The 10 Best Entrance Songs in the UFC Right Now

Is there anything in MMA more important than the entrance song? I can't think of anything.

Search your feelings. You know this to be true. We can talk all day about wrestling and striking and facial hair, but when it comes down to brass tacks, entrance songs are the true essence of this sport.

At the very least, everyone can agree that the entrance song's role in warming up the crowd and providing some small window into an athlete's personality can make it significant. Entrance songs function a little like day-before weigh-ins: If everything goes according to plan, the main purpose is really just to appetize the faithful for the entree to follow.

And who doesn't love appetizers? No one. People make meals out of appetizers all the time. Who among us can say that appetizers are unimportant? You see how this all comes full circle? 

Come along with me now and let us make a meal out of appetizers. Let us rank the 10 best entrance songs in the UFC right now. For the song to be eligible, an active UFC fighter has to have used the song at least once. It doesn't matter how accomplished said fighter is, but higher-profile fighters are obviously more likely to have well-known entrance songs. Songs are ranked based on their meaning to the fighters as well as, you know, how good the songs are. Originality is a big plus.

In other words, this ranking is entirely objective. Please take your complaints elsewhere.

Honorable Mentions

Anthony Geathers/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images

Josh Barnett

Listed in no particular order:

• George Sullivan, "Survival of the Fittest" by Mobb Deep
• Josh Barnett, "The IVth Crusade" by Bolt Thrower
• Rafael dos Anjos, "O Grito De Um Guerreiro” by MC Sapao
• Ben Rothwell, "Vampire Hunters" from Bram Stoker's Dracula Soundtrack
• Nordine Taleb, "Go Hard or Go Home" by Wiz Khalifa
• Shawn Jordan, "Hurt" by Johnny Cash
• Holly Holm, “The Landlord’s Walk” by Blair Douglas
• Joe Lauzon, "Move" by Thousand Foot Krutch 
• Justin Scoggins, "I Know There's Gonna Be (Good Times)" by Jamie XX

10. Joe Riggs, "Here I Go Again" by Whitesnake

This is more than one of the most powerful and enduring power anthems to emerge from the powerful 1980s. For Joe Riggs, there is a hidden meaning.

Can you decipher it? 

Let me enlighten you. Five months before switching over to this Whitesnake gem at UFC 191, Riggs injured his neck and lost in less than one minute to Ben Saunders. This was about four months after Riggs had to withdraw from a different bout after he accidentally shot himself in the leg. Yeah, that's right.

Not to mention that Riggs has well over 50 pro bouts on his ledger. So when he returned at UFC 191, the message of "Here I Go Again" had special significance. Do you get it? Ah, great.

Riggs won that bout after his opponent was disqualified for an illegal upkick. So, he might as well stick with it, right? He did, but unfortunately the luck didn't carry over. He lost his next one by knockout in just 26 seconds. Don't blame Whitesnake for that, though. Don't you dare blame Whitesnake.

9. Rose Namajunas, "Get It" by Run the Jewels

It's hard not to get amped for anything by Run The Jewels if you're a hip-hop fan, or even if you're not.

El-P and recent talk-show fixture Killer Mike are some of the most creative and skilled professionals in their field, and they're in good form on this track.

Women's strawweight Rose Namajunas walked out to "Get It" before facing golden girl Paige VanZant at UFC Fight Night 80. Namajunas left VanZant in a pool of blood for the most emphatic victory of her career to date.

Was it because she walked out to Run The Jewels? Yes. 

8. Tamdan McCrory, "Thunderhorse" by Dethklok

Thunderhorse!

Welcome back, Tamdan McCrory. The UFC released him in 2009 after a loss, and The Barn Cat—he's also a finalist on the Best Nicknames list—chose to take a year or five away from the sport. 

He returned to the UFC in December amid little fanfare. Good for him, then, that he had his own personal fanfare holstered and at the ready. This famed metal track from Dethklok is a heck of a good way to usher any fighter to the cage, and The Barn Cat has made it his own.

Then he beat Josh Samman by submission. McCrory clearly has "nine lives," if you take my meaning.

7. Mark Hunt, "Feel Me Flow" by Naughty by Nature

If you're sleeping on Naughty by Nature, it's time to wake up. I mean, they're not Kanye or anything like that, but they were one of the more solid (and underrated) acts of the 1990s.

"Feel Me Flow" is my pick for their best (and most underrated) single. A perfect pairing with Mark Hunt, who used this at UFC 193 before destroying Antonio Silva in the first round. Both are sometimes overlooked, but both can really hit you hard.

