Brock Lesnar Video and the 20 Most Powerful Pound-for-Pound Fighters in MMA

In the beginning, mixed martial arts was a sport in which we often saw “freakshow” fights in promotions like the UFC between smaller, more technical fighters and larger, more powerful fighters.

However, as the sport continues to evolve, we are beginning to see more fighters with a combination of size and technique.

While the old school brawlers would attempt to use their size to just smother and overwhelm their opponents, the new age fighters are truly embracing the spirit of mixed martial arts.

A great example of this is former NCAA Champion wrestler, Brock Lesnar, who has evolved his game tremendously in under four years.

But at the end of the day, one of Brock’s biggest advantages over his opponents will always be his pure, raw power. If all skills are equal, strength will always be a major determining factor in the outcome of fights.

So let’s count down the top 20 pound-for-pound most powerful fighters in the sport of mixed martial arts!

20. Matt Hughes

Height: 5’9”
Weight: 170 pounds

If this was 5 years ago, we might see Matt Hughes all the way up in the top five of this list.

But as it is now, Hughes is still one of the strongest fighters in the sport—he just isn’t quite at the top.

Hughes uses his strength to pick up and slam his opponents seemingly at will, but is nearing the end of his Hall of Fame career.

He does still seem to have some of that fabled “old man strength,” though.

19. Thiago Silva

Height: 6’1”
Weight: 205 pounds

Thiago Silva was recently found to be falsifying his drug tests following his violent victory over Brandon Vera at UFC 125, but that doesn’t mean that he’s not one of the most powerful fighters on the planet.

Silva doesn’t walk with his opponents around the cage. He hunts them down like a wild animal waiting to jump on its prey.

When he finally digs his claws in, it’s not long before the other guy is slammed to the ground in some painful-looking fashion.

Now if only he would have acquired his physique legally, he’d probably be higher on this list.

18. Jon Fitch

Height: 6’1”
Weight: 170 pounds

American Kickboxing Academy’s standout fighter at 170 pounds is the now 23-3-1 Jon Fitch.

Though he doesn’t have the traditional body of a guy who would be considered powerful, he certainly has all the tools.

Fitch recently showed off his strength in his fight with BJ Penn by plastering the Hawaiian to the ground on numerous occasions and keeping him there for nearly the entire third round, earning what many believe to be a rare 10-8 round in the process.

17. Herschel Walker

Height: 6’1”
Weight: 205 pounds

Known as one of the greatest pure athletes in the history of American sports, Hershel Walker has made a successful transition to mixed martial arts, even though he is now 49 years old.

Walker’s physique can only be described in one word: Unbelievable.

The former Heisman Trophy Award winner in 1982 isn’t as strong as he was in his athletic prime, but there is not another person on the planet his age or older who has a body that looks anything like the chiseled stone that is Herschel Walker.

Now can we put him up against a fighter who might actually pose a threat to him in some aspect of a fight, please?

16. Nate Marquardt

Height: 6’0”
Weight: 185 pounds

Nate “The Great” Marquardt has made his claim as one of the best middleweight mixed martial artists on the planet.

He is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, but has recently made a big impact with four of his last five victories coming by way of knockout.

Like Jon Fitch a few slides back, Marquardt doesn’t necessarily look like one of the most powerful fighters in the sport, but he certainly is just that.

With the recent news breaking that Marquardt would like to drop to 170 pounds in the near future, we may get to see if he can bring that strength with him as he drops 15 pounds. 

15. Gray Maynard

Height: 5’8”
Weight: 155 pounds

The UFC No. 1 lightweight contender, Gray Maynard’s nickname “The Bully” couldn’t fit any better.

Maynard uses a combination of powerful punches with impressive wrestling pedigree and nearly unstoppable strength to muscle his opponents around the cage.

He has been so successful with this style that as he reaches his fifth year in the sport later this month, he will still carry an undefeated professional record into his next fight.

That next fight will be the third in a trilogy of fights against UFC Lightweight Champion, Frankie Edgar, who he fought to a draw with on New Year’s Day at UFC 125.

14. Justin Wilcox

Height: 5’6”
Weight: 170 pounds

The second member of American Kickboxing Academy on this list is Josh Koscheck’s college wrestling teammate, Justin Wilcox.

The Strikeforce welterweight is also a former bodybuilder and has used his consistent size advantage to frustrate and control his opponents on the way to an 10-1 record in his last 11 fights.

