The 16 Greatest Brazilian MMA Fighters of All Time

Champions from four different eras share this list with cult favourites who never held a belt. Nobody agrees on the order.

1

Anderson Silva

Held the UFC middleweight title for 2,457 days, the longest reign in company history.

1000pts

2

Jose Aldo

Ruled the featherweight division for a decade across WEC and UFC without losing a fight.

670pts

3

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

PRIDE heavyweight champion famous for surviving punishment and submitting bigger men.

645pts

4

Wanderlei Silva

The Axe Murderer, PRIDE's longest-reigning middleweight champion and its most feared brawler.

558pts

5

Fabricio Werdum

The first man to submit Fedor Emelianenko, later UFC heavyweight champion.

447pts

6

Deiveson Figueiredo

Flyweight champion who fought Brandon Moreno four times in two years.

446pts

7

Junior dos Santos

Heavyweight champion whose 64-second knockout of Cain Velasquez opened UFC on Fox.

446pts

8

Rafael dos Anjos

Lightweight champion who beat Anthony Pettis and then moved up to welterweight contention.

378pts

9

Cris Cyborg

Won world titles in four organisations and went 13 years without a defeat.

378pts

10

Alex Pereira

Kickboxer turned two-division UFC champion who beat Israel Adesanya in both sports.

298pts

11

Charles Oliveira

Holds the UFC records for most finishes and most submissions, and won the lightweight title in 2021.

298pts

12

Amanda Nunes

The only woman to hold two UFC titles at once and beat every former champion she faced.

203pts

13

Vitor Belfort

Won a UFC tournament at 19 and was still knocking out champions two decades later.

203pts

14

Lyoto Machida

Karate stylist who went undefeated for 16 fights and won the light heavyweight title in 2009.

203pts

15

Royce Gracie

Won three of the first four UFC tournaments and introduced Brazilian jiu-jitsu to the world.

89pts

16

Mauricio Rua

Shogun won the PRIDE 2005 middleweight grand prix and later the UFC light heavyweight belt.

89pts