UFC (The Ultimate Fighting Championship) is the world's most brutal fighting competition and one of the fastest-rising fighting sports franchises in the world. As we all witness the incredible fighters who go through this UFC octagon ring and fight for their name. But there are only a few UFC fighters who became famous worldwide and attained superstardom.
Did you know that MMA is becoming more popular than boxing just because of UFC and Conor McGregor UFC MMA fighter is the world's richest athlete?
Today in this article I am going to discuss the most famous UFC fighters who made their name and successfully reached superstardom.
7. Randy Couture
Randy Couture was the first UFC star, and he is also famous by his name is Incredible Randy Couture. He started his career when UFC was recently introduced and his first fight in the octagon ring was on UFC 13 in the year 1997. You are thinking that what made Randy Couture so enigmatic? Well, every time people thought he was washed he always comes back again and again. He was famous for his never-give-up attitude.
In 2002 he lost the two most important fights to Ricco Rodriguez and Josh Barnett but again he appeared and smashed two rising stars of UFC Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell. Then again Randy lost a fight against Vitor Belfort, just to squeeze him in the next fight. 2005 and 2006 was not the best year for Randy because he got knocked out by Chuck Liddell twice in the fight. Now you are thinking that this was the fall of his career, right? But you are wrong.
Once again Randy Couture show up and moved into the heavyweight division. Where he destroyed Tim Sylvia in the octagon ring and won the title. Randy defended his title against Gabriel Gonzaga which was one of the most brutal fights that happened in the history of UFC. Again, everybody thought his career is over when he got knocked out by Brock Lesnar and he lost his title, and in the next fight when he lost to Antonio Nogueira.
But as usual, he came back, and won 3 times back-to-back, including smashing another UFC star, Mark Coleman. Randy Couture's bounce-back attitude and fantastic career made him the greatest of all time.
6. Royce Gracie
Current MMA fans might not even hear his name but Royce Gracie's contribution to the development of MMA put him on the list of most famous UFC fighters. He's the man who won three of the first 4 UFC events when there were still no MMA rules and weight categories.
He also made famous Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu worldwide; Royce ended his career in UFC with a record of 15-2. His last fight was in 2016 when he was 49, and still having that old he knocked out another MMA star, Ken Shamrock
Even though he is from the old MMA generation, his fans love him that's why he has almost 250k followers on Instagram.
5. Max Holloway
29-year-old incredible and people's favorite, Max Holloway is the best fighter in the history of MMA. With having impressive UFC resume, he was the UFC featherweight champion, after defeating ruling champing for long years Jose Aldo very badly. He is famous for his diligence fighting style and is the best striker in the history of UFC. Every time he gets injured in a fight, he just keeps on coming and devastates his opponent very hard.
Aside from his incredible MMA skills, he is the kindest and calm person, wise in defeat and humble in victory. Even his opponent and fellow fighter love him for his nature and sportsmanship mindset. Holloway is famous worldwide that's why he has 2.5 million followers on Instagram.
4. Nate Diaz
Nate Diaz the bad boy of the MMA world, Nate became more popular with legendary interviews and two magnificent fights with Conor McGregor which result in the top highest-sold PPV in the history of UFC. Having a magnificent UFC career Diaz has a huge fan base on Instagram around five million followers also he is one of the biggest supporters of legalizing marijuana, and also, he has a company with his elder brother that manufactures top-quality CBD.
UFC fans love him because of his fighting style. He only got knocked out once in his life in fight against Josh Thompson in 2013.
3. BJ Penn
BJ Penn is one of the best and always a fan favorite. He never quit from any challenge and gave us the best, brutal, and most amazing fight. He is also the first fighter who wins the championship in almost all UFC divisions. After him, many fighters win championships in all divisions of UFC, but BJ Penn was the first one who showed that everything is possible.
Sometimes I feel so bad that he didn't know when to say bye to UFC, as Penn lost all his last 7 fights to end his career with a 16-14 record. But he is a much better fighter. Performing well throughout his whole career.
2. Khabib Nurmagomedov
If you are truly MMA and UFC fan, then you him very well. Khabib Nurmagomedov is the undisputed fighter in the history of UFC. I must say he is the best fighter that UFC ever produced, he never lost a single fight in his 29 professional fights.
After defeating Conor McGregor, Khabib made his name and attained stardom. There is one thing which I personally like about him that he was never a trash talker and troublemaker outside the octagon ring but inside he is a beast. He respects everybody even his opponent. That's why Khabib successfully created a huge fan base and people love him so much. 28.5 million followers on Instagram shows how much his fans love him.
1. Conor McGregor
You knew that I am going to put his name on first. There is no doubt that Conor McGregor is on the top of the list. He is the most famous and notorious fighter in the history of UFC nobody can even compete with him. Notorious Conor McGregor has a huge fan base on Instagram more than 40 million followers worldwide. Apart from, facing some losses against Khabib and Dustin Poirier he is still the best fighter and greatest of all time.
According to Forbes Magazine, he was the highest-paid athlete of the year 2020, and every time his pay-per-view events break the records. He is the guy who started the trend of trash talking in UFC but no one can match and be like Corner.