You cannot talk about the origins of MMA without bringing up Brazil somewhere in the conversation. It is the home of Vale Tudo, a form of full contact fighting, which was popular throughout Brazil in the 20th century.
Vale Tudo is essentially a more brutal form of MMA, with less rules, and it’s popularity in the South American country is likely one of the reasons why Brazil has produced so many notable MMA athletes over the last 30 odd years.
BJJ is a large part of MMA fights, and it literally stands for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It was brought to the forefront of fighting by The Gracie family, who are a famous Brazilian family in the mixed martial arts world. They made BJJ a popular fight style by demonstrating how effective it can be, even against competition who are physically stronger.
For example, Royce Gracie, donned in a BJJ Gi, won the first official UFC event ‘UFC 1’ by submitting brawlers like Shamrock, Jimmerson and Gordeau all in one night.
With a history in fighting as rich as the ones Brazilians have, it’s not surprising that some of the best MMA athletes who have ever lived are Brazilian.
So, here is a list of the top 10 best Brazilian MMA fighters who have ever lived.
Table of Contents
Renan Barao
Renan Barao (real name ‘Renan do Nascimento Mota Pegado’) is an MMA bantamweight who once went 32 straight fights without losing, over 9 years, which is unbelievable!
During his time as a UFC Champion, he was regarded as a top 3 pound for pound fighter on the planet.
He started out his fighting career in Brazil, where he picked up his black belt in BJJ. Like many other lighter fighters at the time, he fought in the WEC. When the WEC was bought out by the UFC, he became a UFC fighter.
He held the UFC Bantamweight Champion belt in 2014, before losing it to TJ Dillashaw in the same year.
He has an MMA record of 34 – 9, with 8 of his 9 losses coming after he lost the Bantamweight belt to Dillashaw.
Barao has notable wins over; Urijah Faber, Brad Pickett and Eddie Wineland
Mauricio “Shogun” rua
Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua is an old school Brazilian MMA athlete, who actually took part in Vale Tudo fights (that brutal sport we mentioned earlier!).
He also fought during the PRIDE era in Japan. He made his debut at Pride Bushido 1, where he won 3 fights by first round stoppage. He later became the Pride Middleweight Champion in 2005, after knocking out Ricardo Arona in the final of PRIDE Final Conflict 2005.
After the UFC bought out PRIDE, Rua became a Light Heavyweight Champion in the UFC. He knocked out Lyoto Machida (another Brazilian all time great) in the very first round to become the champion of the division.
As of writing, Rua has an MMA record of 26-11.
He has notable wins over; Corey Anderson, Antonio Nogueira, Lyoto Machida, Forrest Griffin, Chuck Liddell, Alastair Overeem & Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson.
vitor “phenom” belfort
Vitor Belfort is a fighter known for his insane punching power and he is tied 3rd for having the most knockouts in UFC history. He started his career extremely young and has been a professional MMA fighter since he was 19 years old!
Shortly after debuting professionally, he moved to the UFC and won the UFC 12 Heavyweight Tournament. He also picked up the accolade of being the youngest fighter to record a victory in the Octagon (19 years old).
He then moved to PRIDE, where we fought athletes such as Alastair Overeem. His time at PRIDE wasn’t filled with belts, or other accolades and he returned to the UFC where the story was very different!
In 2004, Belfort battled Randy Couture for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship and won in under a minute!
As of writing, Belfort has a mixed martial arts record of 26 – 14.
He also holds wins over fighters such as; Dan Henderson, Luke Rockhold, Michael Bisping, Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson, Randy Couture & Wanderlei Silva.
royce gracie
Royce Gracie is the Godfather of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and he was one of the pioneers for modern MMA!
He is a UFC Hall of Famer, winner of UFC 1, UFC 2 & UFC 4 and he lead the popularity of Jiu-Jitsu being used in mixed martial arts competition.
He’s been included on this list due to his influence on the sport of MMA. While he didn’t have a long list of professional fights, nor did he hold a UFC Championship belt, he completed changed the direction of the sport with his BJJ, which is now a huge part of what it means to be a mixed martial artist.
His professional martial arts record stands at 15 – 2.
He has wins over; Ken Shamrock & Dan Severn.
cristiane “cris cyborg” Justino
Cris Cyborg is possibly the most feared women’s mixed martial artist in the history of the sport. She is known for her ferocious strength and power, which she uses to completely obliterate almost any opponent she fights.
She became famous for how dominant she was in her division, and fans usually expected to see her fights end with a quick KO (she has 11 1st round knockouts).
In her career so far, she has become the Invicta, Strikeforce, Bellator & UFC Featherweight Champions!
At one point, she held a 13 year unbeaten streak and she is the only MMA fighter in the world (man or woman) to hold belts in 4 different organisations.
Her pro MMA record, as of writing, is 22 – 2.
