MMA

Plenty of hardcore fans long for the good old days. The days when Japan’s revered Pride promotion ruled the MMA landscape. And that landscape was heavily dotted by big names from the sport’s birthplace: Brazil.

The names were so big, in fact, that several fighters needed only monikers. Shogun. The Axe Murderer. Minotauro. The Phenom.

Then a new generation ascended. Anderson Silva is on everyone’s MMA Mount Rushmore. José Aldo is the best featherweight ever. Lyoto Machida, Renan Barao, Junior Dos Santos and Fabricio Werdum are former champions. But all these guys are either retired or teetering on the edge.

In recent years, observers have raised concerns about changes in Brazil’s once-unquenchable fight culture. Jiu-jitsu—many a Brazilian fighter’s bread and butter—was starting to look outdated as the sport evolved beyond the ground specialist. The icons were marching into the sunset, but no new heroes were riding into town to take their place.

But hold the phone. As we sit, Brazilian competitors are on the comeback trail. The UFC roster may no longer be saturated with Brazilian names, but they’re certainly holding some enviable positions with the company and in the rankings.

Here are the top five Brazilian fighters in the UFC. They are ranked based on record, skills, level of competition and overall accomplishments, especially on the bigger stages.

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Honorable Mentions

• Featherweight: Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (he’s in Bellator but he’s still amazing, and hey, this is my list)
• Flyweight: Alexandre Pantoja
• Middleweight: Alex Pereira
• Middleweight: Paulo Costa
• Women’s strawweight: Jessica Andrade
• Women’s flyweight: Taila Santos

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5. Mackenzie Dern

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUcrgnP05aA

Weight class: Women’s strawweight

Record: 12-2

Remember what I said about the extinction of the ground specialist? Well, forget about that. All you have to do is get good enough to win eight world titles and suddenly you can get away with it!

That’s exactly what Dern has done. It certainly isn’t her stand-up game that landed her as a -230 favorite per DraftKings for this Saturday, when she'll face a reasonably well-regarded opponent in Xiaonan Yan in the main event of UFC Fight Night 211, which will go down from an oddly, even intriguingly, empty UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Although her striking has made modest strides, her opponent is in deep trouble if Dern can get it to the mat. She’s simply overwhelming.

Coming off a solid win over Tecia Torres, Dern is heading into her second main event. She’s got a ton of skill and a clear will to win. At age 29, she’s still coming on, and after Saturday, the train will be rolling that much faster.

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4. Glover Teixeira

Weight class: Light heavyweight

Record: 33-8

Teixeira’s not exactly a fresh face on the scene, not only clocking in at 42 years old but also holding the record for the oldest fighter to become a first-time UFC champion when he surprised Jan Błachowicz in 2021.

Sure, Teixeira may have lost the belt in his first defense, but not before waging a surefire Fight of the Year finalist with Jiří Procházka in June.

His game is pretty meat-and-potatoes—heavy on uppercuts and unabashed power-grappling. But the former champ is beloved by the MMA community and deserves to stay on this list, at least until one of the younger competitors knocks him off.

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3. Deiveson Figueiredo

Weight class: Men’s flyweight (current champion)

Record: 21-2-1

Figueiredo is making the flyweight division fun. His rivalry with the uber-bubbly Brandon Moreno has generated new interest in the UFC’s smallest men’s division.

In fact, he may be the third-best flyweight ever, behind Demetrious Johnson and Henry Cejudo. After a 3-0-1 2020 that saw him win and defend the title, he was named 2020 Fighter of the Year on many media ballots.

While fight-ending power is rare at 125 pounds, Figueiredo can put your lights out. He has nine knockout wins and dumped Moreno on the floor three times in their last engagement.

His eight submission wins speak to his well-roundedness and his fierce nose for the finish no matter the phase of the contest. He also has the cardio to maintain his aggression into the later rounds.

Every fighter uses the cliché: I’m dangerous wherever the fight goes. With Figgy, it happens to be true.

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2. Amanda Nunes

Weight class: Women’s bantamweight and featherweight

Record: 22-5

A year ago, this wouldn't have been a contest. Nunes would've taken the top spot, and that’s all there is to it. But for now, that stunning loss to Julianna Pena—in which the champ appeared to gas early and kind of not want to be there—set her legacy back a ways, even though she avenged it convincingly in the rematch in July.

Nunes has rare MMA gifts: striking, grappling, clinch work, cracking power, prodigious strength and an inborn will to beat the hell out of the other person. She even grins while she does it! Not in an evil way, but more delighted, like a kid blowing bubbles in the backyard.

