Top 10 Brazilian UFC Fighters of All Time [Ranked]

Since the formation of the UFC over three decades ago, there have been many top fighters from the country of Brazil who have competed in MMA’s biggest organisation.

When thinking of top Brazilian fighters, the likes of Anderson Silva and Amanda Nunes will immediately come to mind. The pair dominated their respective divisions for years and established themselves as two major stars of the sport.

Today, the likes of Alex Pereira continue on the proud legacy that the nation boasts inside the Octagon. Below is a look at the 10 best UFC fighters ever from Brazil.

Ranking factors include:

• Championships won
• Dominance of a division
• UFC records held
• Level of opposition faced

10

Junior dos Santos

MMA record: 23-10

Junior dos Santos only held the UFC heavyweight title once and only managed to make one successful defence of the crown. However, his championship victory over Cain Velasquez in November 2011 was such an historic moment for the UFC that he earns a spot on this list.

The first of what would become three meetings between Dos Santos and Velasquez aired on Fox, becoming the first UFC fight to be broadcast on a major US network. ‘Cigano’ took full advantage of the opportunity, too. He knocked Velasquez out in front of a peak audience of 8.8 million fans, making it the most watched fight in company history.

9

Charles Oliveira

MMA record: 35-11 (1 NC)

Charles Oliveira is one of the few fighters on this list who are still active in the UFC. ‘Do Bronx’ has competed in both the featherweight and lightweight divisions, but it’s at 155 that he truly started to make a name for himself as a legitimate title contender. Oliveira is a fan-favourite fighter and is always entertaining to watch. He currently has the most submission victories in UFC history, and he is the record holder of the most post-fight bonuses in the promotion’s history.

At UFC 262, Oliveira won his first UFC title when he finished Michael Chandler in the second round via TKO to win the vacant UFC lightweight title. ‘Do Bronx’ only went on to defend the title once, that being successfully against Dustin Poirier. That is because, in his UFC 274 bout against Justin Gaethje, Oliveira missed weight and, therefore, was forced to vacate his title.

Oliveira has had two attempts at regaining his former championship and has been stopped by his opponents on both occasions. He lost via submission to Islam Makhachev at UFC 280, before being knocked out by Ilia Topuria at UFC 317. His overall body of work, though, means he earns a spot on this list.

8

Fabricio Werdum

MMA record: 24-9-1 (1 NC)

Fabricio Werdum is one of the greatest heavyweights of all time and has been successful in multiple different promotions, such as UFC, Strikeforce and PRIDE. Werdum’s success in MMA is remarkable considering he weighs in at the lighter side of the heavyweight limit at around 240lbs. He would often be fighting people who would have an over 20lb weight advantage over him, but luckily for ‘Vai Cavalo’ his toughness and world-class jiu-jitsu skills made up for the weight discrepancy which he would often be at.

Werdum had two stints in the UFC in his career, one spanning from 2007 through 2008 where he had two wins and two losses, and the other stint, which spanned from 2012 to 2020. His second UFC run was a lot more successful than his first. The jiu-jitsu expert made the move back to the organisation in 2012, coming in from Strikeforce and went on a four-fight win streak which got him a shot at the interim UFC heavyweight title against Mark Hunt. Werdum defeated Hunt via second-round TKO to set up a huge unification fight against Cain Velasquez. Werdum upset Velasquez by submitting him in the third round with a guillotine to become the new undisputed UFC heavyweight champion. Despite the Brazilian going on a tear on his return to the company, he did not go on to successfully defend his title, as in his next fight he lost the belt to Stipe Miocic, where he got knocked out in the first round.

Despite Werdum having a UFC title to his name, arguably the biggest win of his career did not come in the UFC, it came with Strikeforce. In 2010, he faced off against heavyweight phenom Fedor Emelianenko and ended the Russian’s 20-year unbeaten run in one of the biggest upsets in heavyweight MMA history.

7

Lyoto Machida

MMA record: 26-12

Lyoto Machida is another Brazilian great whom the UFC has had. Machida is a former UFC light heavyweight champion and middleweight title contender and, despite having 12 career losses to his name, he has one of the deepest and most impressive resumes the sport has ever seen. Machida has wins over fighters such as B.J. Penn, Tito Ortiz, Rashad Evans, Randy Couture, Dan Henderson and Chael Sonnen. Machida has wins over some of the greatest fighters his weight class has ever seen and is the owner of one of the best knockouts in UFC history where he delivered a ‘Karate Kid’-esque front kick to Couture.

Machida was a karate expert and was one of the first fighters in UFC history to successfully implement the style at a high level and use it to win himself a world title.

6

Vitor Belfort

MMA record: 26-14 (1 NC)

Vitor Belfort made his UFC debut at just 19 years old when he won two fights in one night to win the UFC 12 heavyweight tournament. Belfort made a huge name for himself so early on in his career due to his aggressive and pitbull-like fight style where he would steam into the cage and just blitz his opponents with his devastating speed and power.

‘The Phenom’ won the UFC light heavyweight championship at UFC 46 where he defeated the great Randy Couture via doctor stoppage in the first round. Belfort would go on to rematch Couture immediately and lose in the same fashion. This would be the first and only UFC title reign of his career.

