Anderson Silva's Front Kick Video and the Top 20 Signature Moves in MMA History

The Anderson Silva front kick video from UFC 126 has been stirring up quite a bit of conversation throughout the MMA community.

While some question whether Silva actually learned the kick from actor Steven Seagal, others simply marvel at the prevision and devastation when he delivered it to Vitor Belfort’s chin.

But this wasn’t the first time that we’ve marveled at a move that becomes somewhat of a fighter’s signature or patented move.

MMA is perhaps the most “play it as you go” sport there is, in that a fighter's game plan may completely change by the end of the fight. Still, there are quite a few times when we see a fighter utilize some of the same holds or strikes that have worked for them in the past.

In this list of the top 20 signature moves in MMA history, we’ll take a look back at some of the most unique, effective and devastating moves that we remember from our favorite fighters.

20. Shinya Aoki: Gogoplata

The first move on this list is from Japanese fighter Shinya Aoki, who has made a career of submitting his opponents in impressive, unique holds.

Perhaps his best work, though, came in the form of this mounted gogoplata he applied on Katsuhiko Nagata at Dream 4.

It is rare to see this hold used to finish fighters but it is particularly odd to see it applied from mount. Aoki did it, and made countless highlight reels in the process.

19. Lyoto Machida: Foot Sweeps

Lyoto Machida is well-known as one of the light heavyweight division’s quickest, smartest and most difficult-to-hit competitors. A lot of that comes from his ability to throw his opponents off of their game by utilizing a unique set of simple but very effective strikes and trips.

A great example is his tendency to sweep his opponents’ feet out from under them from a standing position. This technique has been very frustrating for his opponents in the past and gives him the opportunity to bring the fight to the ground as well as setup big strikes for later in the fight.

Machida is no longer the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, but he's still very difficult to defend against.

18. Pat Barry: Leg Kicks

Although this video took place in a K-1 fight, it is a good display of the kind of damage that this former K-1 kickboxer takes to his MMA fights.

While the fight doesn’t last long, you have to assume that Gary Goodridge’s left leg was in some serious pain the next day.

MMA analysts often talk about how the leg kick is one of the most underutilized weapons in the sport—but not when they talk about Pat Barry. This is a guy who has won numerous fights by referee stoppage due to his vicious leg kicks that opponents fail to defend.

17. Masakazu Imanari: Heel Hook

This is just one of the various transitions that Imanari had into submission maneuvers, but it may be the most memorable.

In this contest, Imanari faced DEEP Bantamweight champion Hiroshi Umemura who had been on an eight-fight win streak. In just 29 seconds, Imanari got a hold of his opponent’s leg and dragged him to the ground where he applied a picture perfect heel hook.

Imanari has won six career fights via heel hook.

16. Ryo Chonan: Flying Heel Hook

Yes, that was Anderson Silva.

And yes, that was amazing.

In this fight, Ryo Chonin submitted Anderson Silva in the third round at PRIDE Shockwave 2004. The unbelievable submission marked just the third loss of Silva’s career. It is also the last loss he has suffered (aside from losing to Yushin Okami by disqualification in 2006).

Surprisingly, when you think about who it was applied to, this is one of only two fights that Chonan has ever won by submission in his MMA career.

15. Brad Imes: “GogoBRADa” Gogoplata

Shinya Aoki made the list before this with his gogoplata.

But even he has to be impressed with Brad Imes when he submitted veteran fighter Bo Cantrell in Oct. 2007 with a gogoplata of his own.

Fans began to nickname the maneuver the “GogoBRADa” after this fight because Imes had actually finished his previous opponent with the gogoplata as well.

This already difficult submission is even more difficult when it is done by a heavyweight fighter. Amazing stuff.

14. Jon Jones: Spinning Back Elbow

Jon “Bones” Jones will get a shot at the UFC’s light heavyweight championship after defeating fellow young contender Ryan Bader at UFC 126.

Though Jones impressed with that victory, it might not be his most memorable.

Many fans will always remember this punishing spinning back elbow he delivered on Stephan Bonnar in just his second UFC fight.

After executing a nice suplex, Jones grabbed Bonnar’s leg as the two men scrambled to their feet. As Bonnar struggled to escape, Jones absolutely hammered him with the spinning back elbow, sending him face-first to the canvas.

Bonnar survived the shot and made it to the finish but it was Jones who had his hand raised in a decision, exposing his impressive striking to UFC fans in the process.

13. Georges St. Pierre: Superman Punch

Georges St. Pierre’s victory in his first fight with B.J. Penn was somewhat controversial in that many fans didn’t believe he inflicted enough damage to win the fight.

There was no controversy in the rematch.

St. Pierre dominated from bell to bell, inflicting more damage than we have ever seen against Penn in his career.

The most memorable strike from the contest came in the form of a Superman punch that St. Pierre delivered right on the money.

St. Pierre has landed this punch in numerous UFC fights and may have been the reason the developers at THQ put the move in the UFC: Undisputed 2009 video game.

12. Cody McKenzie “McKenzetine” Guillotine

Prior to losing to Yves Edwards at UFC Fight For The Troops 2 last month, Cody McKenzie had been on an amazing, historic run.

He was 12-0 in his professional MMA career but even more impressively, he had won 10 fights in a row—all by submission—all with a guillotine!

Though many of these fights took place against less-experienced fighters, the fact that McKenzie was able to win that many in a row with the same move led fans to nickname it the “McKenzitine.”

11. Anthony Pettis: Showtime Kick

Nicknamed “Showtime,” Anthony Pettis made highlight reels and news stories across the nation with a ridiculous springboard head kick that he landed on Ben Henderson at the final WEC event.

It’s rare to see things like this attempted, let alone landed so solidly, and inflict so much damage. Pettis didn’t win the fight with this kick, but it was part of an excellent fight he put together to win the WEC Lightweight title that night.