She has wins over well-known fighters such as; Holly Holm, Gina Carano & felicia Spencer.
junior “cigano” dos santos
Junior Dos Santos is a fighter known for dealing out crisp boxing damage to his opponents. His skills lead him to the pinnacle of the sport, when he became the UFC Heavyweight Champion of the world in 2011.
Dos Santos started out fighting professionally when he was just 22 years old. He fought in a few Brazilian events, before making his UFC debut against Fabricio Werdum in 2008.
A couple 1st round knockouts against Werdum & Struve earned Dos Santos respect amongst UFC fans. His stoppage victory over Mirko Cro Cop, an all-time MMA legend, put him in pole position for a title shot. He later captured UFC gold when he KO’d Cain Velasquez in the 1st round, back in 2011.
At the time of writing this article, he has a pro record of 21 – 7.
He also holds wins over; Derrick Lewis, Stipe Miocic, Mark Hunt, Cain Velasquez, Frank Mir, Mirko Cro Cop, Fabricio Werdum, Stefan Struve & Roy Nelson.
Lyoto Machida
Lyoto Machida was an MMA athlete who mainly competed in the Light Heavyweight & Middleweight divisions. He had an extremely successful run in the UFC, which saw him become the UFC Light heavyweight Champion! He’s competed in the UFC, Bellator, Inoki events & K-1.
Lyoto was chucked straight in the deep end when he began his professional MMA career. He fought MMA legend Stephan Bonnar in only his SECOND fight, and won! This handed Bonnar his first professional loss, and it was to a relative newbie.
Machida went on to put together a string of wins, before moving to the UFC. Once there, his undefeated streak continued until he earnt himself his first title shot.
In a battle between 2 undefeated fighters, Lyoto Machida became the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion in 2009, when he knocked out Rashad Evans in the 2nd round.
His current MMA record, at the time of writing, is 26 – 9.
He’s also won fights against; Chael Sonnen, Vitor Belfort, Gegard Mousasi, Dan Henderson, Ryan Bader, Randy Couture, Mauricio Rua, Rashad Evans, Tito Ortiz & BJ Penn.
3. jose “junior” aldo
Jose Aldo is Brazilian MMA royalty. They call him “The King of Rio” and his skills inside the Octagon earnt him fans from all over the world, not just from his home country of Brazil.
Aldo was unbeaten for 10 long years, and he held on to the UFC Featherweight Championship belt so tightly that for a long time he was the ONLY Featherweight Champion in the history of the UFC. Where all other belts had been passed on multiple times to multiple champions, Featherweight Championship status only had 1 name next to it, Jose Aldo.
He is a lightning quick fighter with deadly power! His fighting style was famously heavy on leg kicks, which he used to obliterate his opponents legs, to great effect.
Jose Aldo has a pro MMA record of 28 – 7 (at the time of writing).
He has picked up impressive wins over; Urijah Faber, Frankie Edgar, Chad Mendes, Kenny Florian & Cub Swanson
2. Amanda Nunes
Amanda Nunes “The Lioness” is arguably the greatest women’s mixed martial artist of all time. She has beaten almost all other top WMMA athletes of her era and she is the only female two-division UFC Champion (she held the UFC Featherweight & Bantamweight Championship belts at the same time).
She is also the only MMA fighter, man or woman, to hold and defend two belts at the same time.
Amanda has 13 1st round finishes in her career, and her quick-starting fighting style has picked her up a lot of fans in the sport!
She is so accomplished in the sport that there are almost no challenges left for her to test herself against, seeing as she has won 2 different division belts and beaten all the top competition available in the UFC.
Amanda Nunes has a pro record of 20 – 4 (at the time of writing).
She holds victories over the following top opponents; Holly Holm, Ronda Rousey, Cris Cyborg, Valentina Shevchenko, Miesha Tate & Germaine De Randamie
1. Anderson silva
Anderson Silva tops this list of the best ever Brazilian MMA fighters to ever live. He is a former UFC Middleweight Champion, who holds the record for the longest title reign (2,457 days) in UFC history. He also racked up 10 title defenses, which puts him 1 behind Demetrious Johnson, who holds the all-time title defense record.
At his peak, Anderson “The Spider” Silva was always the faster, stronger, more dangerous looking fighter in the Octagon. Fighters will usually try to take their opponents to their weakest aspect (boxing, BJJ, wrestling etc) but Anderson Silva was lethal everywhere. He holds multiple submission victories, as well as brutal KOs, so forming a gameplan to beat him was extremely difficult.
Unlike other great fighters like GSP, Anderson Silva stuck around to continue fighting well past his prime, which means his pro record is not representative of his dominance in the sport.
At the time of writing, his MMA record is 34 – 10.
He holds notable victories over; Chael Sonnen, Vitor Belfort, Dan henderson, Forrest Griffin, Demian Maia, Carlos Newton & Chris Leben.
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