The Most Famous MMA Fighters Ever
MMA has found its way into people’s hearts as it is getting more and more popular among sports lovers. Fighters fight and gain a reputation for this sport and get rewarded with money and fame. But who are the most famous people in MMA? We welcome you to the list of the Most Famous MMA Fighters.
How do fighters get famous in MMA? No matter the organization that they are fighting in, kickboxers usually gain a reputation by winning consecutive matches. How do you win a match in the octagon ring?
The judges' decision after an allotted amount of time has elapsed, a stoppage by the referee (for example, if a competitor cannot defend himself intelligently) or the fight doctor (due to an injury), a submission, a competitor's cornerman throwing in the towel, or a knockout are the most common ways to win a fight.
But there are also other ways of obtaining the famous status. Some of the athletes possess great charisma which acts like a magnet and pulls the attention of the audience no matter the outcome of the match.
Some athletes respect their opponents and have great sportsmanlike behavior. even if they win, they show respect and hug their opponents to show the world that sport is just entertainment.
In this list, we would present you a list of
famous UFC fighters 2020
and fighters from other promoter organizations who have earned a lot of following both on social media and in the real world.
A best-in-the-world list of the Most Famous MMA Fighters Ever
This list of the most renowned MMA fighters is only the beginning; an introduction to a combat world filled with larger-than-life characters and athletes. This is by no means an exhaustive or definitive
the best fighters of 2020
list.
Without further ado let us hop into the article and see who is there to meet.
Mirko Cro Cop
Some athletes became famous for their signature moves and Mirko is among those athletes. Cro Cop's hallmark technique was a lightning-quick left high roundhouse kick, labeled "right leg, hospital; left leg, graveyard".
Let's read about his social media and the reason for putting him among the
20 most famous UFC fighters of All Time
. By the username of
crocop1009, he has over 300 thousand followers which is amazing. Unfortunately, we were not able to find a valid and official Twitter account.
Mirko Filipović won the 2006 Pride Open-Weight Grand Prix, the 2012 K-1 World Grand Prix, and the 2016 Rizin Openweight Grand Prix, becoming the world's second fighter to win mixed martial arts and kickboxing championships and tournaments.
In addition, he is a past IGF Champion. Cro Cop, short for "Croatian Cop," is derived from his service in Croatia's elite Police Special Forces tactical unit, the Luko Anti-Terrorist Unit.
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
For this part of
famous UFC fighters 2020
, let us travel to Brazil and get to know the next famous athlete who is Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Although BIG Nog is currently retired but he kept his famous status to this day.
Minotauro rose to fame in the Japanese company Pride Fighting Championships, where he was the inaugural Pride Heavyweight Champion and a 2004 PRIDE FC Heavyweight Grand Prix Finalist from November 2001 to March 2003.
Nogueira was a well-known grappler who drew power from his jiu-jitsu talents in Brazil. He did, however, have a well-rounded MMA skill set, relying on excellent boxing and a strong takedown game. He was particularly well-known for his proclivity for battling from the bottom, masterfully employing an attacking open guard.
Submissions including armbars, triangle chokes, and variants of these, as well as other esoteric techniques, were his hallmark moves.
During his tenure as an MMA participant, his ground game was regarded as "on a completely another level" from the rest of the sport. In battles against Bob Sapp, Fedor Emelianenko, and Mirko Cro Cop (the first man on the list of famous UFC fighters 2020), Nogueira was noted for his rock-solid chin and extraordinary capacity to endure damage.
Going by the username of
minotaurommaon Instagram he has over 700 thousand followers and is active on this platform and has over 7 thousand posts.
Wanderlei Silva
The next man on the list of famous UFC fighters 2020, Wanderlei César da Silva has participated in the Pride Fighting Championships in Japan and the Ultimate Fighting Championships in the United States.
In PRIDE history, he has the most victories, knockouts, championship defenses, and longest winning streak. He was the 2003 PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix Tournament Champion and the former PRIDE Middleweight Champion. He most recently competed in the light heavyweight and heavyweight categories for Bellator MMA.
Using the username
wandfc, he is on Instagram introducing him as The Axe Murderer. He has posted over 4 thousand posts to this day and has over 700 thousand followers on this platform. He also has been active on Twitter since 2009. With over 700 thousand followers he is considered a famous fighter on this platform.
Quinton Jackson
Is there anyone who doesn’t know anything about the Rampage? Even the nickname brings fear to the hearts. Not only the sports lovers know him but also the movie enthusiasts. Confessions of a Pit Fighter, Miss March, Bad Guys, and The Midnight Meat Train, as well as episodes of The King of Queens and Pimp My Ride, have all included Jackson.
