The beautiful thing about MMA is that there are many many ways to get your hand raised in victory from kicks and punches to takedowns and submissions. These are the fighters who do what they do better than anyone else.
1. Best Knockout Punch, Francis Ngannou.
We promise that there will be some controversial picks to come, but to kick things off, how could we not state the obvious in declaring Francis Ngannou to be the proud owner of the fiercest Knockout punch in history, even with competition like the famously hard-handed Derrick Lewis, The one-shot fight-ending sensation that was Roy Nelson or even the super Samoan Mark Hunt, Ngannou’s ability to put your lights out leaves all the competition trailing by some distance raised in Cameroon, where, from the age of 10, he worked in sand mines shoveling days in the sweltering Heat building the type of physical frame that would later grant him his worldwide success and when it comes to the rise of Francis Ngannou, though his fundamentals have indeed improved over the years.
His story revolves around that one-hitter quitter power. He doesn’t even need to catch you clean to end your night sure. There was certainly a time where issues of cardio, defensive wrestling mentality, and certain shortcomings in his game could have been exploited. But judging by his recent run of form, that window has, unfortunately, slammed closed a nightmare match-up for every single mixed, martial artist on the planet that’s for sure.
2. Best Knockout Kick by Edson Barboza,
Though he has found success at featherweight when Edson Barboza applied his trade in the 155-pound waters in his prime, there was no single kicker in the sport who combined his speed, power, and lack of telegraphing to such a Ferocious degree he’s not alone in this department, of course, Anthony Pettis, Mirko Crocop, and Lyoto Machida all could have nabbed this award on any given day, but for our money, this kickboxer’s talent for using his legs edges him out ahead of the competition. Whether he’s destabilizing you with some of the best legs, kicks in the game, knocking the gas out of your tank with a body kick, or taking your head off with a spinning attack.
Barboza is just built differently as a kicker, with perfectly shredded muscles bursting out of every limb and picture-perfect technique. You can just tell that Barboza isn’t slacking in the gym. His kicks are a thing of beauty, his finishing instinct elite as they come. Just take one look at his iconic spinning wheel, kick Knockout of Terry Adam and try and tell us that he’s not the single best kicker in the sport of mixed martial arts. Edson Barboza is a man who was made to throw kicks forged with the singular purpose of damaging legs livers and brain cells in equal measure.
3. Best Submission Artist, Charles Oliveira.
Look, we all know just how good Ronaldo Jacare, Souza Demi, and Maya are. Fighters who bring a wealth of experience on the BJJ circuits with them to the cage. But the record books cannot be ignored here with 14 submissions during his run in the UFC. Charles Oliveira is the most lethal submission threat in UFC history and his jujitsu fundamentals are, of course, excellent. It’s the wild man, the mentality of Charles Oliveira.
That has helped him catch so many of his opponents off guard and for a large portion of his career. It was that same trait that got him into trouble time and time again for years, especially during his time at 145, pounds Oliveira was seen as the type of fighter who’d either get you or succumb to the finish. It was a label he carried with him for years before, eventually, tying it altogether upon reaching the lightweight division.
Now, a multi-pronged threat with excellent striking to augment his stellar submission skills. Charles Oliveira just doesn’t bring that same recklessness to the table anymore, replacing it with a much more refined game, one that sees him retain his strengths while moving past the shortcomings that had been his downfall time and time again, if any fighter, black belt or otherwise leaves an arm or a leg idle during a scramble, this lightweight champion, is as good as any at snatching it up for our money, he’s the most dangerous submission threat in the game,
4. Best Wrestler Khabib Nurmagomedov.
There are takedown artists and then there’s the relentless force of nature that is Khabib Nurmagomedov. It was never a case of if this Dagestani legend will get hold of your legs. It’s more a question of when and during his time at the top of the sport, there was an aura of inevitability that followed Habib into the cage, an aura that struck fear into the hearts of all those who supported his opponents in their attempts to defeat him.
