# 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.

*By YPB Team · Published August 19, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-16-greatest-brazilian-mma-fighters-of-all-time*

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## Current results (4 votes)

1. **Anderson Silva** — 75% (3 votes · score 1000/1000)
   Held the UFC middleweight title for 2,457 days, the longest reign in company history.
2. **Jose Aldo** — 25% (1 votes · score 670/1000)
   Ruled the featherweight division for a decade across WEC and UFC without losing a fight.
3. **Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira** — 0% (0 votes · score 645/1000)
   PRIDE heavyweight champion famous for surviving punishment and submitting bigger men.
4. **Wanderlei Silva** — 0% (0 votes · score 558/1000)
   The Axe Murderer, PRIDE's longest-reigning middleweight champion and its most feared brawler.
5. **Fabricio Werdum** — 0% (0 votes · score 447/1000)
   The first man to submit Fedor Emelianenko, later UFC heavyweight champion.
6. **Deiveson Figueiredo** — 0% (0 votes · score 446/1000)
   Flyweight champion who fought Brandon Moreno four times in two years.
7. **Junior dos Santos** — 0% (0 votes · score 446/1000)
   Heavyweight champion whose 64-second knockout of Cain Velasquez opened UFC on Fox.
8. **Rafael dos Anjos** — 0% (0 votes · score 378/1000)
   Lightweight champion who beat Anthony Pettis and then moved up to welterweight contention.
9. **Cris Cyborg** — 0% (0 votes · score 378/1000)
   Won world titles in four organisations and went 13 years without a defeat.
10. **Alex Pereira** — 0% (0 votes · score 298/1000)
   Kickboxer turned two-division UFC champion who beat Israel Adesanya in both sports.
11. **Charles Oliveira** — 0% (0 votes · score 298/1000)
   Holds the UFC records for most finishes and most submissions, and won the lightweight title in 2021.
12. **Amanda Nunes** — 0% (0 votes · score 203/1000)
   The only woman to hold two UFC titles at once and beat every former champion she faced.
13. **Vitor Belfort** — 0% (0 votes · score 203/1000)
   Won a UFC tournament at 19 and was still knocking out champions two decades later.
14. **Lyoto Machida** — 0% (0 votes · score 203/1000)
   Karate stylist who went undefeated for 16 fights and won the light heavyweight title in 2009.
15. **Royce Gracie** — 0% (0 votes · score 89/1000)
   Won three of the first four UFC tournaments and introduced Brazilian jiu-jitsu to the world.
16. **Mauricio Rua** — 0% (0 votes · score 89/1000)
   Shogun won the PRIDE 2005 middleweight grand prix and later the UFC light heavyweight belt.

Tags: ufc, brazil, fighters, mma