Fansided

30 greatest UFC fighters of all time

By Richard Ferraina

UNIVERSAL CITY, CALIFORNIA - JULY 08: Henry Cejudo's UFC Championship belt is displayed at "Extra" at Universal Studios Hollywood on July 08, 2019 in Universal City, California. (Photo by Noel Vasquez/Getty Images)
UNIVERSAL CITY, CALIFORNIA - JULY 08: Henry Cejudo's UFC Championship belt is displayed at "Extra" at Universal Studios Hollywood on July 08, 2019 in Universal City, California. (Photo by Noel Vasquez/Getty Images) /
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Israel Adesanya (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
Israel Adesanya (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) /

10. Israel Adesanya

Decorated kickboxer Israel Adesanya made his way to the UFC in 2018 after an 11-0 start as a pro. All of Adesanya’s wins had been by finish at that point, and he started out his UFC career the same way. Adesanya is 12-2 in the UFC with seven performance bonuses.

Going 5-0 with wins over future PFL champ Rob Wilkinson, Marvin Vettori, Brad Tavares, Derek Brunson, and Anderson Silva, Adesanya faced Kelvin Gastelum for the interim middleweight championship and unified it with a knockout win over champion Robert Whittaker.

Adesanya would go on to defend his title against Yoel Romero, Paulo Costa, Marvin Vettori, Robert Whittaker, and Jared Cannonier. Going 12-0 in a division with five title defenses within a span of four years is incredibly impressive.

This past November, Adesanya lost his title to old foe Alex Pereira. Pereira was a rival of Adesanya’s in his kickboxing days, beating Adesanya twice, and still looks like holds that edge today. Adesanya is 7-2 in title fights, even moving up to light heavyweight to fight then-champion Jan Blachowicz, but came up short. Adesanya is scheduled to rematch Pereira for the middleweight title this April at UFC 287.

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