After losing his Strikeforce debut to Mitsuhiro Ishida in September 2008, Wilcox has since gone 5-0 in the promotion and is likely in line for a No. 1 contendership fight, according to CEO Scott Coker.

13. Bob Sapp

Height: 6’4”
Weight: 321 pounds

Perhaps the most physically intimidating fighter ever to compete in the sport, Sapp certainly personifies his nickname, “The Beast.”

After starting off his MMA career record at 9-2, Sapp has since dropped to 11-7 and has lost fights to significantly smaller opponents, but he is still an absolute monster.

Just look at him. Muscles on top of muscles.

Just imagine getting hit with one of these kicks...And that's while he's exhausted. 

12. Melvin Manhoef

Height: 5’8”
Weight: 190 pounds

Though he is just 2-5 in his last seven mixed martial arts fights, the former K-1 kickboxing superstar is known as one of the most powerful strikers in the sport.

Manhoef’s overall MMA game leaves a lot to be desired, as he has been submitted in six of his nine professional losses, but his balls-to-the-wall style is something that fans love to see.

In his 24 wins, Manhoef has scored a ridiculous 23 knockouts!

He is also the only man to have ever knocked out Mark Hunt in an MMA fight.

11. Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos

Height: 5’8”
Weight: 145 pounds

I know, she’s a girl!

But this isn’t just any girl. This is Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos.

After losing her first professional mixed martial arts bout, Santos has since pushed her record to 10-1 while completely destroying some of the best female mixed martial artists on the planet.

She mowed through Gina Carano to become the Strikeforce Women’s Middleweight Champion before crushing Marloes Coenen a few months later.

Then in June 2010, she delivered what would later be voted as Sherdog’s “2010 Beatdown of the Year” to Jan Finney in a fight she would won in the second round with a knockout knee to the body.

There is not a scarier woman on the planet.

10. Shane Carwin

Height: 6’1”
Weight: 265 pounds

The heavy-handed Shane Carwin suffered the first loss of his professional career at the hands of Brock Lesnar last July, but still has to be considered one of the most powerful fighters on the planet.

Carwin may not use his strength to deliver slams or do some of the flashy things that other fighters on this list might do, but there is certainly a case to be made that no person in the sport packs a stronger punch.

His hands are like boulders on the end of a windmill. Just ask Brock Lesnar. Or Frank Mir. Or Gabriel Gonzaga. Or Christian Wellisch.

9. Georges St-Pierre

Height: 5’10”
Weight: 170 pounds

Ah yes, one of the true pound-for-pound kings in the history of mixed martial arts.

Georges St-Pierre is like a genetically engineered fighter. He’s really great everywhere a fight can go, and he’s one of the strongest, if not the strongest 170 pound fighter in the world.

Whether it’s using his own amazing takedown skills or simply out-muscling an opponent who is trying to take him down, St-Pierre just makes it look too easy.

Does he even have an ounce of body fat on him?

8. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson

Height: 6’1”
Weight: 205 pounds

If “Rampage” Jackson doesn’t look like the last guy you’d want to meet in a dark alley at night, I don’t know who does.

With a chain wrapped around his neck and a grimace on his face during his walk to the cage, Jackson’s intimidation factor is only matched by what he does once the cage door closes.

Jackson is known as one of the strongest fighters ever to fight in mixed martial arts and has been known to pick his opponents above his head and slam them down in various ways that resemble a pro wrestling match more than they do a mixed martial arts contest.

Nonetheless, the power is impressive and if he can get back to working out hard for every fight, he would be even higher on this list.

7. Antonio “Big Foot” Silva

Height: 6’4”
Weight: 265 pounds

“Bigfoot” Silva gave us a glimpse into the kind of damage he can do in his last fight where he systematically destroyed former pound-for-pound king, Fedor Emelianenko, in the first round of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament.

Using a combination of both technique and just raw power, Silva tossed Fedor around the cage like a small child, pounding his face in a fashion we had never seen before.

Though Emelianenko is a small heavyweight at just around 230 pounds, he has been known to out-power even some of the biggest opponents he has faced in the past.

But for Silva, Fedor was no match.

It will be interesting to see what he can do as Silva continues to grow as a fighter, but the size aspect of his game is already in the bag.

