I think it is better to use a range to define an era. The MAX era was from 2002 - 2014, but did not operate a world MAX final tournament in 2011 and 2013, so we'll just call it a ten year era. Here are (roughly) the major names from that time:
Masato
Yodsanklai
Buakaw
Andy Souwer
Giorgio Petrosyan
Mike Zambidis
Gago Drago
Yoshihiro Sato
Artur Kyshenko
Dhzabar Askerov
Chahid Oulad El Hadj
Yasuhiro Kido
Murthel Groenhart
Mohammed Khamal
Enriko Kehl
Yuya Yamamoto
Albert Kraus
Takayuki Kohiruimaki
Kaolan Kaovichit
John Wayne Parr
Kozo Takeda
And here are (roughly) the major names from the last 10 years:
Chingiz Allazov
Superbon
Marat Grigorian
Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong
Robin van Roosmalen
Stoyan Koprivlenski
Dylan Salvador
Josh Jauncey
Ouyang Feng
Tawanchai
Jonay Risco
Mamuka Usubyan
Tayfun Ozcan
Davit Kiria
Tyjani Beztati
Kaito Ono
Andy Ristie
I think the MAX era still had the deeper divisions, as well as having more guys who were elite or near it. They also had the benefit of all competing in the same organization and faced each other often, where the second list of fighters are separated by promotions and such nowadays.