6. Ronda Rousey, "Bad Reputation" by Joan Jett

Ronda Rousey's signature walkout theme loses some points in this go-around because, as you may have heard, she recently lost. That has nothing to do with the song itself, but it does make it a little less intimidating or defiant or whatever, which is the entire point of the thing.

Bold prediction: She walks out to something different next time. Something about winning back a lost love or being angry about losing. Rousey seems like the kind of person who pays attention to such things.

5. Jeremy Stephens, "Work" by Gang Starr

I don't care what anybody has to say. Gang Starr's Moment of Truth is one of the best records in hip-hop history. 

"Work" is one of its better tracks and that's why it's here. If forced to guess, it's likely Jeremy Stephens found something he could relate to in the repeated line: "I put in work, and watch my status escalate." 

So there is meaning for the song, but mainly it's here because it's an incredible track from two masters.

4. Nathan Coy, "Waiting Room" by Fugazi

Speaking of great tracks.

A significant portion of MMA's social media community sat bolt upright when they heard the familiar bass line of "Waiting Room." It enlivened an otherwise unremarkable undercard matchup between Nathan Coy and Jonavin Webb at UFC Fight Night 83 in February.

Obviously, Coy went on to upset Webb by unanimous decision, because of course he did. That's the power of Fugazi. They're a fairly obscure band, but to people of a certain age or certain musical tendencies, the Washington, D.C. punk band is an essential institution.

Not to get all music professor on you, but they were a major influence on what would in the 1990s become generically known as alternative rock. More importantly for this discussion, though, is the fact that "Waiting Room" is just insanely sharp shout-along rock. If this doesn't make you want to kick a hole in some drywall, I can't help you. 

Good on Coy for bringing this one out for his entrance and for getting the W. That means, hopefully, we'll all get at least one more turn in the waiting room.

3. Robbie Lawler, "Hold on (I'm Comin)" by Sam and Dave

We had Matt Hughes and "A Country Boy Can Survive." We had Brock Lesnar's "Enter Sandman." We had Anderson Silva's "Ain't No Sunshine."

Now, perhaps the best signature walkout song of the moment is this one from welterweight champ Robbie Lawler.

One could generally define a "signature" walkout song as one consistently used by a top figure in the sport. Someone who gets their walkout televised every time. A signature walkout song is one way to "brand" that screen time and yourself, and Lawler has done it with this Motown classic (even if you get the feeling someone probably, erm, assisted him with its selection).

It's catchy, it's celebratory and, because of Lawler's fearsome power and toughness, it's a little menacing. What else do you want in a walkout song?

2. Conor McGregor, "The Foggy Dew" by Sinead O'Connor and the Chieftains

OK, this one is a bit of an outlier. 

Yes, Conor McGregor an advantage because he had the highly unusual opportunity to bring in a musician (in this case fellow Irish icon Sinead O'Connor) to sing him out in person. So, it loses just the smallest of points because this is ultimately an apples-to-oranges proposition.

At the same time, I mean, watch this video. The whole audience had the chills while simultaneously being amped out of their freaking minds. When then-challenger McGregor made his way to the cage below this song and those green lights for the main event of UFC 189, it was a defining moment in a career already full of them.

After McGregor reached the cage, then came Chad Mendes, who, in the interest of "equal time" or whatever, also had an opportunity to have a live performance of his walkout song. His choice? Some interminable country-rock dirge that magically turned the crowd into a huge bag of turnips. Charisma!

You almost knew who was winning at that point. McGregor scored the knockout. A star was born, and this entrance and song were not unhelpful in that endeavor.

1. Tim Kennedy, "Rooster" by Alice in Chains

In this guy's humble opinion, a slow entrance song, if done right, can be far more intimidating and galvanizing than your average nu-metal chat pile. You don't need house beats and strobe lights to get your pulse racing.

Among active UFC fighters, this is the best example of that, and it's the best overall walkout song. Do yourself a favor and check out Dirt, the album that spawned "Rooster" and that remains one of the top major-label rock albums of the 1990s.

Tim Kennedy, the frequent user of said song, clearly has an affinity for the story in the song. Kennedy was an Army sniper and a multi-time war veteran, and "Rooster" is a narrative about the Vietnam War—a tribute to song writer Jerry Cantrell's father, who served there. Kennedy is also fairly outspoken about his opinions and such, and he probably saw this as another opportunity to express himself.

Good for him. He chose a classic song that works well as an energizing walkout and as an extension of his personality. Those are the ingredients. We have a winner.

Scott Harris writes about entrance songs and sometimes other things for Bleacher Report. For more about entrance songs and sometimes other things, follow Scott on Twitter.