6. Sean Sherk

Height: 5’6”
Weight: 155 pounds

They don’t call him “The Muscle Shark” for nothing. Anyone who has seen Sean Sherk’s workout regimen knows that there may not be a person in the business who works harder.

At only 5’6”, Sherk spent much of his career fighting as an undersized welterweight against opponents who often had huge height and reach advantages on him. He has had to make up for his physical shortcomings by busting his butt in the gym.

Though Sherk was suspended for PED’s prior to his fight against Hermes Franca in 2007, his suspension was later reduced after he had a chance to respond to the allegations, and he has tested clean ever since.

Sherk maintains that he never took any performance-enhancing drugs and that the lab tests were a human error mistake by the company administering them.

5. Alistair Overeem

Height: 6’5”
Weight: 265 pounds

Over the past few years, we have seen the current Strikeforce Heavyweight, DREAM Interim Heavyweight and K-1 World Grand Prix champion’s body transform in a way that most would consider to be almost inhuman.

Alistair Overeem has maintained a rigorous schedule as a fighter while also hitting the weight room and changing his diet to bulk up over 60 pounds of muscle.

Controversy surrounds the champion, as many believe that he had to have been taking some sort of PED to achieve such an amazing physique, but Overeem claims that he has done it all naturally.

Until we see a test proving otherwise, I suppose we’ll just have to believe him and admire the hard work and dedication.

4. Mariusz Pudzianowski

Height: 6’1”
Weight: 291 pounds

As I was compiling this list, I was truly tempted to put Mariusz Pudzianowski at the top. Realistically, he’s by far the strongest person on this list, and it’s not even close.

Pudzianowski is a five-time World’s Strongest Man winner—more than any other athlete in the sport’s history—and also boasts two second-place finishes. These are legitimately the strongest people on the planet.

The big question is whether Pudzianowski, and other World’s Strongest Man contest winners have achieved their unbelievable frames naturally or with the aid of modern medicine.

3. Jon Jones

Height: 6’4”
Weight: 205 pounds

The youngest fighter on this list is also the newest UFC champion, Jon “Bones” Jones.

Jones smashed previous top-ranked light heavyweight, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, in a one-sided beatdown that proved beyond any doubt that a new era has hit the UFC’s 205-pound division.

Though he has a very lanky frame that doesn’t look like it’d possess a lot of pure strength, Jones hasn’t even been contested in that category in a fight yet. He has simply tossed every opponent around with ease, punishing them with both highlight takedowns and thunderous striking.

In his next fight, Jones may be facing the toughest test of his career in his next fight against former heavyweight The Ultimate Fighter winner, former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, and Jones’ former training partner, Rashad Evans.

If there is a hole in Jones' game, look for Rashad to attempt to exploit it early and often.

But as of right now, it looks like this one has the potential to be as lopsided as any fight “Bones” has had in the past. 

2. Brock Lesnar

Height: 6’3”
Weight: 265 pounds

The former UFC Heavyweight Champion checks in at No. 2 on the list of the most powerful pound-for-pound fighters in the world of mixed martial arts right now.

In terms of physique and natural size, Lesnar takes the cake as a top-level fighter, having already won and lost the UFC Heavyweight title in just seven career mixed martial arts contests.

Brock has used superior strength and wrestling technique to out-muscle and control practically every opponent he has ever faced. Frank Mir, Shane Carwin, and Randy Couture were all victims of Lesnar’s violent ground-and-pound.

Lesnar has out-powered everyone he has faced in the cage... Except one man...

1. Cain Velasquez

Height: 6’1”
Weight: 240 pounds

The current reigning UFC Heavyweight Champion may be a surprising choice as the most powerful pound-for-pound mixed martial artist on the planet to some.

But to those who saw what he did to the man who ranked No. 2, Cain Velasquez’s place at the top of this list should be obvious.

After being taken down by Brock Lesnar in the first round of their fight for the title, Velasquez did something that none of us could have seen coming—he just stood right back up.

It seemed to be as shocking to Lesnar as it was for fans as Velasquez unloaded with a furious series of strikes that literally sent the now-former champion cartwheeling across the cage.

What makes Velasquez’s strength even more impressive is that he is a fairly small heavyweight at just 240 pounds. It is estimated the he was likely outweighed by well over 30, and up to 40 pounds by Lesnar at fight time.

Whether it’s his record-breaking striking power of just pure body strength, Cain Velasquez is MMA’s current pound-for-pound most powerful fighter.