Pettis is a third degree Tae Kwon Do black belt and claims to have many unique moves like this in his arsenal. It’ll be fun to see him continue to develop as a fighter.

10. Shonie Carter: Spinning Backfist

“Mr. International” has fought in 82 professional MMA fights but maybe none more memorable than when he faced former UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Serra at UFC 31.

With just seconds left on the clock, Carter landed a violent spinning backfist that sent Serra crashing to the ground with a knockout.

In this video, Carter explains how he has been so successful in utilizing this move both in the Serra fight as well as other times throughout his career.

9. Anderson Silva: Knees From Muay Thai Clinch

Anderson Silva is considered by many to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the history of the sport.

His devastating annihilation of former UFC Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin may have been what truly opened up the MMA community’s eyes to this dominating fighter.

Silva’s unbelievable control of Franklin from the clinch was something that many of us will never forget. As Joe Rogan mentions in this video, Silva did so much damage with kicks and knees in their first fight that Franklin actually had to have his face reconstructed.

Franklin didn’t fare much better in the second fight, as he was again knocked out by a violent series of knees.

8. Fedor Emelianenko: Arm Bar

The most dominant heavyweight in the history of the sport, Fedor Emelianenko is remembered by many as a small heavyweight who made a living by submitting men who were significantly larger than him.

During his eight-year undefeated streak, it became almost a joke in the MMA community that Fedor would win his fights “by arm bar.” From 2004 through 2007, Fedor actually finished five fights by submission with the arm bar, most of which were beautifully setup with painful punches that opened up his opponent for the move.

Though the arm bar is a common move in mixed martial arts, few have ever done it better or more effectively than Fedor Emelianenko.

7. Bas Rutten: Liver Shots

A true MMA legend, Bas Rutten is well-known as one of the true bad asses in the history of the sport. Rutten is a former UFC Heavyweight Champion whose 28-4 professional MMA record helped make him one of the biggest pioneers of mixed martial arts.

Many know Rutten for his instructional videos on street fighting and bar fighting where he notoriously told viewers to, “kick the groin” and “stab in the liver.”

But some will actually remember Rutten for the liver shots he delivered to his opponents in Pancrase.

During his time with the company, Rutten finished off three separate opponents by knockout with various punches, kicks and chops to the liver.

“I tried to go really for the liver because that’s the most painful knockout there is,” Rutten says in his voice-over of this fight.

Painful indeed.

6. Anderson Silva Front Kick

The hype was huge going into UFC 126 with the main event of Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort. Many expected Belfort to be the first man to truly push the pace against Silva by using his quick and powerful punch combinations.

That didn’t happen.

After a few minutes of practically no action, Silva delivered what looked like a front kick to the body, but it rose up and popped Belfort right on the chin, essentially knocking him out in the process.

This unbelievable kick is the most recent move on this list but it’s also one of the most unforgettable.

Did he learn it from Steven Seagal? Who knows. But it was awesome either way.

5. Wanderlei Silva: Knees from Muay Thai Clinch

Anderson Silva made this list earlier with his own knees from the clinch but no one ever did it better than former PRIDE Middleweight Champion, Wanderlei Silva.

Wanderlei’s clinch was practically unbreakable and usually ended in his opponents taking unbelievable amounts of damage before falling helplessly to the canvas.

If you ever want to see some of the best knees delivered in the history of the sport, check out Silva’s fights against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson from PRIDE.

Destruction doesn’t even begin to describe it.

4. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua: Soccer Kicks and Head Stomps

The current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion is a nearly unanimous vote as the top light heavyweight in the world today.

But his rise to that position is definitely something to remember as well.

“Shogun” made his name fighting in the PRIDE organization and compiled an extremely impressive 12-1 record in the company before coming to the UFC.

Though he was a great overall fighter, many will always remember the stomps and soccer kicks that he delivered on downed opponents in PRIDE. These moves are banned in the UFC but were major weapons for Shogun during his time in Japan.

3. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson: Powerbomb / Slam

Jackson has been the target of a few of the earlier moves on the list but Rampage’s slams are among the most highlight-worthy moves that have ever happened in MMA.

As the announcers in this video discuss, this slam on Ricardo Arona was not the first time that Jackson had lifted an opponent above his head and driven them into the canvas in violent fashion. However, this was perhaps the best one of the bunch.

Arona was completely out from the slam but ate a couple nice punches as well.

After watching this video, it’s really no wonder why Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is such a fan favorite throughout the world.

2. Kazushi Sakuraba: Overhand “Mongolian” Chops

Former professional wrestler Kazushi Sakuraba always remembered where he came from when he fought in mixed martial arts. Pro wrestling is a sport built on playing to the audience and no one did that better than Sakuraba.

While his cartwheel guard pass and various other showboating moves are very memorable, Sakuraba’s double-handed Mongolian chops are both hilarious and likely painful as well.

In this video, he delivers the chops to Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic who has no choice but to give props to the Japanese fighter when the two men get back to their feet.

1. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic: Left High Kick to the Head

The No. 1 signature move on this list has to be Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic’s left high kick to the head.

Though this is a fairly common strike in kickboxing, it is not nearly as common in mixed martial arts as it leaves the man who throws the kick significantly more open for takedowns.

Cro Cop didn’t care.

In his career, Cro Cop finished four fights essentially by the left high kick, including fights with Aleksander Emelianenko, Alberto Rodriguez, Wanderlei Silva and this one with Igor Vovchanchyn at PRIDE Total Elimination 2003.

Though Cro Cop himself was famously knocked out with a head kick from Gabriel Gonzaga, no one ever did it better than him.

As the man once said, “right leg: hospital, left leg: cemetery.”