Ranking the Most Devastating Punchers in the UFC Right Now

What makes a puncher devastating? Stats—specifically KOs, TKOs and taps from strikes as a result of punches—are an easy and important starting point. But it certainly doesn't end there.

If those stoppages are of the one-punch variety, so much the better. If they provide the "wow" factor, which we all know when we see, that's even better. And if the fighter can consistently do it at the highest levels against top opponents, well, that's even better.

So here are the 10 punchers on the UFC roster who are, based on a blend of these subjective and objective metrics, most devastating. Remember, this is devastating punches, not total strikes (sorry, Alistair and Anderson).

Heavy emphasis given to punching power today, not historically (apologies, Shane and Wandy). The rankings are adjusted to an extent for weight class, though the heavier weight classes did receive heavier consideration. That's just the way punching works. 

For the sake of convenience, I'll refer to KOs, TKOs, technical stoppages resulting from punches and submissions from strikes as striking-related stoppages, or SRS for short.

10. Michael McDonald

Record: 15-1 
SRS total for punches: Nine (60 percent of all wins)
One-punch knockouts: One

These rankings are adjusted somewhat for weight class. But they're not adjusted that much. 

Still, Michael McDonald makes the list as the hardest hitter in the bantamweight division. In fact, he gets my vote as the most devastating puncher in any of the four lightest weight classes. 

9. Vitor Belfort

Record: 21-10 
SRS total for punches: 13 (62 percent of all wins)
One-punch knockouts: One

Vitor Belfort might very well be higher on a list of best MMA boxers or fastest hands. But he does have outstanding knockout power, and those fists deserve a place alongside the rest of the sport's most devastating.

8. Chris Leben

Record: 22-8 
SRS total for punches: 12 (55 percent of all wins)
One-punch knockouts: Five

Chris Leben edges Belfort among middleweights by virtue of an incredible five one-punch career knockouts. That means almost a quarter of his professional fights ended in the flash of a single fist.

7. Glover Teixeira

Record: 19-2 
SRS total for punches: 13 (68 percent of all wins)
One-punch knockouts: One

Slight digression: I also considered (but ultimately excluded) Jimi Manuwa in the light heavyweight division. Manuwa's numbers pack their own stopping power (10 of 12 pro wins via SRS, or 83 percent of all his wins), but to date those wins have come over relatively substandard competition.

Make no mistake, though: if Manuwa keeps doing in the UFC what he did to Kyle Kingsbury in his Octagon debut, he'll appear on this list in no time.

Anyway, Glover Teixeira's here instead. He doesn't have much more UFC pedigree than Manuwa (2-0 with one TKO from punches), but his pre-Octagon bouts came against better fighters. He would also probably have crazier stats if his ground game was less dangerous (not a deterrent Manuwa has to worry as much about).

6. Mark Hunt

Record: 8-7
SRS total for punches: Four (50 percent of wins)
One-punch knockouts: Two

Not the gaudiest stats in the world, until you note that 25 percent of Mark Hunt's wins came by one-punch knockout. He also gets extra points because of his track record as a kick boxer. Hunt is also one of only two men to knock out Cheick Kongo.

If the 38-year-old Hunt can't get back in the cage soon, however, he could be poised for a tumble. Luckily for Hunt, then, and for all of us, he's now set to face Stefan Struve in March.

5. Johny Hendricks

Record: 14-1 
SRS total for punches: Eight (57 percent of all wins)
One-punch knockouts: Two 

Johny Hendricks gets the nod among welterweights despite Jake Ellenberger's superior numbers (19 SRS wins by punches for 68 percent of all wins, plus three one-punch knockouts).

Why? Hendricks has done his best work against stiffer competition, including handing Martin Kampmann his first KO loss and stopping Jon Fitch with strikes for only the second time in Fitch's career.

All in all, there may not be a devastating puncher in the UFC with a hotter streak of active devastation than Hendricks. 

4. Roy Nelson

Record: 18-7
SRS total for punches: 11 (61 percent of all wins)
One-punch knockouts: Three

Except for maybe this guy.

Time to give the man his due. That's a bunker buster on the end of his right arm there.

Roy Nelson may not have the dynamism or athleticism to hang with the Junior dos Santoses of the world. But a rhinoceros goes down like a bag of mud if it eats a flush Roy Nelson right.

And apparently, he's only becoming more dangerous on this front.

3. Dan Henderson

Record: 29-8 
SRS total for punches: 12 (41 percent of all wins)
One-punch knockouts: Six

Gotta respect the H Bomb.

Six one-punch knockouts? That's crazy. And he's done it against the best of the best in the UFC, Pride and elsewhere. 

Maybe if he was less well-rounded, we'd have even more H Bombs over which to reminisce. Thanks a lot, Olympic wrestling.

2. Lavar Johnson

Record: 17-6
SRS total for punches: 16 (94 percent of all wins)
One-punch knockouts: Three

As previously discussed with Manuwa and others, Lavar Johnson didn't pad his record against the creme de la creme.

But those other guys didn't have 94 percent of their wins by way of fist attacks, either. 

No question about it: Johnson and those uppercuts of his are pure devastation. And this should only get scarier as he continues to bring his all-around game up to UFC levels. 

1. Junior Dos Santos

Record: 15-1 
SRS total for punches: 10 (67 percent of all wins)
One-punch knockouts: Zero

Johnson has more impressive raw data, but right now no one out there is devastating better opponents so frequently or to such purely devastating effect.

Cain Velasquez is incredibly powerful (underratedly so in my opinion, despite what the discussion boarders say), but at this point he doesn't quite have JDS' consistently proven track record of carnage. Alistair Overeem is devastating, but the same notion applies, plus he's more devastating with his legs and feet than his fists.

No, on this front the baddest man on the planet is Junior dos Santos. I've seen the light. He's the UFC's most devastating puncher until further notice.