Anderson Silva and the Most Exciting Fighter to Watch in Each UFC Weight Class

Fans tune in to see great fights.

It seems like an obvious statement, but sometimes it gets lost when guys like Chael Sonnen and Nick Diaz cause drama in the media with their actions and words outside of the Octagon.

It’s not that we don’t enjoy what they do, but as Dana White once said

“People aren’t paying $50 to listen to Chael Sonnen talk for 25 minutes.”

While some guys have put on lackluster fights and still gotten a ton of PPV buys, for the most part, fans tune in to be entertained, and most of them have certain fighters they feel that they can turn to when they want to see an awesome fight.

Some of these guys dominate their opponents and leave fans staring in awe at how good they are, while others go out there and get into war after war with no regard to their own safety, possibly amazing fans even more.

Every division has a few guys that fans will make sure they watch no matter what, and I’ve tried to single out the best of those fighters here.

One quick note: I wanted to avoid putting a bunch of champions and well-known fighters on here, so if it was close, I deferred to the lesser-known fighter.

Heavyweight: Stefan Struve

The tallest fighter in the UFC is also one of the most fun to watch.

Struve drags his opponent into a war no matter who he is facing, and only one of his UFC fights have gone to decision.

Struve enters the Octagon with a kill-or-be-killed mentality and it shows, as his 6-3 record is reflective of his status in the division.

He’s good enough to beat the mid-level guys, but if he gets a step up, he always seems to get knocked out.

Regardless, he puts on a great show for the fans every time he steps foot in the cage.

Light Heayweight: Forrest Griffin

Jon Jones almost stole this spot from Griffin, who has been one of the most exciting fighters to watch from the moment he stepped into the eight-sided ring.

His battle with Stephan Bonner in 2005 gets brought up so many times, it almost seems to overshadow the other great fights that Forrest has been in during his UFC career, but he always puts on a show when he fights, sometimes at his own expense.

His fights with Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans were both extremely entertaining, as were his knockout losses to Anderson Silva, Keith Jardine, and more recently, to Shogun Rua.

Middleweight: Anderson Silva

Anderson Silva has one goal on his mind when he enters the cage, and that is to dominate his opponent.

Watching Silva pick apart his opponents is a thing of beauty, and he has destroyed almost everyone he has gone up against inside the UFC.

His bouts with Forrest Griffin and Vitor Belfort may be his most memorable, but if you watch any Silva fight, they usually have the same result.

Anderson toys with his opponents like they are his prey, and eventually they end up looking at the lights while he dances around the Octagon. 

Welterweight: Nick Diaz

No matter who is across the cage from him, Nick Diaz isn’t afraid to stand toe to toe with him.

(Insert your favorite “Don’t be scared, homie,” joke here)

Diaz is supposed to be a Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert, but he has a fondness for making fights into wars, as evidenced by his fights with Robbie Lawlor, Takanori Gomi and Paul Daley.

Fans are already getting pumped up for Diaz’s next fight against BJ Penn in a little over a week, and for good reason, since Diaz never disappoints. 

Lightweight: Joe Lauzon

This is a little bit of a dark-horse pick, but Lauzon definitely deserves this spot.

The stats back this one up, as Lauzon is behind only Chris Lytle as far as the UFC’s end-of-the-night bonuses are concerned, earning a bonus check in 9 of his 11 UFC bouts.

While guys like Frankie Edgar and Ben Henderson are certainly fun to watch, Lauzon has established himself as must-see TV, and as long as he keeps collecting bonus checks, fans will keep getting excited to watch him fight.

Featherweight: Pablo Garza

This was actually one of the hardest divisions to pick a winner in since champion Jose Aldo is incredibly fun to watch, and fan favorite Leonard Garcia seems to get Fight of the Night awards every time he goes near a cage, but Pablo Garza has delivered in both of his UFC fights.

His first fight against Fredson Paixio was an entertaining fight while it lasted, but Garza’s crushing flying knee KO came just 51 seconds into the fight.

His encore performance came at UFC 129, where he went to war with Yves Jabouin for (gasp) almost an entire round before he pulled of a sick flying triangle choke.

When you finish fights like that, fans are sure to come in droves. 

Bantamweight: Urijah Faber

It’s is literally almost impossible to go wrong in the bantamweight division, since every single guy comes to put on a show and there is hardly ever a boring fight.

That said, there aren’t a lot of finishers in the division, either, which makes it even tougher to pick.

I went with Faber here, mostly because I’ve yet to hear from someone that they don’t enjoy watching Faber fight and because he has shown that he can take a tremendous amount of punishment and keep on coming.

His second fight with Mike Brown where he broke both of his hands and threw elbows for three rounds is legendary, and the amount of leg kicks he took from Jose Aldo was disgusting, but he kept plowing forward.