. 14
    Floyd Mayweather

    Turned Money into a persona that sold pay-per-views by the million.
    464pts
15. 15
    Reggie Miller

    Made a career of silencing arenas and telling them about it.
    464pts
16. 16
    Naseem Hamed

    'Prince' Naseem, the brash featherweight champion whose taunting ring entrances and mocking style infuriated opponents.
    464pts
17. 17
    Nick Kyrgios

    Tennis' loudest modern voice, on court and off it.
    464pts
18. 18
    Deion Sanders

    Prime Time backed up a constant stream of talk in both the NFL and MLB.
    365pts
19. 19
    Zlatan Ibrahimovic

    The striker who spoke about himself in the third person and made it work.
    365pts
20. 20
    Jack Johnson

    The first Black heavyweight champion, who taunted opponents and crowds mid-fight in the 1900s and 1910s and is often called the father of trash talk.
    365pts
21. 21
    Richard Sherman

    The Seahawks cornerback whose post-game interview after the 2014 NFC Championship became instant folklore.
    365pts
22. 22
    Chael Sonnen

    The UFC middleweight who built a title shot almost entirely out of interviews.
    249pts
23. 23
    Sean Avery

    NHL agitator so provocative that the league wrote a rule named after him for waving in front of a goalie.
    249pts
24. 24
    Ronda Rousey

    The UFC's first female champion, whose blunt pre-fight insults helped turn women's MMA into a headline act.
    249pts
25. 25
    Charles Barkley

    Outspoken as a player and louder as a broadcaster.
    249pts
26. 26
    Joe Namath

    Jets quarterback who publicly guaranteed victory in Super Bowl III as a heavy underdog and then delivered it.
    0pts

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