The Most Feared Striker in Each UFC Division

Every division in MMA has someone who is known primarily as a striker.

Some divisions have a lot of strikers, whereas others are thin with the guys who like to throw leather.

Then, there are some guys that you simply do not want to stand and strike with. The variety and the power behind the shots that these guys can throw is enough to make any fighter tentative.

Let's check out the most feared striker in each UFC weight class.

 

Tim McTiernan is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. For the latest news on everything MMA, follow me on twitter @TimMcTiernan.

Bantamweight: Kid Yamamoto

Kid Yamamoto may not have the most impressive resume lately—1-4 in his last five fights—but he is still the most feared striker in the bantamweight division.

Yamamoto is 18-5 [1 NC] in his career and he has 13 of those wins coming by some form of TKO, including a four-second flying knee knockout.

Do you want to stand across the Octagon from him?

Me neither.

Featherweight: Jose Aldo

Photo via UFC.com

If it wasn't for his win at UFC 142, the most feared striker in the featherweight division may have been someone else.

However, with his first-round knockout over Chad Mendes, Jose Aldo has proven that he is the most feared striker in the featherweight division.

Aldo is 21-1 in his career, with 13 wins by TKO and one by submission to soccer kicks.

Lightweight: Melvin Guillard

Another fighter who hasn't had the best luck inside the cage lately is Melvin Guillard.

Guillard has dropped two fights in a row for only the third time in his career as he was submitted by Jim Miller at UFC on Fox 1. Prior to that, he was submitted by Joe Lauzon.

Before those two losses, he was on a five win streak, with three wins by TKO.

Overall, Guillard is 29-10, with 19 wins by TKO.

Welterweight: Thiago Alves

This one was really up in the air.

There are several fighters in the division who could have staked the claim to "most feared striker," but none can intimidate fighters with the variety of strikes that Alves has.

Alves throws heavy leather, vicious leg kicks and in general he has some of the most brutal Muay Thai in the sport.

Alves is 19-8, and he has 11 wins by TKO, and one submission due to punches.

Middleweight: Anderson Silva

This should be no surprise.

31 wins. 18 TKOs. Three submissions to strikes.

Knockouts over Carlos Newton, Vitor Belfort, Rich Franklin (2x), Chris Leben, Forrest Griffin, Jorge Rivera, Nate Marquardt and Yushin Okami make Silva the most feared middleweight striker.

Light Heavyweight: Jon Jones

Another one that shouldn't be a surprise, as Jon Jones throws some of the wildest and most creative strikes ever seen in the UFC.

Jones is 15-1 in his career, and has eight wins by TKO, a loss that should have been a TKO victory and a submission that was directly set up by strikes.

Jones is scary no matter where the fight goes with him.

Heavyweight: Junior Dos Santos

Junior dos Santos is the heavyweight champion in the UFC, and is the baddest dude on the planet.

dos Santos is 14-1 in his career, with 10 wins by TKO, two more where he almost had the TKO victory and a submission to a punch.

Having just knocked out Cain Velasquez in 64 seconds, it is definitely Junior dos Santos who is the most feared striker in the heavyweight division.