The Blog

IntroductionMark Munoz is the most decorated Filipino-American fighter in modern UFC history. A Mabalacat, Pampanga-born wrestler who became an NCAA Division I National Champion at Oklahoma State University — the most prestigious wrestling programme in America — Munoz built a UFC middleweight career defined by ferocious forward pressure, dominant wrestling, and a personality of remarkable personal faith and community service outside the cage. The Filipino Wrecking Machine nickname captured both

IntroductionMartin Kampmann was Denmark's greatest professional MMA fighter and the most technically complete welterweight to emerge from the Scandinavian MMA scene of the 2000s. Born in Aarhus, Denmark in 1984, Kampmann built a UFC welterweight career defined by precise counter-striking, high-level submission grappling, and the two most celebrated single KOs of his division's era — the spinning back-kick KO of Carlos Condit and the late-round KO of Johny Hendricks that stood as the definitive c

IntroductionOvince Saint Preux is the most spectacular spinning-attack light-heavyweight in modern UFC history. A Port-au-Prince, Haiti-born fighter who became one of the first Haitian-American athletes to compete at the top level of American professional MMA, OSP (as he is universally known) built a UFC career defined by eye-catching spinning and twisting strikes that produced five Performance of the Night and Knockout of the Night bonuses and some of the most replayed single-finish sequences i

IntroductionTim Sylvia is one of only three fighters in UFC history to hold the Heavyweight Championship twice. An Ellsworth, Maine-born heavyweight standing 6'8" with a 79-inch reach, Sylvia won his first UFC Heavyweight Championship at UFC 44 in September 2003 by TKO-ing Ricco Rodriguez, lost the title to Frank Mir's armbar at UFC 48 in June 2004, and regained the championship at UFC 59 in April 2006 by stopping Andrei Arlovski with a first-round TKO. The two-time champion status and the physi

IntroductionAndrei Arlovski is the longest-tenured heavyweight in UFC history. A Babruysk, Belarus-born heavyweight nicknamed 'The Pitbull', Arlovski debuted in the UFC at UFC 28 in November 2000 and has remained an active UFC heavyweight for over two decades — one of the most remarkable longevity achievements in modern combat sports. A former UFC Heavyweight Champion (2005–06) who won the title by submitting Tim Sylvia with a heel hook in the first round of UFC 51, Arlovski has competed across

IntroductionCalvin Kattar is the most durably competitive featherweight contender of the post-Aldo era who never held a title. A Methuen, Massachusetts-born featherweight nicknamed 'The Boston Finisher', Kattar built a UFC career defined by exceptional output striking, an iron chin, and back-and-forth wars that produced some of the most celebrated single-round exchanges in modern UFC featherweight history. His wins over Josh Emmett, Dan Ige, Ricardo Lamas, Giga Chikadze, and Shane Burgos form on

IntroductionAnthony Smith is the most resilient contender in modern UFC light-heavyweight history. An Omaha, Nebraska-born fighter nicknamed Lionheart for his never-quit mentality, Smith built a career defined by dramatic late-round recoveries, a willingness to fight the best, and a Jon Jones UFC 235 title shot in March 2019 that confirmed his championship-level credentials. Competing across both middleweight and light-heavyweight, Smith produced wins over Rashad Evans, Volkan Oezdemir, and Glov

IntroductionRoy Nelson is the most recognisable heavyweight in UFC history by pure visual iconography. The Las Vegas-born Big Country — with his trademark long beard, rotund physique, and mullet — built a UFC career that produced some of the most spectacular one-punch knockouts at 265 lb, including the most replayed single punch in modern UFC heavyweight history: the right-hand KO of Kimbo Slice at The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale in 2009. A world-class BJJ black belt who won the 2009 ADCC Submiss

IntroductionKevin Lee is the most celebrated near-miss lightweight champion of the post-McGregor UFC era. A Detroit, Michigan-born wrestler who attended Iowa Central Community College, Lee built a UFC career defined by relentless self-promotion and explosive finishing — culminating in the October 2017 UFC 216 interim lightweight title fight against Tony Ferguson, a fourth-round TKO loss that represented the closest he came to a UFC championship. The 'Motown Phenom' nickname captured both the Det

IntroductionJack Della Maddalena is the most explosively ascendant welterweight of the post-2022 UFC era. A Perth, Western Australia-born striker of Italian heritage who entered the UFC on short notice in 2022, Della Maddalena built one of the fastest unbeaten UFC welterweight streaks in modern history — winning all of his first seven UFC appearances by stoppage, including victories over Randy Brown, Kevin Holland, Gilbert Burns, and Ian Machado Garry, to establish himself as a top-three welterw

IntroductionMagomed Ankalaev is the most decorated Dagestani light-heavyweight in modern UFC history and the closest any fighter came to winning the vacant UFC Light-Heavyweight Championship without a finish — the infamous split-draw result at UFC 282 in December 2022 against Jan Blachowicz stands as one of the most controversial title-fight outcomes in modern UFC history. A Khasavyurt-born striker trained in the Dagestani MMA system that produced Khabib Nurmagomedov, Ankalaev built an 18-fight

IntroductionJiří Procházka is the most unorthodox UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion in the division's history. A Zlín, Czech Republic-born striker who trained in isolation in Czech forests and Japanese dojos before his UFC arrival, Procházka won the UFC Light-Heavyweight Championship at UFC 275 in June 2022 with a stunning fifth-round rear-naked choke of Glover Teixeira — overturning a 2-0 scorecard deficit to produce the most dramatic late-fight reversal in UFC light-heavyweight title-fight histor