If you’ve played EA MMA, UFC Undisputed, or any other mixed martial arts video game, you’re familiar with the career mode that allows you to build your own fighter from scratch. Although they have their variations, you’re generally left to build up different attributes of your fighter’s various striking and grappling areas. However, there are limits. The more you put into building up the striking, the less you’ll have left to make sure your character has a strong ground game.

Well you know what? Screw that. Let’s try to build the baddest, toughest, most talented MMA warrior ever seen, a fighter with the best single attributes carefully selected from the top combatants in the world. Who do you think has the best guillotine choke? What about head movement or punching power? After a whole lot of research, here’s what I came up with. In this edition we’ll look at all of the different striking attributes and in the second part we’ll take a look at the best grappling and submission skills, as well as stamina.

The formula is flexible (subjective), but involves three categories: overall technique in the particular skill area, success using that skill in actual fights, and the level of competition faced. Each fighter has received a rating between 0-100, but since this is the best of the best, you won’t see any low numbers here. Also, attributes were only selected from active, current fighters and where they stand at the moment. Since Chuck Liddell has officially retired, his sledgehammer of a right hand didn’t get included. Meanwhile, Randy Couture hasn’t hung up his gloves yet, and even at his advanced age, his Greco-Roman clinch work is near the top of the heap. Mirko Cro Cop’s head kick, on the other hand, has been missing in action for too long.

A special thanks to Mark Toscano, who has seen more MMA fights in the past fifteen years than almost any human alive and helped make sure I didn’t have any major gaps in the analysis. Also, big props to Sherdog.com, which has the best fighter database in the business and made this process possible.

Head movement

Anderson Silva (R) used his freaky head movement on Forrest Griffin (L). Photo courtesy of UFC.co

Anderson Silva (26-4): Watch a replay of the second Rich Franklin fight or Silva’s light heavyweight bout with former champion Forrest Griffin. As you’ll see, even when Silva decides to stop moving his feet and puts his hands down, landing a punch on him is easier said than done (Chael Sonnen fight aside). Rating: 100

Dominick Cruz (17-1): Like his footwork, Cruz’s head movement is unique, but boy does it work. The way he ducks his head at unusual angles while throwing punches makes it difficult to return fire but also disguises when Cruz is looking for a takedown. Rating: 98

Mark Hominick (19-8): In a pure striking battle, Hominick is tough to deal with. Most guys that fight Leonard Garcia can cover up and wait for Garcia to tire himself out by punching their arms. But Hominick’s head movement had Garcia swinging at the air much of the time. Rating: 97

Footwork

Anderson Silva: When Silva is on top of his game, he’s almost impossible to hit and can easily control the striking distance, and his footwork is a big reason. Rating: 99

Dominick Cruz : Kids, don’t try this at home. Cruz’s striking movement isn’t exactly textbook, but it’s incredibly effective. His ability to shuffle around the cage almost effortlessly for five full rounds is a treat to watch. Most recently, he used his quick feet to frustrate Scott Jorgenson at WEC 53 on Dec. 16 and become the UFC’s first bantamweight champion. Rating: 98.5

Frankie Edgar (13-1-1): Few people, if any, expected Edgar to defeat B.J. Penn and take the UFC lightweight title. Even after he did that, albeit by a controversial unanimous decision, just as few figured he would dominate Penn the way he did in the rematch at UFC 118. Both times, Edgar’s fast movement around the cage and in-and-out of punching range kept Penn out of his comfort zone. And after absorbing a serious beating for five minutes at the hands of Gray Maynard on Jan. 1, Edgar’s movement helped him survive and escape with a draw. Rating: 95

Leg Kicks

Don't let UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo kick you in the leg.

Jose Aldo (18-1): After five rounds going toe-to-toe with Aldo, Urijah Faber’s leg looked like someone took a full swing at it with a sledgehammer. His leg kicks are hard and accurate and they come almost effortlessly. Rating: 100

Pat Barry (5-2): Barry has TKO’d three fighters with leg kicks, two of whom have respectable records (that includes Dan Evensen at UFC 92). Ouchie. Rating: 99.5

Thiago Alves (18-7): Although Alves is probably better known for the knockout power in his hands and knees, he can also do some serious damage to an opponent’s lead leg. In case anyone forgot, he reminded them at UFC 124 against John Howard. Rating: 96

Edson Barboza 92 (7-0): Maybe it’s a bit early in his MMA career to put Barboza here. But coming from a heralded Muay Thai career, Barboza showed what a well-trained, technical striker is capable of in MMA in his UFC 123 bout against Mike Lullo, stopping his opponent with repeated leg kicks. Rating: 94

Rear hand power (right hand for orthodox, left hand for southpaw)

Dan Henderson (L) laid a beating on Babalu Sobral (R). Photo via Strikeforce.com.