He went on to challenge for UFC gold on three separate occasions against fellow Brazilian Anderson Silva, the greatest of all time, Jon Jones, and Chris Weidman in his final title fight at UFC 187 in 2015.

5

Royce Gracie

MMA record: 15-2-3

Despite not being that well known to the more casual fight fans, Royce Gracie, to many, is the most iconic name and figure in MMA history. Gracie was a Brazilian jiu-jitsu master and was really the first man to put jiu-jitsu on the map as a legitimate, effective martial art. Gracie did this by winning three of the first four UFC tournaments and in doing so, defeated fighters who had almost a 100lb weight advantage on him. His fight against Kimo Leopoldo is one of the most iconic fights in UFC history.

Gracie also shares the record for the longest fight in UFC history where he and his great rival Ken Shamrock fought to a time-limit draw for an incredible 36 minutes. The fight was declared a draw due to a lack of judges. Following his incredible success in the UFC, Gracie would make his way over to Japan and fight in promotions such as PRIDE and K-1. The Rio native made a return to the cage for one last time in Bellator in 2016 at the age of 49 against his old rival Shamrock where Gracie would pick up the win via TKO in the first round to end his historic MMA career on a high.

4

Amanda Nunes

MMA record: 28-5

Amanda Nunes is undoubtedly the greatest fighter in women’s MMA history, and she finds herself high up in the list of best Brazilian fighters in UFC history. ‘The Lioness’ was pretty much untouchable when she stepped into the Octagon and the results of her fights were almost a foregone conclusion before she and her opponent even stepped in the cage.

Nunes was a rarity in women’s MMA as she was insanely powerful and had such impressive finishing ability, despite finishes and knockouts being a lot rarer in women’s MMA than they are in men’s MMA.

Nunes successfully defended her bantamweight title on six occasions against the likes of Valentina Shevchenko, Holly Holm and Irene Aldana. ‘The Lioness’ also managed to win the UFC women’s featherweight title where she sensationally knocked out the dominant Cris Cyborg in just 51 seconds in arguably the most anticipated female fight in the company’s history to date. She went on to defend the featherweight title twice before the title was retired due to the lack of depth in the division.

3

Alex Pereira

MMA record: 13-3

Despite at this point only having 12 UFC bouts to his name, Alex Pereira is already among some of the all-time greats in MMA. In just 16 professional fights, ‘Poatan’ has three UFC titles to his name, both in the middleweight division and in the light heavyweight division, where he currently fights.

‘Poatan’ made his return to MMA following a four-year absence in 2020, and just one year later found himself signed to MMA’s biggest promotion. It would only take Pereira three fights to secure his first title shot against his biggest career rival, Israel Adesanya. He would shockingly finish ‘The Last Stylebender’ in the final round of the fight to become the new UFC middleweight champion.

Although he would lose the title back to Adesanya, Pereira would find even greater success after moving up to light heavyweight, where he is now a two-time champion. He originally won the gold by knocking out Jiri Prochazka at UFC 295 to claim the vacant title.

Within a year, Pereira would successfully defend the championship three times. He defeated Jamahal Hill, Prochazka (in a rematch) and Khalil Routree Jr during a busy 2024. Each of those wins came by stoppage.

Pereira’s reputation took a knock when he lost his belt to Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313 by unanimous decision. However, his brutal knockout of Ankalaev in their rematch at UFC 320 to regain his title showed just how dangerous he remains at 38 years old.

2

Jose Aldo

MMA record: 32-10

Jose Aldo occupies the number two spot in these rankings based on his incredible longevity in the sport. Between May 2006 and December 2015, he never tasted defeat, racking up 18 straight wins, including seven straight defences of the UFC featherweight championship. The ‘King of Rio’ was always entertaining too, landing stoppage wins over names such as Chad Mendes and ‘The Korean Zombie’ Jung Chan Sung.

While Aldo is likely to always be remembered as the man on the wrong side of a 13-second KO by Conor McGregor, that loss doesn’t define his career. His run at featherweight prior to the defeat was one of the greatest that the UFC has ever seen in any weight class.

1

Anderson Silva

MMA record: 34-11 (1 NC)

Anderson Silva is the greatest Brazilian fighter the UFC has ever seen. His 10 defences of the UFC Middleweight Championship remains a division record. Silva was a must-watch every single time he stepped into the Octagon due to his flashy style and matrix-like movements where he would leave his opponents almost chasing shadows and looking like amateurs.

‘The Spider’ was one of the most effective fighters MMA has ever seen and is still an inspiration for upcoming fighters today. He was never the most powerful fighter with his hands, but the sheer volume of strikes he would throw at his opponents meant damage would add up as the fight went on and that’s where Silva would start integrating some of his impressive kicks and knees.

Silva’s reign as UFC middleweight champion lasted six years and consisted of constant dominance and consisted of highlight reel knockouts over the likes of Vitor Belfort, Forrest Griffin, Stephan Bonnar, Rich Franklin and a Fight of the Year winner against his greatest career rival, Chael Sonnen.