It’s entirely possible Nunes will reclaim her top spot on this list—and her status as the women’s MMA GOAT—with a win or two. But for now, she’ll have to settle for silver. With the understanding that we’re splitting hairs here, that loss is still too fresh.

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1. Charles Oliveira

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs1NMBx2ftA

Weight class: Lightweight

Record: 33-8 (1)

From a pre-fight drama standpoint, UFC 274 ranks among the wildest fight weeks in memory. Oliveira, the lightweight champ, was stripped of his title after he missed weight by half a pound. He took out his frustration on a tough customer in Justin Gaethje, taking an emphatic first-round submission win.

The belt still sits vacant, but don’t let that fool you. Charlie Olives is the uncrowned champ at 155 pounds.

The record books demonstrate the greatness of a guy who was written off early as a talented-but-mercurial competitor. He’s certainly come on, and at age 32 he holds UFC records for most submission wins (16) and overall finishes (19) and is tied with Donald Cerrone for post-fight bonuses received (18).

He’s simultaneously buttery smooth and razor sharp in all phases of the game. He rallied from an early knockdown to take a rugged submission win over a hard-nosed and harder-hitting competitor in Gaethje. If your eyes weren’t open to Oliveira before then, they certainly were after that.

On October 22 at UFC 280, Oliveira may get the stiffest test of his career when he faces Dagestani Russian phenom Islam Makhachev, who sits at 22-1 as a pro and hasn’t lost in seven years. If Oliveira can impose his will on Makhachev, his star will jump even another level on the Brazilian—and the sport’s—landscape.

Former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley recently revealed his personal list of the top 10 MMA fighters of all time, but one notable name was left off.

During an appearance on BS w/ Jake Paul (h/t TMZ Sports), Woodley explained why Khabib Nurmagomedov, who retired with a perfect 29-0 record, didn't make the cut.

"[Khabib] on my top 10 list? Probably not," Woodley said. "I f--k with Khabib. I like him. I respect him a lot. I think he's a good fighter. I think his type of fight for that weight class [lightweight], nobody could do that besides Sean Sherk back in the day, but like, he was just really aggressive, but I didn't see the wrestler with good hands fight him so I couldn't really jump on that train."

The fighters that did make Woodley's list included Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones, Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson, Carlos Condit and Anderson Silva, who is fighting Jake Paul in a boxing match on Oct. 29.

Leaving Nurmagomedov off a top-10 list is baffling, considering that he's universally regarded as the greatest lightweight fighter of all time. The Dagestani fighter was known for his relentless wrestling and his unmatched aggression. He claimed the UFC lightweight title in 2018 and successfully defended it three times before his retirement.

Nurmagomedov's last three wins came against former interim or undisputed champions in Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje. The 34-year-old finished all three fights by submission.

After his win over Gaethje, Nurmagomedov said he didn't wish to continue his career without his father Abdulmanap, who was also his head coach and died in 2020 after contracting COVID-19.

Since his retirement, Nurmagomedov has successfully transitioned to a coach for American Kickboxing Academy, which was his home gym during his career. His top pupil, Islam Makhachev, is scheduled to face Charles Oliveira for the vacant lightweight championship in the main event of UFC 280 on Oct. 22.

Nurmagomedov has also delved into the promoter game, launching Eagle Fighting Championships last year. The promotion's most recent event was held on Aug. 21.

While Woodley doesn't see Nurmagomedov as one of the top 10 fighters of all time, he is undoubtedly one of the few people to hold that opinion.

If he's not the featherweight GOAT, he'll do until the featherweight GOAT gets here.

Jose Aldo retired Sunday at the age of 36. Assuming it sticks, the surefire Hall of Famer rides off into the MMA sunset with a 31-8 record and extended featherweight title reigns in the WEC and UFC, where he defended the strap seven times—the most of any featherweight and tied for fifth for the longest such streak in company history.

Aldo has toyed with the idea of retiring from MMA and perhaps taking up boxing—something that could still be on the table—for several years now. Still, the exact timing of the announcement came as a surprise to most onlookers.

That won't stop us from celebrating a legendary career. "Legendary" probably gets thrown around too much, but Aldo deserves the designation. Need more proof? Consider the seven fighters he left in his wake during his UFC title run: Mark Hominick, Kenny Florian, Frankie Edgar, the Korean Zombie, Ricardo Lamas and Chad Mendes twice. That's a 2010s who's who at 145 pounds.

But enough about records and stats. Let's let the man and his handiwork speak for themselves, shall we? Here are the biggest fights of Aldo's career—even in defeat, Aldo left an indelible mark on the sport.

