My 10 Favorite MMA Fights of All Time

Recently I posted about what martial arts does and doesn't give its practitioners, which was more or less me talking about both the beautiful and ugly sides of the martial arts world. After writing the piece, I started thinking about my time in the MMA world specifically. I thought about all the cool fights I've seen and all I've learned as a martial artist from watching them. Then a friend on Twitter asked what our favorite MMA fight was and I just kept thinking of all the fights I love. So, I decided to make a top 10 list for fun.

This is, of course, my list, not an objective list of the 10 "best" fights of all time (if such a thing even exists). As a martial artist who not only trains but studies fight craft, I have a bias toward fights that are both exciting and technically impressive in some way or another, rather than fights that are just slugfests (though I do have a couple of those on my list as well). Also, I'm much more likely to have fights on this list that I saw as they were happening, since there's something more exciting about watching a fight you don't know the outcome of ahead of time. Some of the most beloved fights of all time (like the Yoel Romero vs Robert Whitaker and Robbie Lawler vs Rory MacDonald fights, for example) are fights I like, but I caught them on replay and just don't feel the same connection to them.

Anyway, enjoy! Just to be clear, these are listed chronologically, not in order of favoritism. I'm not sure I could neatly rank these fights because they're all great in different ways.

1. Lyoto Machida vs Rashad Evans (May 2009)

This one is a little different than the other fights on this list. While it's a good one, it's not quite as good as the others listed here. But this is the fight that actually got me into MMA. Before that I would catch a fight here and there, but really didn't like the sport. In large part because I hated the subculture around it (it really was the sport of shitty white guys who drive raised trucks). This fight changed my perception of the sport and drew me in. Machida's expert ability to use the timing and control of range he had cultivated in his karate days was truly something to behold. Seeing him become champion while retaining his character as a real martial artist made me a fan.

2. Dustin Poirier vs Korean Zombie (May 2012) 

Dustin Poirier is so popular now as a lightweight that his featherweight career is often overlooked. And to an extent, for good reason- he had a lot of room for growth in his earlier years. The trademark excitement he is known for, however, was there since the beginning. Put him against the Korean Zombie, one of the most exciting fighters of all time, and you get one of the most entertaining fights of all time, exciting whether on the feet or on the ground. Bonus points for Korean Zombie finishing the fight with my favorite submission of all time, the d'arce choke! 

 

3. Carlos Condit vs Johny Hendricks (Mar 2013) 

The ultimate "kickboxer with good jiu-jitsu vs wrestler with heavy hands" fight. Often when you have that match up, the wrestler tries to smother their opponent and the fight you get is a boring one. This... is not that type of fight. Not only because of Condit's exciting pace, whether striking or grappling, but also because Hendricks clearly wasn't just trying to lay on top of Condit, either. Both fighters wanted to put on an exciting fight just as much as they wanted to win. Few times in MMA history have these two styles of fighter actually delivered in such an exciting way against one another.

4. Jon Jones vs Alexander Gustafsson I (Sept 2013)

As I said at the top, this list isn't ranked. If it were, though, this might be my number one choice. You see every aspect of mixed martial arts here. Against Jon's well-rounded game, Gustasson really helped keep himself competitive through his boxing, but he was by no means one dimensional. Heck, he became the first fighter to ever take down Jon Jones, despite having no wrestling background against Jon's decorated background in Greco-Roman wrestling! What's incredible about this fight, though, is how both fighters adapt throughout against each other's tactics. You actually see them get better throughout the bout in real time. While there is a lot to criticize about both the light heavyweight division in general and Jon Jones in particular, this is both of those at their best. 

5. Gilbert Melendez vs Diego Sanchez (Oct 2013)

Even the most technically astute fight fan has that all-out slugfest that they remember for nothing more than its primal intensity. For me, this is that fight. Gilbert Melendez was definitely a technical fighter with tricks up his sleeve (which is why he had the clear upper hand and ultimately won the fight), but my goodness. Sanchez was as tough as they come. That third round is barely a professional fight; it's an absolute brawl. Fight commentators often over-use the phrase "all-out war", but that's exactly what this was.

