Mackenzie Dern and the Top Brazilian Fighters in the UFC Right Now
Plenty of hardcore fans long for the good old days. The days when Japan’s revered Pride promotion ruled the MMA landscape. And that landscape was heavily dotted by big names from the sport’s birthplace: Brazil.
The names were so big, in fact, that several fighters needed only monikers. Shogun. The Axe Murderer. Minotauro. The Phenom.
Then a new generation ascended. Anderson Silva is on everyone’s MMA Mount Rushmore. José Aldo is the best featherweight ever. Lyoto Machida, Renan Barao, Junior Dos Santos and Fabricio Werdum are former champions. But all these guys are either retired or teetering on the edge.
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In recent years, observers have raised concerns about changes in Brazil’s once-unquenchable fight culture. Jiu-jitsu—many a Brazilian fighter’s bread and butter—was starting to look outdated as the sport evolved beyond the ground specialist. The icons were marching into the sunset, but no new heroes were riding into town to take their place.
But hold the phone. As we sit, Brazilian competitors are on the comeback trail. The UFC roster may no longer be saturated with Brazilian names, but they’re certainly holding some enviable positions with the company and in the rankings.
Here are the top five Brazilian fighters in the UFC. They are ranked based on record, skills, level of competition and overall accomplishments, especially on the bigger stages.
Honorable Mentions
- Featherweight: Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (he’s in Bellator but he’s still amazing, and hey, this is my list)
- Flyweight: Alexandre Pantoja
- Middleweight: Alex Pereira
- Middleweight: Paulo Costa
- Women’s strawweight: Jessica Andrade
- Women’s flyweight: Taila Santos
5. Mackenzie Dern
Weight class: Women’s strawweight
Record: 12-2
Remember what I said about the extinction of the ground specialist? Well, forget about that. All you have to do is get good enough to win eight world titles and suddenly you can get away with it!
That’s exactly what Dern has done. It certainly isn’t her stand-up game that landed her as a -230 favorite per DraftKings for this Saturday, when she'll face a reasonably well-regarded opponent in Xiaonan Yan in the main event of UFC Fight Night 211, which will go down from an oddly, even intriguingly, empty UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Although her striking has made modest strides, her opponent is in deep trouble if Dern can get it to the mat. She’s simply overwhelming.
Coming off a solid win over Tecia Torres, Dern is heading into her second main event. She’s got a ton of skill and a clear will to win. At age 29, she’s still coming on, and after Saturday, the train will be rolling that much faster.
4. Glover Teixeira
Weight class: Light heavyweight
Record: 33-8
Teixeira’s not exactly a fresh face on the scene, not only clocking in at 42 years old but also holding the record for the oldest fighter to become a first-time UFC champion when he surprised Jan Błachowicz in 2021.
Sure, Teixeira may have lost the belt in his first defense, but not before waging a surefire Fight of the Year finalist with Jiří Procházka in June.
His game is pretty meat-and-potatoes—heavy on uppercuts and unabashed power-grappling. But the former champ is beloved by the MMA community and deserves to stay on this list, at least until one of the younger competitors knocks him off.
3. Deiveson Figueiredo
Weight class: Men’s flyweight (current champion)
Record: 21-2-1
Figueiredo is making the flyweight division fun. His rivalry with the uber-bubbly Brandon Moreno has generated new interest in the UFC’s smallest men’s division.
In fact, he may be the third-best flyweight ever, behind Demetrious Johnson and Henry Cejudo. After a 3-0-1 2020 that saw him win and defend the title, he was named 2020 Fighter of the Year on many media ballots.
While fight-ending power is rare at 125 pounds, Figueiredo can put your lights out. He has nine knockout wins and dumped Moreno on the floor three times in their last engagement.
His eight submission wins speak to his well-roundedness and his fierce nose for the finish no matter the phase of the contest. He also has the cardio to maintain his aggression into the later rounds.
Every fighter uses the cliché: I’m dangerous wherever the fight goes. With Figgy, it happens to be true.
2. Amanda Nunes
Weight class: Women’s bantamweight and featherweight
Record: 22-5
A year ago, this wouldn't have been a contest. Nunes would've taken the top spot, and that’s all there is to it. But for now, that stunning loss to Julianna Pena—in which the champ appeared to gas early and kind of not want to be there—set her legacy back a ways, even though she avenged it convincingly in the rematch in July.
Nunes has rare MMA gifts: striking, grappling, clinch work, cracking power, prodigious strength and an inborn will to beat the hell out of the other person. She even grins while she does it! Not in an evil way, but more delighted, like a kid blowing bubbles in the backyard.
It’s entirely possible Nunes will reclaim her top spot on this list—and her status as the women’s MMA GOAT—with a win or two. But for now, she’ll have to settle for silver. With the understanding that we’re splitting hairs here, that loss is still too fresh.
1. Charles Oliveira
Weight class: Lightweight
Record: 33-8 (1)
From a pre-fight drama standpoint, UFC 274 ranks among the wildest fight weeks in memory. Oliveira, the lightweight champ, was stripped of his title after he missed weight by half a pound. He took out his frustration on a tough customer in Justin Gaethje, taking an emphatic first-round submission win.
The belt still sits vacant, but don’t let that fool you. Charlie Olives is the uncrowned champ at 155 pounds.
The record books demonstrate the greatness of a guy who was written off early as a talented-but-mercurial competitor. He’s certainly come on, and at age 32 he holds UFC records for most submission wins (16) and overall finishes (19) and is tied with Donald Cerrone for post-fight bonuses received (18).
He’s simultaneously buttery smooth and razor sharp in all phases of the game. He rallied from an early knockdown to take a rugged submission win over a hard-nosed and harder-hitting competitor in Gaethje. If your eyes weren’t open to Oliveira before then, they certainly were after that.
On October 22 at UFC 280, Oliveira may get the stiffest test of his career when he faces Dagestani Russian phenom Islam Makhachev, who sits at 22-1 as a pro and hasn’t lost in seven years. If Oliveira can impose his will on Makhachev, his star will jump even another level on the Brazilian—and the sport’s—landscape.
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