He appeared in The A-Team, Never Surrender, Duel of Legends, and Death Warrior, among other films. In the Nike ad "Human Chain," he also got the chance of being featured. Jackson was also a guest presenter on WWE Monday Night Raw on June 7, 2010.
The controversies that he got involved in also added to his reputation. He won the Pride Middleweight Championship after unifying the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. Jackson rose to prominence in Japan as a result of his quirky attitude and aggressive fighting style while with Pride FC, and after joining the UFC, he helped to establish MMA as a global sport.
has over 600 thousand followers on Instagram.
Max Holloway
Holloway had a 4–0 record when he was 19 years old. He showed a potential that was like a spark in the dark which attracted much attention and put him on the list of 20 most famous UFC fighters of All Time.
Due to his ability to incorporate a wide array of flying and spinning kicks, knees, and elbows into his striking game, he was named the #7 featherweight prospect in Bloody Elbow's 2012 World MMA Scouting Report and has even been compared to former UFC and former WEC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis.
Holloway has been a professional since 2010, and on June 3, 2017, he fought José Aldo to win the UFC Featherweight Championship, which he defended three times. He is currently ranked #1 in the UFC featherweight rankings and #9 in the UFC men's pound-for-pound rankings as of March 29, 2021.
Max has chosen the username of
blessedmmaand is considered as one of the famous MMA athletes on Instagram with over 2 million followers.
Royce Gracie
Known for his amazing fighting style, Gracie Jin-Jitsu, this athlete is among the most famous athletes of MMA. With his white outfit, which defers him from most of the fighters, Royce Gracie is a unique and distinguished fighter.
With his accomplishments contributing to the shift towards grappling and ground combat in the sport, Royce Gracie popularized Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and changed mixed martial arts.
This 183 cm athlete rose to prominence as a result of his victories in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He won the UFC 1, UFC 2, and UFC 4 tournaments in 1993 and 1994.
, his account on Instagram, has over 200 thousand followers and is promoting his own website of the martial arts school.
Let’s move on to the next contender of the 20 most famous UFC fighters of All Time.
Tito Ortiz
On September 11th, Ortiz will make his professional boxing debut against fellow former UFC champion Anderson Silva. This hyped the fans and boxing lovers but who is Ortiz? Let’s find out.
Jacob Christopher "Tito" Ortiz is best known for his time with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he was a former Light Heavyweight Champion from April 14, 2000, to September 26, 2003, and Bellator MMA, where he was one of the sport's early stars alongside fighters like Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell.
For his battles with Liddell, Forrest Griffin, and Ken Shamrock, Ortiz became the top pay-per-view draw of 2006.
The CEO of Punishment Athletics, an MMA equipment and clothing business based in Huntington Beach, California, is this man himself.
The Huntington Beach Bad Boy was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame for the seventh time on July 7, 2012.
Ortiz was elected Mayor pro tempore of Huntington Beach on November 5, 2020, as one of the winners of the Huntington Beach City Council election. He was sworn into office on December 7, 2020, then resigned from the municipal council on June 1, 2021, less than six months later.
Fedor Emelianenko
Who is the last emperor of Russia? Well, we are not talking about the history of this massive country but about Fedor Emelianenko's nickname and birthplace. Fedor Vladimirovich Emelianenko is a multi-sport athlete who competes for Rizin Fighting Federation and Bellator MMA.
He is a man of many arts like heavyweight mixed martial arts (MMA), sambo, and judo. In addition to the MMA Pride Fighting Titles, the FIAS World Combat Sambo Championship, and the Russian Judo Federation National Championship, he has won championships and awards in a variety of sports.
The 44-year-old has won plenty of MMA awards. He was considered the best MMA fighter of the 2000s by Sports Illustrated, among other publications.
This athlete is a member of Russia's Presidential Council for Physical Fitness and Sports staff (2012–present), as well as a deputy in the Belgorod Regional Duma (2010–present).
He is known on Instagram as
fedoremelianenkoofficialand has over 1 million followers on this platform. He also has another account with over 30 thousand followers by the name of fedorteam_mma, which is promoting martial arts and advertises this amazing sport.
B.J. Penn
Jay Dee "B.J." Penn III is probably one of the most famous fighters in MMA history and that’s why he is on famous UFC fighters 2020 but is he eligible to be on "the best fighters of 2020" list? Let us find out.
Penn is widely considered one of the best fighters in the sport's history. He has, however, been chastised for fighting past his prime, including a seven-fight losing run from 2011 to 2019.