6. Tony Ferguson vs Edson Barboza (Dec 2015)

Tony Ferguson in his prime was really something to behold. His combination of pace, creativity, and mastery of fight tactics (despite having generally clumsy actual technique) overwhelmed just about every opponent he fought until the wheels started falling off around 2020. Edson Barboza, of course, is one of the most entertaining fighters of both the lightweight and featherweight divisions. In this fight the two were competitive in the beginning, with Barboza having the upper hand thanks in large part to his fast kicks and better overall striking technique. In the second round Ferguson's pace seemed to be tiring Barboza, though it was still a very competitive fight. When Barboza threw a sloppy shot, Ferguson capitalized and sunk in the d'arce (my favorite choke once showing up!). A beautiful fight between two fighters with a great combination of skill and entertainment value. 

7. Amanda Nunes vs Cris Cyborg (Dec 2018)

This is a special one for me because the event at which this fight happened, UFC 232, is the one UFC event I actually attended in person. I came into the event primarily to see the Jones/Gustafsson rematch and root for Carlos Condit against Michael Chiesa, but I was interested in this fight too. Very few people gave Nunes a chance. The conventional wisdom was that while both Nunes and Cyborg where scary, impressive fighters, Nunes was ultimately just a smaller version of Cyborg and therefore have no real advantages. Things played out differently. When the fight began, the two women went all-out against each other. Nunes caught Cyborg early and pounced on that advantage, defeating her a mere 51 seconds into the fight. The whole crowd was on its feet. While the rest of the card may not have gone how I wanted, this one moment may be my favorite moment as an MMA fan.

8. Kamaru Usman vs Colby Covington I (Dec 2019) 

It's hard to explain to people who weren't MMA fans at the time of this fight what the stakes felt like going in. Colby was the loudmouth MAGA guy who was (and remains to this day) easy to hate, Kamaru Usman the humble immigrant from Nigeria who was going to shut him up. The reality is more complicated (Kamaru himself flirted with the right at the time, and later endorsed Trump in 2024), but in the moment the narrative mattered more than the reality. Then the two fought an exciting, high-energy fight. Then Usman shut Colby and his corny ass up in the fifth round by knowing him out. It's the only time I've ever yelled in excitement at a TV screen over a fight result.

9. Zhang Weili vs Joanna Jedrzejczyk I (Mar 2020)

A lot of people call this the greatest women's MMA fight of all time, which I agree with. But to stop there is selling it short. Zhang and Joanna put on a fight leagues better than 99% of fights in all of combat sports history, regardless of the participants' gender. It's that ideal combination of aggressively entertaining and technically impressive, especially with Joanna's gorgeous muay thai technique. Her head may have looked like an alien's head by the time the fight concluded, but both women cemented their legacy in the halls of Valhalla with this fight.

10. Deiveson Figueiredo vs Brandon Moreno I (Dec 2020) 

For some reason, casual MMA fans often dismiss fighters at the lower weight classes. This sometimes means dismissing the men's featherweight and bantamweight divisions, but always means dismissing men's flyweight. It's pretty unfair considering the pace and technique the smaller fights put on, but ultimately a lot of casual fans want to see power and finishes/near finishes. Welp, this fight is the best of both worlds. It truly includes everything any MMA fan, casual or hardcore, could ever hope for. It really helped revitalize the men's flyweight division, which was rumored to be in danger of being dropped entirely. Luckily, this fight came along just when it needed to. After watching such a masterpiece of a fight, no one could say men's flyweight is boring.

Jon Jones: Controlling Range

This past weekend I went to Los Angeles to attend UFC 232, the first UFC event I've ever attended in person.  It was a blast.  The energy in the room when Nunes beat Cyborg was the biggest highlight of the night, yet the match I felt most invested in was Jones vs Gustafsson.  I was rooting for Gustafsson, both because his entertaining yet technical style makes him my favorite fighter in the light heavyweight division and because a Jon Jones victory usually means he'll fuck up soon thereafter, once again throwing the division into chaos.