5. Aldo Schools the Cub

Event: WEC 48

Date: June 7, 2009

Result: Aldo def. Cub Swanson by TKO, 0:08, Rd. 1

This match was over so quickly, you might have missed the knee that did the job. But you didn't miss Swanson crumpling over like a sack of doorknobs, and you certainly didn't miss the resulting flesh wound on Swanson's head.

For as great a career as he's had, it took years for Swanson to live this down.

This was a featherweight title eliminator in the WEC—the prime destination for lighter-weight fighters in the years before the UFC added them. The performance moved Aldo to 15-1 on his career and put him in a prominent place in the MMA landscape, where he'd stay for the next 13 years.

4. Aldo Falls to McGregor in All-Time Iconic Clash

Event: UFC 194

Date: December 12, 2015

Result: Conor McGregor def. Aldo by KO, 0:13, Rd. 1

What's good for the goose, eh?

We're not here to revel in what few losses Aldo sustained, but a list of his biggest fights wouldn't be complete without this one, as it's probably one of the most-celebrated contests in UFC history.

McGregor, at the height of his powers, predicted a knockout against Aldo. Not only did he deliver that knockout, winning the featherweight title in the process, but he also did so in the precise way he predicted.

This is the fight that made McGregor a star. Since he's the biggest star in the history of his sport, well, you kind of have to mention it.

Consider it a compliment to Aldo. Without his mystique as a nigh-unbeatable champion, the win isn't nearly as shocking or magical.

3. Aldo Asserts Dominance Against Edgar

Event: UFC 156

Date: February 2, 2013

Result: Aldo def. Edgar by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 48-47)

In the first of their two meetings (Aldo won both), Aldo put on a master class. Sadly for the casual and bloodthirsty among us, it was a subtle master class. For the rest, it was a look at a wizard at the height of his powers.

Per UFC stats, Edgar only managed to connect on an anemic 22 percent of his strikes. The 60 significant strikes he landed over five rounds amounts to a rate of 2.4 strikes landed per minute, well below Edgar’s career mark of 3.8. Further, Aldo stopped nine of Edgar’s 11 takedown shots. In the first round, Edgar only hit Aldo five times in 34 attempts.

Aldo landed a relatively paltry 76 strikes himself, with the star being those signature leg kicks. Edgar hung tough and rallied down the stretch, but he simply wasn't on Aldo's level. Considering Edgar held gold up at 155 pounds (this was his featherweight debut), it was a cold welcome to Aldo Town.

2. Aldo Chops Down the California Kid

Event: WEC 48

Date: April 24, 2010

Result: Jose Aldo def. Urijah Faber by unanimous decision (50-45, 49-46, 49-45)

A moment ago, I mentioned leg kicks. This win goes down not only as perhaps the exemplar of Aldo's dedication to this particular craft, but also as one of the most memorable leg-kick destructions in the sport's history.

What longtime fan can forget that morning-after footage of Faber on crutches, thigh swollen and purple like a dead sea animal? It was a testament to the sheer meanness of Aldo’s attack, expertly fired with no windup so as to catch the opponent unawares?

It was the first time Aldo, then all of 23 years old, had defended a title of any kind. Some people still considered this Faber’s title, as The California Kid had defended it five times before losing it in a bit of a shocker to Mike Brown, whom Aldo defeated to earn the title. Faber fans viewed it as a chance to restore order.

Instead, they saw the coronation of a champion—a champion with one hell of a leg kick.

1. Aldo Fells Mendes, Jumps Into the Crowd

Event: UFC 142

Date: January 14, 2012

Result: Aldo def. Mendes by KO, 4:59, Rd. 1

This win had it all. No Aldo highlight reel is complete without it.

For the first time in his major-league MMA career, the champ fought in his hometown of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Mendes had been spoiling for a title shot for some time and entered the contest with a perfect 11-0 record.

The first round unfolded in unremarkable fashion, with the two men trading range-finding jabs and leg kicks. Nothing landed with much authority for either side.

Mendes did his best to make an impression, but Aldo was a brick wall. The D-1 college wrestler tried no fewer than seven takedowns—each and every one of them rebuffed. He finally used a waist lock to tie Aldo up along the fence in the final moments. That plus a slight edge in striking output looked like it might have swung a close round to the challenger.

And then came the knee.

With no warning, Aldo spun out of the waistlock and landed a knee square on Mendes' forehead. The shot was so hard, so perfectly placed, that it sent Mendes almost literally flying backward. The ref waved off the bout shortly thereafter.