Early in his career, Penn was regarded as one of the best pound-for-pound mixed martial artists in the world, defeating opponents such as Din Thomas, Caol Uno, Paul Creighton, and Matt Serra. In K-1, Penn took home the Rumble on the Rock Lightweight Championship.
He won the UFC Welterweight Championship after submitting long-time champion, Matt Hughes.
The Prodigy returned to the UFC after a time in which he competed solely for K-1 and won the UFC Lightweight Championship. Before losing his title to Frankie Edgar, he accomplished a record three title defenses.
Penn is credited by UFC President Dana White with bringing the lower weight divisions into the mainstream of mixed martial arts; he describes Penn as "the first crossover pay-per-view star for the Ultimate Fighting Championship's lighter weight divisions," and says that "B.J. Penn built the 155-pound division" through his accomplishments.
Jon Jones
Another athlete in the list of famous UFC fighters 2020 got famous because of the controversies that he got involved in. Jonathan Dwight Jones was embroiled in many issues between 2015 and 2017, and he lost his championship three times as a result of disciplinary action.
After being arrested on felony hit-and-run charges in 2015, the UFC stripped him of his championship and removed him from the official rankings.
Jones' subsequent comeback to the UFC in 2016 and 2017 saw him win championship fights against Ovince Saint Preux and Daniel Cormier, but both bouts were cut short as Jones tested positive for prohibited drugs and received additional suspensions, with the latter being reverted to a 'no contest.'
Jones regained the title in 2018 after his 2017 ban was overturned by defeating Alexander Gustafsson. In 2020, he voluntarily resigned from the championship due to a salary disagreement with White, citing his desire to move up to heavyweight.
In the prime of his career, Jones became the UFC's youngest champion. In the light heavyweight category, he owns several UFC records, including the most title defenses, wins, longest win streak, and submission victories. Jones was largely regarded as the finest pound-for-pound boxer in the world for much of his title reign.
Jones has never been stopped or outscored in his professional career, and his only defeat is a disputed disqualification against Matt Hamill, which Hamill and UFC President Dana White dispute.
Stipe Miocic
This section's hero is Stipe Miocic, the athlete who is among the 20 greatest MMA fighters of all time. This athlete not only fights MMA athletes but also fires. He is a part-time firefighter.
He believes that whenever he quits from MMA, he may work as a full-time fireman. When questioned why he still works as a firefighter despite being a UFC champion, he said that he needs a job to fall back on after his fighting career is done.
He is a former two-time UFC Heavyweight Champion and now fights in the heavyweight category for the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Critics, analysts, and the media all rate him as the best UFC heavyweight fighter of all time. He is ranked #2 in the UFC heavyweight rankings as of August 9, 2021, and #8 in the UFC men's pound-for-pound rankings as of May 17, 2021.
Chuck Liddell
Next athlete on the list of famous UFC fighters 2020 is Chuck Liddell and his fashionable hairstyle. He has a 20-2 record in amateur kickboxing, with 16 of his victories coming by means of knockout. Liddell began his mixed martial arts career by training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu in Las Vegas, Nevada, with Jon Lewis.
Before his retirement, the Ice Man fought in the UFC 23 times and is generally recognized for introducing mixed martial arts (MMA) to the mainstream of American sports and entertainment. He was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame on July 10, 2009. Chuck is definitely among the 20 greatest MMA fighters of all time.
Chuck is active on Instagram by the name of
chuckliddelland he currently has over 800k followers on this platform.
Daniel Cormier
With over 1 million followers on Twitter, our next candidate is Daniel Cormier. There is a reason why he is in the best fighters of 2020. He is the only fighter to have won a world championship belt in every organization for which he has competed.
He is a former Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight Champion of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Cormier is the second fighter in UFC history to hold belts in two weight categories at the same time, and he is the first to defend championships in both.
He was a two-time NJCAA champion and an NCAA Division I national and two-time Big 12 Conference runner-up in folkstyle wrestling for the Oklahoma State Cowboys (all defeats against eventual four-time NCAA champion Cael Sanderson of Iowa State).
is his username on Instagram, where he has near 3 million followers.
Georges St-Pierre
Rush has charmed everyone with his awesome smile and exceptional personality. Georges St-Pierre is largely considered as one of the best fighters in the history of mixed martial arts and is among the
top 20 MMA fighters of all time
.
Between November 2006 and April 2008, St-Pierre was a three-time UFC Welterweight Champion, winning the title twice and the interim title once. For several years, Sherdog and other magazines regarded St-Pierre as the best welterweight in the world.
