The 11 Best Fighters of Mexican Heritage in MMA History
Whether it was Julio Cesar Chavez's dominance through the 1980s and early '90s, Oscar De La Hoya's days as the Golden Boy in the 1990s and early 2000s or Saul "Canelo" Alvarez's ongoing rise to supremacy, Mexico has always boasted its fair share of impressive boxers.
"I keep saying this, but it's true: the baddest dudes in the world, throughout the history of the world, have come from Mexico and Latin America," UFC President Dana White told the media in Mexico City in August. "Your Salvador Sanchezes, your Julio Cesar Chavezes, and the list goes on and on. In the MMA world, all of those guys exist in [Mexico] right now, and you're going to see them popping up over the next six years. You're going to see Mexico start to dominate, like it did in boxing."
Mexico hasn't boasted the same sort of royalty in MMA compared to boxing—that's Brazil. Still, it's done a solid job of birthing some of the better fighters the sport has ever seen.
Here's a list of the top 10 fighters of Mexican heritage in MMA history.
Diego Sanchez
1 of 11
Coming into his own after the inaugural season of the reality show, Diego Sanchez stepped into the UFC's Octagon as The Ultimate Fighter—and he was home.
Sanchez has been one of the most intimidating and dominating lightweights in the UFC. He notched four straight victories before a losing effort against the greatest lightweight fighter of all time in Sanchez's first and only UFC title fight against BJ Penn.
Though a mere 32 years old, we can all assume that Sanchez's best days are behind him. But he has given us some of the most memorable barnburners we could ever ask for.
Nate Diaz
2 of 11
Another product of the UFC's famed reality series, Nate Diaz punched his ticket to the big show by becoming The Ultimate Fighter 5 winner.
He's had a bit of an up-and-down career since joining the big leagues back in 2007, but between his above-average MMA boxing and his antagonizing antics mid-brawl, the younger Diaz brother has always been one to watch out for.
Josh Thomson
3 of 11
He may have not had the luxury of making his way to the UFC by way of The Ultimate Fighter. He didn't even have the luxury of spending the prime of his career inside the Octagon. Josh Thomson called the Strikeforce cage home for a majority of his best performances before making his return to the UFC in 2013.
After back-to-back close split-decision losses, Thomson has hinted at the idea of leaving fighting behind. Here's to hoping he sees his hand raised soon so he can remember why he started doing this in the first place and keep us entertained for at least a few more years.
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Nick Diaz
4 of 11
Oh, right. The elder, less understood, arguably more entertaining but certainly more accomplished of the Diaz brothers.
Nick Diaz is neither the most well-spoken nor the most spectacular fighter on the UFC roster—but there's just something about him that forces us to tune in when he steps into the cage. Maybe fans want to see him get crushed by the opponents he's talked down to. Maybe they want to see him overcome the odds by defeating the Georges St-Pierres and Anderson Silvas of the MMA world.
One thing is certain: He fights, and you watch.
Carlos Condit
5 of 11
In many ways, Carlos Condit was the star of the WEC (of the heavier weight classes, at least). Having joined the UFC ranks in 2007, Condit employed his dominance with four submissions and one TKO in five straight victories.
He would rack up five more victories after dropping a split decision to Martin Kampmann in his UFC debut. Condit sent Dan Hardy, Rory MacDonald and Dong Hyun Kim home with KO losses before earning a shot for the UFC welterweight interim title against Nick Diaz.
The close victory put Condit into a title unification bout against incumbent champion Georges St-Pierre, who was making his return from surgery to repair a torn ACL. As fate would have it, Condit, though coming awfully close, was not destined to dethrone the king.
Anthony Pettis
6 of 11
Anthony Pettis joined Frankie Edgar and the high volume of the UFC's lightweights with a giant target on his back—he was the final WEC champion and came to prove that his former promotion played host to the best 155ers on the planet.
It may not have panned out immediately for Pettis, but he has finally reached the top of the mountain, as he counts down toward his first title defense as the undisputed best lightweight on the planet.
Gilbert Melendez
7 of 11
Once the UFC adopted most of the WEC lightweight fighters in 2011, Gilbert Melendez immediately became the undisputed best lightweight in the world who was not fighting inside the Octagon.
Come Dec. 6, he'll have his second try at proving that he's the best in the world—no matter the shape of the cage—against Anthony Pettis.
Frank Shamrock
8 of 11
Many likely wanted to deny him any more time in the cage after he'd seemingly overstayed his welcome, but you'd be hard-pressed to deny Frank Shamrock a spot on this list. He was, after all, the UFC's first-ever light heavyweight champion.
A pioneer of the sport we've all come to know and adore, Shamrock's days inside the cage are long behind him, but his days among MMA royalty will forever be with him.
Dominick Cruz
9 of 11
Though he's not currently the UFC bantamweight champion, Dominick Cruz is the most dominant bantamweight on the planet. Say what you want about T.J. Dillashaw, but he has nothing on Cruz's resume as a whole.
Cruz walks out of 2014 as the division's No. 1 contender. Not bad for a guy who just had a three-year absence from the Octagon during the prime of his career, right?
Tito Ortiz
10 of 11
Say what you want about the sort of fighter he's become in challenging undersized middleweights and The Ultimate Fighter runner-ups with Bellator MMA, but Tito Ortiz really was a big deal to Dana White and the UFC at one point in time.
It's probably best we remember him as the guy who dropped nasty elbows onto Ken Shamrock years after his five straight title defenses as the UFC's light heavyweight champion. Hopefully, White can forgive Ortiz for his antics with the rival promotion and bring him back into good graces, so we can start seeing his face hanging around with Chuck Liddell, Forrest Griffin, Matt Hughes and Kenny Florian as the beloved former faces of the UFC.
Cain Velasquez
11 of 11
I mean, did you really expect to not see this guy on this list? Few of the other guys—outside of Tito Ortiz and his half-Mexican, half-American walkout flag—show any sense of Mexican pride; Cain Velasquez literally bears it on his chest. His Spanish may not be as impressive as his cardio, but does anybody really care about the former as long as the latter stays intact?
If not for an unfortunate injury, the people of Mexico City would have finally been face-to-face with the undisputed king we met a few years back—the guy who dominated the seemingly unbeatable Brock Lesnar and wrecked Junior dos Santos for the heavyweight crown (twice, mind you).
Kristian Ibarra is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report. He also serves as the sports editor at San Diego State University's student-run newspaper, The Daily Aztec. Follow him on Twitter at @Kristian_Ibarra for all things MMA.
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