That's when the fun began.

Aldo leapt over the cage, and before officials could reach him, he darted into the crowd. The joyous Rio faithful swallowed him up, engulfing their hero in a sea of adoration.

Over the years, there were accusations that Aldo, both in and out of the cage, was a little wooden, a little reluctant to play the game. Those accusers should watch this knockout and the moments that followed it. It's one of the most exhilarating sequences in UFC history, and it's the crown jewel of Aldo's formidable list of career highlights.

Unless you're "The Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment," don't approach Nate Diaz about a comeback fight.

Diaz, who just wrapped up his UFC contract, said Wednesday that he's "only going to fight the rock."

Im only going to fight the rock
Otherwise I’m goood

— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) September 21, 2022

The 37-year-old submitted Tony Ferguson at UFC 279 on Sept. 10 in what could be his MMA swan song. He has already entertained a possible fight with Jake Paul, and speculation linking him with a move to WWE is already beginning.

As to Diaz's UFC future, his terms might be a tad unrealistic.

Dwayne Johnson was famously on hand at UFC 244 to award Jorge Masvidal the symbolic BMF title following his victory over Diaz in October 2019. That might be the last time you see The Rock stepping inside the Octagon.

Raul Rosas Jr. became the youngest fighter in history to sign a UFC contract when the 17-year-old inked a deal after competing in Dana White's Contender Series.

ESPN's Marc Raimondi reported White, the UFC's longtime president, offered Rosas a contract after his victory over 25-year-old Mando Gutierrez on Tuesday night.

"I've never seen anything like it," White said about Rosas' performance at his age. "Not only that, the amount of fighters blowing me up saying you're crazy not to [sign him]. ... He's absolutely, positively talented. He's special, he's different."

Rosas, who improved his pro record to 6-0 with Tuesday's victory, said the UFC offer didn't come as a surprise.

"I knew I was gonna get that contract," he said. "I've been saying it since the beginning. Since I was born, I knew this was gonna happen."

The California native is likely to set a new record for the youngest fighter to take part in an official UFC fight. The mark is currently held by Dan Lauzon at 18 years, 198 days, per Raimondi.

Rosas, who will turn 18 on Oct. 8, currently competes in the bantamweight division, and he's already set his sights on Aljamain Sterling's championship.

"Everybody shouldn't be surprised," he said. "I'm the new king in here, so I'm coming for that belt now. ... I'm gonna be champion when I'm 20. Respect to everybody, but I'm gonna be champion when I'm 20, or even earlier. Nobody is gonna stop me."

The current record for a title-holder is Jon Jones at 23 years and eight months, giving "El Nino Problema" over five years to set a new standard.

Rosas beat Gutierrez by unanimous decision after three rounds on Tuesday night. It was the first time as a pro that one of his bouts went the distance. He'd previously scored four wins by submission and one by knockout.

The rapidly rising star also went 6-0 in the amateur ranks with four submissions and two wins by one-round unanimous decision.

So he's yet to get seriously tested during his ascent to the sport's top promotion. That'll likely change quickly as he tries to assert himself in the bantamweight division at such a young age.

That said, Rosas has so far looked like the real deal every step of the way during his budding MMA career.

Former UFC superstar Nate Diaz has a few options for his next move after becoming a free agent earlier this month, and it sounds like he already has something in mind.

Diaz told iD Boxing (h/t Amit Shukla of Thirsty For News) that he'd be interested in a boxing match against Jake Paul, who is scheduled to fight MMA legend Anderson Silva on Oct. 29:

"[Jake Paul] is for sure one of the options. He's doing big stuff. He's doing big things. He's got a big fight ahead of him. If he wins that, I'm sure people will be really impressed by it. And if Anderson [Silva] does his thing on him, that’s impressive also. Now we've got a fight on his hands. I'm looking forward to it."

Diaz is coming off a fourth-round submission victory over Tony Ferguson in the main event of UFC 279, which was the final fight on his contract. He has expressed his desire to explore his options outside of the company for quite some time:

"From 17 or 18 years old, I was starting to fight, I was boxing with my boxing coach. There were boxers all over my gym, and I was going to box initially, but MMA shows were more around my area, and they were happening, so I got stuck in MMA. I got stuck in a cage this whole time with contracts and stuff. Now everything is open for the taking. I never stopped training for a boxing fight since I started fighting. When the right opponent or right thing comes, we’re going to take it."

The 37-year-old also left the door open to returning to the UFC at some point in the future, but for now, it appears he's ready to test the waters in the world of boxing.