If Gustafsson couldn't win, though, then I at least wanted a fight like the first.  That first bout in 2013 may be my favorite MMA fight of all time, as it has a great mix of high octane action and technical thoughtfulness that checks every single box for what I want out of a fight.  If Gustafsson were to lose, I at least wanted another classic that could satisfy both my fight science brain and my more animalistic brain.

Obviously, things didn't play out that way.

It was definitely disappointing to see my favorite light heavyweight lose, and even more disappointing to realize that, with two losses to Jones (as well as a close loss to Cormier), that may be the last title shot Gustafsson ever receives.  I was thoroughly impressed, however, with how well Jones had learned from his first fight with Gustafsson.  He implemented a lot of changes to his approach in this fight that really paid off.

To keep this post from becoming a novella, I'm gonna focus on Jon's use of distance and the changes he made made in how he controls distance to win the rematch.  Jon's biggest gift as a fighter isn't just his reach, after all, but his understanding of how to use it.  There's a reason why Stefan Struve never won a world title despite having a Jon Jones reach.  It's one thing to have a useful attribute, it's another to know how to use it.  Jones succeeds not just because of his physical gifts, but because he has the fight IQ to use them.  Let's dig into how.

Imagine if this friggin' skyscraper actually developed a high level jab.

First, let's start with one of the key conceptual approaches of Jon's game.  T first thing most wrestling-based MMA fighters who learn to strike gravitate toward is punching.  It's a pretty smart idea.  Knowing how to exchange in the pocket is important, as you'll inevitably find yourself there as you try to go for a clinch or your opponent's hips.  Beyond that, knowing how to throw your hands can also be great for setting up takedowns, and vice versa.  This is why, for example, Khabib Nurmagomedov out-strikes fighters like Conor McGregor and Edson Barboza.  He'd get demolished in a boxing or kickboxing bout.  It's the threat of his grappling that prevents his opponents from knowing whether his next move will be a strike or takedown.

Jon Jones, however, makes an interesting alternative case for wrestlers developing their striking: what if you developed a really good kicking game instead?

Back when Jones first started fighting in the UFC everyone talked about the occasional spinning kicks that he threw with flair, while on a more nuts and bolts level he threw side kicks and teeps/push kicks aplenty.  He used a solid jab-cross to help keep his opponents at bay, but his punching never compared to his kicking.  Why?  Well this takes us to his range, as well as Gustafsson's footwork.

Throwing straight-line kicks (that is, kicks that you throw immediately in front of you, like the kicking equivalent of a straight punch) is a great way to jam up someone trying to close the distance on you.  Jones understand this well, and uses it to stifle fighters trying to close the distance on him to great effect.  His Shogun and Rampage fights in particular saw him using these tactics to make sure that neither fighter could get in any meaningful offense against him.

Jones using Rampage's face as persuasive evidence for why wrestlers should learn kicking.

So why would this be good for wrestlers in particular?  Because if you're a wrestler who can control the kicking range, your opponents will desperately try to close the distance.  That's when you can use your wrestling.  Your opponents are then faced with a dilemma: do they try to keep distance to avoid your wrestling, or try to close the distance to avoid your kicks?  The ultimate goal is boxing range if their hands are good enough, of course, but they would need the ability to maintain that exact range.  Too little or too much distance and you're in danger.

The closest Jones ever came to facing someone who could effectively use their footwork to control that distance was Machida, whom he had to out-feint and rock on his way to finishing him with a devastating guillotine.  With every other fighter up until that point he was able to control the range of the fight easily, alternating mostly between kicking and grappling ranges.  He could kick when he wanted to keep fighters on the outside, then, whenever they got inside, step in to use his wrestling.  No need to close the distance when your opponent is doing it for you!

Then he fought Gustafsson.