Even great wrestlers, like George St Pierre, Jon Jones, and Randy Couture, can’t contend with Nurmagomedov’s incredible efficiency in there. He might not get you down with the first shot, but through his constant pressure and his ability to chain his attempts, Khabib, through his 29 professional fights always ended up getting his way, and when the fight finally does hit the mat. That, unfortunately, is when he starts to get comfortable, whether you were an all-American wrestler like Justin Gaichi, or a long-time BJJ black belt, like Rafael de Sanyos Habib’s run in the UFC, serves to prove that there are indeed levels to this game. He might have bowed out of the game after just 13 fights in the UFC, but there are only a handful of fighters in the history of the sport who can boast a legacy quite like Habib’s, one-of-a-kind fighter, that’s for sure
5. Best Tactician Jon Jones,
Jon Jones fights Like he has a direct line of vision with all the stats and the judge’s scorecards fighting as if he knows exactly where the fight is headed in terms of its real-time scoring, indeed he’s a man of many traits, but during his reign as light heavyweight champion. Jon jones managed to surpass the great George st Pierre as the owner of the highest fight IQ in the history of the sport. To put it simply, jones is always in control, even in the fights you think he might be losing look at his showdowns against Thiago.
Santos and Dominic Reyes sure you could score those fights for the challengers to the belt, but Jon was able to win those tightly contested bouts by remaining calm and playing the judges by showing them what they like to see, even if you scored them both against jones. Anyone who understands MMA scoring criteria will tell you that outpointing Jon jones by a strong margin is near impossible, even if you’re doing more damage. On top of this fights against the likes of Lyoto Machida and Daniel Cormier displayed this guy’s insane ability to make reads and change up his game plan mid-fight, finding ways to secure the finish within a round of coming up against a complicated puzzle. Indeed, his physical traits are plentiful, but if you ask us it’s the mind of john bones jones, that has allowed him to truly extend his success at the highest levels.
6. Best boxer, Dustin Poirier.
This category would have been harder if two of its main front-runners didn’t have something in common sure. Jose Aldo would be an exceptional pick for the sport’s greatest boxer, but when both Conor McGregor and Max Holloway have both dropped losses to Dustin Poirier in fights that were largely striking affairs, yeah, our hands are kind of tied. Poirier’s improvements over the years have been truly shocking, with the finishes of guys like Eddie Alvarez, Anthony Pettis, and Justin. Gainey eventually saw the diamond rise to the very top of the lightweight division and though he does throw kicks here and there it’s that odd stance-switching, right-handed southpaw style.
His utilize that has truly made him successful. It is his uniquely effective approach to boxing in MMA that has allowed him to get the better of fighters who, at one point in time, might have been seen as better boxers than him and when Conor McGregor fell at his hands. Dustin’s merits as an all-time great striker just became that bit more clear to see his natural frame Cardio and fight IQ help his entire approach mesh into one cohesive unit but make no mistake. It’s the boxing of Dustin Poirier that is truly the star of the show. His defense is outstanding and he packs a lot more power than most give him credit for making him the sport’s most outstanding example of a watertight boxing-heavy approach,
7. Best Kickboxer, Israel Adesanya,
and finally, we come to another hugely competitive category. History has shown us so many examples of excellent kickboxers in MMA athletes who, upon landing in mixed martial arts, fine-tuned their foundational approach perfectly to meet the more multi-faceted needs of their new home Stephen Thompson. Aleister Overeem and even Anderson silva have pushed the sport ahead in massive strides during their respective eras, but if we have to single out one perfect example of kickboxing prowess in MMA, we’d have to give our vote to the last style. Bender, Israel Adesanya carrying himself like a character straight out of the anime cartoons he holds so dearly. There’s a certain performative quality to the way that Adesanya conducts himself within the octagon. He faints pivots and parries like he’s completely weightless in there firing off shots with little to no telegraphing.
We’ve has seen fighters like this in the past, of course, guys who flow smoothly, but none of them have been able to rise to the top of the pile. Quite like a style bender, among all of this generation’s elite strikers, he’s the one carving out a new standard for the stand-up game, bringing the sport’s kickboxing into a new era entirely equally deadly with his hands and kicks Adesanya only seems to be growing more and more comfortable with His increasingly well-rounded MMA skillset and when you consider just how well he adapted his game to suit the comparatively smaller four-ounce gloves that come with fighting in a cage as opposed to the ring. It speaks volumes about his merits as one of the greats and a future Hall of Famer.
That’s for sure