Just remember there is a difference between a 'combat knife' that was never intended to actually be used in combat and a 'combat knife' that was. Most 'combat knives' fall into the former category, not the latter, even those made by many custom knife makers. If you attach 'combat' to anything these days, it seems to sell better. Combat tampons would probably sell, I think I'll market them to butch women who wear fatigues.
Randall and Kabar are arguably the most respected names in the business, because their knives have been USED in combat by various units, branches, and countries since WWII. But, the days of WWII era hand-to-hand warfare are probably long gone, and today's fighting knife should reflect the realities of today's close quarters or street style conflict, not the open field hand-to-hand warfare of WWII.
Its all a matter of opinion, so I'm not going to tell you that my opinion is better than anyone else's, even though I think it is (that's why its an opinion). If you have a fancy for the old style Marine combat knives, which are more akin to a machete than a knife, then hey, different strokes for different folks. I admit, I have a Marine style KABAR fighting knife, too, but it's more at home amongst my camping gear than anything else.
Personally, in a fighting knife, I prefer modern tactical/fighting designs. In that category, there is no knifemaker more respected than Al Polkowski, who Bob Kasper describes as being "in a league all his own". That's not to say there aren't very good knives available from other makers. One note: when you get into this grade of custom knife, they're a bit pricey.
I have the Polkowski Kasper Pug Fighter shown
here but with a custom Kydex carry system. Other offerings from Polkowski are on display at
Robert's Custom Cutlery
Some good production knives are made by Benchmade, Emerson, Gerber, SOG, Cold Steel, Spyderco, heck there are lots of good knives out there. Even Buck and Columbia River Knife and Tool make a few decent knives, though Gerber is probably my favorite 'production' knife maker.