# Top 16 Strikers in MMA History

> Kickboxers who switched codes, karate stylists, and one or two who just hit very hard. Different answers to the same problem.

*By YPB Team · Published August 19, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/top-16-strikers-in-mma-history*

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## Current results (4 votes)

1. **Anderson Silva** — 50% (2 votes · score 1000/1000)
   Built a record title reign on counter timing and distance rather than volume.
2. **Jose Aldo** — 25% (1 votes · score 660/1000)
   Muay Thai specialist whose leg kicks ended fights before his hands had to.
3. **Vitor Belfort** — 0% (0 votes · score 641/1000)
   Hand speed that stayed dangerous across three decades of competition.
4. **Max Holloway** — 25% (1 votes · score 592/1000)
   Holds the UFC record for significant strikes landed and fights in the pocket by choice.
5. **Stephen Thompson** — 0% (0 votes · score 582/1000)
   Karate stance and side kicks that welterweights spent a decade failing to solve.
6. **Valentina Shevchenko** — 0% (0 votes · score 513/1000)
   Muay Thai world champion before MMA, and the flyweight division's most precise counter striker.
7. **Joanna Jedrzejczyk** — 0% (0 votes · score 513/1000)
   Ran the strawweight division on a jab and a straight left for five title defences.
8. **Ilia Topuria** — 0% (0 votes · score 513/1000)
   Knocked out two of the greatest featherweights of the era in consecutive fights.
9. **Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic** — 0% (0 votes · score 434/1000)
   PRIDE's head-kick specialist, feared enough that opponents fought to avoid his left leg.
10. **Chuck Liddell** — 0% (0 votes · score 434/1000)
   The Iceman's looping overhand right defined the UFC's first mainstream era.
11. **Conor McGregor** — 0% (0 votes · score 434/1000)
   Left hand that produced the fastest title knockout in UFC history.
12. **Wanderlei Silva** — 0% (0 votes · score 342/1000)
   Clinch knees and hooks thrown in a straight line, with no interest in defence.
13. **Alex Pereira** — 0% (0 votes · score 342/1000)
   Two-weight UFC champion and former Glory kickboxing champion with a fight-ending left hook.
14. **Lyoto Machida** — 0% (0 votes · score 342/1000)
   Shotokan karate stylist who countered from a range nobody else fought at.
15. **Israel Adesanya** — 0% (0 votes · score 233/1000)
   Middleweight champion whose kickboxing footwork made him hard to hit cleanly.
16. **Petr Yan** — 0% (0 votes · score 233/1000)
   Bantamweight champion who built leads through volume and body work.

Tags: ufc, fighters, mma