Dan Henderson (26-8): The sport of mixed martial arts has changed substantially since the late 1990s, but Hendo is still competing with the best of the best even at this stage of his career. Besides his world class Greco-roman wrestling/clinch game, Henderson has always had vicious, one-punch knockout power. Some of his highlight reel KO victims include Renato “Babalu” Sobral, Michael Bisping, and Wanderlei Silva. Rating: 99.5

Melvin Manhoef (24-8-1): He doesn’t usually do well against the upper tier of MMA competition, given his severe case of one-dimensionality. One the feet, Manhoef is a freak. He knocked out Mark Hunt, for God’s sake. On the ground, he’s useless. His chin is suspect. Luckily, all we’re looking at here is Manhoef’s punching power (which is scary), and wins over Kazuo Misaki, Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos, and Hunt are enough to give him the second spot. Rating: 99

Fedor Emelianenko (31-2): “The Last Emperor” has twice as many submission wins to his name as Kos/TKOs. However, his heavy hands have always been a serious threat, from his more recent fights against Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovksi, and Brett Rogers, and dating back to his years on top of the PRIDE heavyweight division. Rating: 98

Eddie Alvarez (21-2): Alvarez, the current Bellator lightweight champion, was a top young prospect going into the 2008 DREAM lightweight grand prix, but came out of it recognized as one of the best lightweights in the world. In the tournament, Alvarez stopped Andre Amado and Tatsuya Kawajiri by TKO and dropped Joachim Hansen multiple times en route to a decision win in one of the year’s best fights. And before most people had even heard of Alvarez, he’d already knocked out the likes of Aaron Riley and Derrick Noble. Rating: 97

Lead hand power

Rampage (R) turns out Wanderlei's lights with a perfect counter left hook.

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (31-8): Rampage’s right hand packs a punch as well, but his counter left hook is a thing of beauty. Jackson’s knockout win over Wanderlei Silva at UFC 92 was so beautiful it would have made the Baby Jesus cry … in a good way. Rating: 99

Paul Daley (26-9-2): I knew Daley was going to knock out Scott Smith at some point at the Dec. 4 Strikeforce show. Smith loves to brawl, but Daley had incredibly accuracy and technique. Smith has absorbed punishment from the likes of Robbie Lawler, Cung Le, and Benji Radach, yet one big left hook from Daley sent him face first into the canvas. Rating: 98.5

Robbie Lawler (18-6): Admittedly, Lawler — a southpaw — can knock people senseless with his lead (right) hand. See: Matt Lindland. But for this exercise, we have to pick one stance and stick with it, so I’m putting him here. Deal with it. Eighteen career wins, 15 career KO/TKO victories. Yeah, that’s impressive. Rating: 98

Jab

Anderson Silva: Nothing is more frustrating than seeing a tall guy with a long reach not use the jab to try and keep his opponent at bay. Anderson, however, can do this with his eyes closed; it’s pure instinct. Superhuman hand speed also helps. Rating: 95

Georges St. Pierre (21-2): It’s not like GSP hasn’t used a jab before. Almost anything he does in the cage involves a lot of technical precision and timing. At UFC 124, though, he beat up Josh Koscheck almost exclusively with the jab. If you’re showing a young mixed martial artist to be how to use the jab in MMA, this is the fight you want to show him. Rating: 94

Uppercut

Dos Santos (L) drops Werdum at UFC 90 with an uppercut.