Rogers Sportsnet awarded him, Canadian Athlete of the Year, in 2008, 2009, and 2010. According to Fight Matrix, he is the best MMA welterweight of all time and the most decorated fighter in the sport's history.
His success and handsomeness brought him fame. He is considered as one of the famous UFC fighters 2020 on
Instagramwith over 3 million followers on this platform.
Anderson Silva
We have already talked about Anderson Silva in our Famous UFC southpaw athletes article but once again here we are, introducing this amazing fighter to you in another list by the name of famous UFC fighters 2020.
It is debatable that what silva is known for? His famous injury or his amazing performance? Speaking of the injury, Silva had cracked his shin bone against Weidman during the first leg check during a bout at UFC 168 on December 28.
Weidman stopped one of Silva's leg kicks again in the second round, shattering Silva's left fibula and tibia, and ended the fight via TKO.
Silva had orthopedic surgery right after the fight to fix his tibia with an intramedullary rod; his fibula was reset and no additional surgery was needed. According to a UFC statement, the surgery was "successful," and individuals with comparable injuries often recover in three to six months. Many people know the spider by this injury.
Many other remember him as one of
the 20 greatest MMA fighters of all time
.
, which is the official account of this exception athlete has over 3 million followers on Instagram and is getting super close to a 4 million milestone.
Randy Couture
Randy Couture is on our
famous UFC fighters 2020
list because of his stunning fighting style. Couture is known as a clinch and ground-and-pound fighter who uses his wrestling skills to knock down opponents, establish top positions, and attack them repeatedly on the bottom.
In boxing and catch wrestling, he has demonstrated a wide range of abilities. He is the only UFC fighter to win a championship after being inducted into the Hall of Fame, and he is the sport's oldest champion. Randy is also well-known for his role in the Expendables franchise as an actor.
Khabib Nurmagomedov
Khabib is super famous on Instagram with over 30 million followers on this platform. His username is
khabib_nurmagomedov. He is also among the top 20 MMA fighters of all time.
Khabib is known for many things including his famous fight with Conor McGregor. Nurmagomedov will defend his lightweight championship against Conor McGregor at UFC 229 on October 6 in Las Vegas, the UFC announced on Friday, August 3, 2018. Nurmagomedov dominated the first two rounds of the bout but fell to McGregor in the third round.
Nurmagomedov had never dropped a round in his UFC career before. In the fourth round, he defeated McGregor via submission.
Nurmagomedov scaled the Octagon after the fight and attempted to assault McGregor's partner Dillon Danis, resulting in a confrontation between the two squads. The event generated 2.4 million pay-per-view sales, the highest number ever for a mixed martial arts event.
Nurmagomedov, a native of Russia's Republic of Dagestan, is the first Muslim to win a UFC championship. He has moreover 30 million Instagram followers as of August 2021, making him the most popular Russian on the platform. He is most known for promoting the Eagle Fighting Championship as a promoter (EFC).
Ronda Rousey
Among the top 20 MMA fighters of all time, Ronda Rousey deserves to be the third top famous athlete on our list. The first lady on our list is not only famous in the octagon but also in the square ring of WWE.
Rousey signed a deal with WWE in 2018 and began her professional wrestling career.
At the 2018 Royal Rumble, she made her debut appearance. She appeared at WrestleMania 34, and at SummerSlam, she won the Raw Women's Championship, her first WWE and professional wrestling championship. When she successfully defended her championship at WWE Evolution, she became the first all-pay-per-view women's event in WWE history.
Rousey is the only woman to win a championship in both the UFC and the WWE, as well as the only woman to headline both companies' pay-per-view events.
currently has over 13 million followers on Instagram.
Brock Lesnar
Brock Edward Lesnar is best known for his WWE career and WrestleMania appearances. He was also a beloved fighter in UFC, managing to become UFC Heavyweight Champion throughout his career. Lesnar co-wrote Death Clutch: My Story of Determination, Domination, and Survival with Paul Heyman, which was released by William Morrow & Company in 2011.
Hajime Isayama, the creator of Attack on Titan, stated on his blog in 2013 that Lesnar inspired the character of the Armored Titan.
Conor McGregor
Top athlete on the list and what made him famous? McGregor drew notice early in his UFC career because he would declare the round in which he would end the fight and then go out and do it. He is certainly among the top 20 mma fighters of all time.
So, how does McGregor cement his legacy? By being the first person in UFC history to hold two titles in two weight divisions at the same time.
The simplest way to describe how McGregor has become more well-known is that he is one of the finest self-promoters in combat sports in general, not just the UFC. It certainly doesn't hurt that he's Irish, and Irish supporters are fantastic no matter what sport or event they're supporting.
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