In their first fight Jones struggled not just against Gustafsson's size, but his skillset.  Yes, Gustafsson's size threw off Jones.  But he also used his excellent boxing to land body shots that opened up punches to the face, and vice versa, even throwing in the occasional unexpected takedown.  It wasn't just Gustafsson reach, but his variety of attack.  His footwork also played a key role.  He was able to use his elite lateral (side to side) footwork in order to evade the straight-line kicks Jones likes to use.  While Jones did throw the occasional round kick, especially to the head, he very much favored those straight line kicks.  With Gustafsson able to effectively sidestep them, however, he couldn't control the range nearly as well.

That combination of footwork, mixing up attacks between the head/body, and his impressive physical attributes helped Gustaffsson challenge Jones more than any fighter had, or has since.  Whoever you thought won that fight, it was pretty clear that Gustafsson made things closer than most people thought possible. While many thought his height might prove an interesting challenge to Jones, his relatively unimpressive run to the title simply didn't prepare anyone for how good he would look that night.

Jones clearly learned from the experience, as he intelligently made a variety of improvements to his game thereafter.  One was that he began to fight more in the pocket.  Being smart enough to use his natural gifts, he didn't do so by trying to throw his long, lanky arms in such a small, confined space.  Instead he relied primarily on his elbows, which have rapidly become one of his top weapons.  Glover Teixeira in particular got absolutely brutalized by Jon's punishing use of his elbows up close.

 Y I K E S

Then came last Saturday's rematch.

In the first round of their second fight, things were quite close.  Jones succeeded in using his better-rounded skillset, which we'll get into the details of in a moment, but Gustfasson looked good, too.  One of the biggest changes he made between this fight and the first was that he mixed in more kicks with his punches.  Specifically, he used leg kicks and the straight-line kicks to the knee that Jones is known for.  He didn't jab to the body as much as he did the first fight, unfortunately, but his skills looked sharp overall, and the first round made it seem like it could still be anyone's fight.

It was the second round that the differences began to show, however.  Though the round was still close, Jones used a variety of tactics to get the upperhand. Two of the biggest changes, paired together, is that he had more mobile footwork while also better knowing how to outstretch his arms to keep Gustafsson at bay.  In the past, against shorter opponents, Jones would stick out his hands to block fighters from coming in on him.  He couldn't do that the same way against Gustafsson, who shared his approximate stature.  In this fight, however, he stuck out his hands on Gustafsson's shoulders.  This allowed him to jam up Gustafsson's boxing, forcing Gutafsson to either retreat or engage in hand-fighting, which Jones often used to try to set up elbows and short punches.

Jones also threw far more round kicks to the legs and body to take the wind out of Gustafsson's sails.  Round kicks are useful for opponents with lateral movement because its line of attack isn't a single point in front of you, but a wide sweep.  These kicks landed often.  Because of that Gustafsson's mobility declined more quickly than it did in the first fight, where it wasn't really compromised until Jones rocked him with that beautiful spinning back elbow.  The lowered mobility, mixed with Jones using his hand-fighting and improved footwork (not on Gustafsson's level, but sufficient enough mixed with everything else), allowed Jones to better control the range.

These things all worked together in different ways.  Jones used the hand-fighting to set up some of his leg kicks, for example, while his round kicks helped slow Gustafsson down enough to land more straight kicks that kept Gustafsson at range.  In the third round Jones used Gustafsson's lowered mobility and his own better control of range to land that takedown, which Gustafsson didn't expect considering during the second round almost every takedown or clinch attempt was a fake meant to set up strikes.  Once it got to the ground, Jones showed great positional control and passing abilities en route to a pretty devastating finish by ground 'n pound.

Also, can we take a second to appreciate how Mike Beltran comforted Gustafsson after?

As I said before, it sucked watching Gustfasson lose so decisively.  Still, I love me some high level MMA gameplanning and technique.  Both fighters, but especially Jones, delivered those in quantities I can't help but be thankful for.  UFC 232 was a great night, and this bout was an exciting, technical one that any fight fan can learn from.  It'll be interesting to see what happens from here.  Jon Jones has a lot more he can achieve, and a lot more greatness in technique and strategy that he can show us.

Hopefully he doesn't fuck it all up.