Junior Dos Santos (12-1): UFC 90: A Love Story. Heavyweight contender Fabricio Werdum’s chin met dos Santos’s right uppercut. Werdum was so overcome with emotion, he became weak kneed and fell to the mat. Rating: 96

B.J. Penn (16-7): Penn has a lot of tools in his striking repertoire, but his uppercuts are particularly dangerous. It might not end the fight, but it will set up the finish. Rating: 95

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson: As we alluded to above, Rampage’s shorter counters can keep him in any fight. His uppercut almost turned the tide in Jackson’s losses Rashad Evans and Forrest Griffin. Rampage dropped Griffin the first round of a five round fight and nearly came from behind and finished Evans in the third and final round of the UFC 114 main event. Rating: 94.5

Head kicks

Anthony Pettis (13-1): Keep in mind, Pettis isn’t here just because of his off-the-wall madness against Ben Henderson at WEC 53. Yeah, it helps … a lot. But Pettis isn’t a one-hit wonder. He mixed in several high kicks in that bout and other WEC contests and if they didn’t connect and do damage, they gave his opponent something to think about. Rating: 97.5

Pat Barry: Although he only has one head kick KO and is better known for the lower body attack, you don’t want Barry hitting you in the head, either. Standing at 5’11” in the heavyweight division, his only obstacle is height. Rating: 97

Anthony Njokuani (13-4): I assume Chris Horodecki will never turn his back on Njokuani ever again. Like Pettis, though, Njokuani is great at mixing in his kicks throughout a fight and setting them up. Rating: 96

Thai clinch/knees

Alistair Overeem (front) knocked out Todd Duffee with punches at Dynamite!! 2010, but the knees helped soften Duffee up.

Alistair Overeem (34-11): Many strong men have been left crying and curled up in the fetal position after eating some Overeem knees, especially from the clinch. Sergei Kharitonov, Paul Buentello, and Kazuyuki Fujita, just to name a few. Overeem won the K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 without the ability to use the knee from the double collar tie (an exceedingly stupid rule change). I can only imagine what would’ve happened if he didn’t have that holding him up. We’re only looking at MMA accomplishments here, so you could make the case that Anderson belongs ahead of Overeem. I’ll readily admit that my judgment might be clouded by the fact that, if given the choice between taking an Overeem knee from the clinch or standing in front of a car moving at 30 mph, I’d ask you where you parked the car. Rating: 99.5

Anderson Silva: Rich Franklin knows exactly what I’m talking about, and so does Chris Leben, who hadn’t suffered a KO/TKO loss to any other fighter until UFC 125 against Brian Stann. Rating: 99

Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante (10-2): Feijao has some nasty Muay Thai. Three of his wins are directly the result of knees, but some of his other key wins, including victories over Antwain Britt and then-Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Mohammed “King Mo” Lawal, had a lot to do with Feijao’s Thai clinch. Rating: 95

Wanderlei Silva (33-10-1): Franklin has Anderson Silva, and Rampage has Wanderlei. Silva might be in the twilight of his career, but his knees from the clinch are legendary. Rating: 94.5

Chin

The chin of Nick Diaz (R) has been tested by KJ Noons (L) and many others. (Photo by Scott Petersen, MMAWeekly.com)

Nick Diaz (23-7): No matter how hard you try and how wobbly they might look, there are some guys that it seems you can’t knock out. Robbie Lawler, K.J. Noons, Scott Smith, Takanori Gomi … many have tried. Noons’s win over Diaz by TKO from a cut aside, only Jeremy Jackson has done the honors, stopping Diaz with punches way back in 2002. I really, REALLY want to see Diaz fight Daley at some point in 2011. Rating: 99

Chris Lytle (40-17-4): With over 50 professional MMA fights to his credit, including 18 in the UFC, Lytle has never truly been stopped. He lost to Joe Riggs at UFC 55 due to a cut and to Thiago Alves at UFC 78 by doctor stoppage. The man can take some serious punishment. Rating: 99

100
2 thoughts on “Creating the perfect MMA fighter — Part I: Striking”
  1. Very cool article, somethings that would be fun to add.

    Body shots: Nick Diaz, Takanori Gomi, Nam Phan, Ricky Story

    Clinch punching/dirty boxing: Randy, Hendo… I guess it’s pretty known who the best at this is though.

    Body kicks/liver kicks: Rich Franklin, Bas Rutten, Mirko

    Hand Speed: BJ, Vitor, Fedor, Arlovski

    Some add ons:

    Head Kicks: No Cro Cop?!

    Chin: BJ

    Rear hand power: Arlovski

    Again, great read. I look forward to the next one!

  2. Thanks for the feedback. Again, it pained me to do it, but I just don’t see Cro Cop landing a serious head kick on someone these days. And yeah, Couture is plenty old, but his strength and technique keep him relevant in the clinch game.

    I like your other ideas. I’m sure we could do something like this again and look at other things.

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