Are you a mixed martial arts (MMA) or Ultimate Fighting (UFC) fan? Do you recognize the sport’s great boxers? Would you like to know the best boxers in MMA, if so, stick around.
UFC isn’t only about boxing, but it does play a big part in both attacking and defending. Every MMA fighter uses a combination of skillsets, striking, grappling, and locks. That’s why MMA is so interesting as there are fewer rules compared to sports like boxing.
Though some MMA fighters are more skilled in boxing and that’s what we’re going to look at below. Here are the top 10 boxers in MMA, mixed with old and current fighters.
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Conor McGregor
Conor McGregor is a fighter who can finish a fight in many ways, but he’s also known for his strong boxing skills. He is not only fast, but also accurate and technical in his striking game. His movement is exceptional, and he is an elusive target to hit.
McGregor has won the majority of his fights by TKO/KO and submission. He has defeated bigger opponents as he’s considered short compared to some fighters he’s faced. He’s the only fighter to hold two UFC titles simultaneously (featherweight and lightweight).
Anderson Silva
Let’s get this out of the way, Silva is one of the greatest mixed martial artists ever. He currently holds the record for most wins in UFC history with 16 and the longest win streak in UFC history with 16. Silva also became the first fighter to win a title in two different weight classes, holding both the middleweight and light heavyweight belts at different times.
Nate Diaz
He is famously known as the BJJ fighter. He had the slickest grappling techniques and had fun standing in the pocket and trading hard shots.
Nate got much exposure and experience by training with the best kickboxers including Joe Schilling and the former world champion Andre Ward. These boxers helped to sharpen Nate’s boxing skills.
This made the most known boxing coach, Mayweather Sr thinks Nate is the best boxer in MMA. He describes him as a world-class UFC fighter.
TJ Dillashaw
He took his wrestling techniques into MMA. He uses the skills to stop takedowns from the opponents. In addition, the skill keeps the fight standing. He developed better striking techniques so fast and used them to beat Renan Barao two times to win as well as defend the UFC title.
During his time, he was the best standup fighter in his prime. Tj also won two consecutive KO wins over Cody Garbrant.
Cody Garbrandt
Cody has the fastest hands in the 12lbs division and legit punching power in both wrists. When he was young, he spent much time training boxing with his uncle and brothers.
Little skills had enabled him to take part in amateur competitions. This time Cody had a superb record of 23-0, he later moved to MMA competitions.
Fans loved his amazing footwork together with many boxing skills. He did score many KOs inside the octagon. A fight with Dominick Cruz was his finest boxing ordeal ever. Indeed, he won the UFC title.
On top of that, he is among the skilled boxers who can change to professional boxing, and still do very well.
Nick Diaz
Nick Diaz is a fan-favorite boxer worldwide. He is also a true warrior in the cage. It never mattered who Nick could face, but he was ever ready to put on an amazing show for the UFC fans.
He always stood firm and boxed with rivals on any challenge. He never had many boxing techniques. However, his style of fighting was effective in MMA.
He is known as a pressure fighter and prefers to strike his rivals with a lot of speedy punches. This keeps the opponents out of control; his favorite technique to win over the rivals.
Most rivals had a rough time initiating self-defense mechanisms inside a cage to cope with his pace and output.
Dustin Poirier
In Max Holloway’s entire boxing career, it’s only Dustin who managed to outbox him. He is a phenomenal lightweight fighter who did so well in the featherweight division. But, brutal weight cuts forced him to move up to lightweight. He considered the move as his best career decision.
The most unique skills he used to beat the top fighters included credible striking punches and excellent counter-hooks. During his career, he outboxed boxers like Justin Gaethje, Eddie Alvarez, and Halloway.
The biggest challenge he ever faced was when he took on the champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in a title match. The defeat made Dustin train harder and used his superior boxing skills to knock out Dan Hooker and Conor Mcgregor.
Max Holloway
Max is a record holder for the most significant strikes who started as a street fighter. He always amazed the fans with his high-class boxing abilities. With his aggressiveness, unfathomable footwork, he could always stay in control at all times when taking on other fighters.
He was trained by a professional coach, Robert Garcia who believed that Max could easily make it and become a professional boxer. The toughest fighters Max ever met were Jose Aldo, Brian Ortega, and Calvin Katter.
Jorge Masvidal
Fans see Jorge as a spectacular striker because of his incredible skills not only in how to punch, but also in taking hits, evading, and defending himself. Indeed, he has all the techniques of a professional boxer.
Early in his career, he tended to get carried away and disregard the fact that MMA allows skills other than punching. This made him get taken down easily.
Jorge restored his career with persistent training and great coaching. He developed smart, skillful strikes, and tactical approaches for when he got into a cage ready to fight.
Jon Jones
Jones is on our list of the best MMA fighters to ever live. His standup skills are very phenomenal making him compete in a ring professionally.
Through boxing and Muay Thai training, he was ever ready to compete with the world’s best boxers. Most fans believe that Jon Jones will keep on racking up knockouts in the octagon.
Summary
Other top MMA fighters could have made this list, but we kept it to 10. Some will agree, but others will think that these fighters aren’t the best boxers in UFC.
We want to hear who should have made our list of the best boxers in MMA in the comments below.
