Anderson Silva, Chris Lytle and the 20 Most Exciting Fighters in UFC History

There should be plenty of action on tap for this Saturday at UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro. Several fighters famed for their exciting styles, like Anderson Silva, Shogun Rua and Forrest Griffin, will all see action. Relatively lesser-known combatants like Edson Barboza and Spencer Fisher should add to the fireworks.

This won't be the first UFC card to promise big action, though. Plenty of high-octane, crowd-pleasing, opponent-finishing fighters dot the promotion's landscape. Here's a list of the top 20 most exciting fighters ever to enter the Octagon.

The ability to consistently generate exciting fights is the main criterion here, though an exciting personality both in and out of the cage don't hurt the cause. Being really good at fighting doesn't hurt your cause, either, though a ranking of the best or most accomplished fighters is another list.

Finally, you may notice that most of these fighters are currently active in the UFC. Not to take anything away from the old days, which I love just as much, but let's face it—the sport is a little more, uh, high-energy these days.

Thanks for reading.

Honorable Mentions

In no particular order:

Carlos Condit
Stephan Bonnar
Jose Aldo
Paul Taylor
Donald Cerrone
Frank Mir
Thiago Alves
Rousimar Palhares
Paul Daley
Stefan Struve
Spencer Fisher
Leonard Garcia
Cain Velasquez
Urijah Faber
Brock Lesnar

20. Tank Abbott

The UFC's first truly exciting fighter took the art of the barroom brawl and made it a science. Of sorts.

When seven of your 10 wins come by KO or TKO, and three of your knockouts were of the one-punch variety, I'd call that exciting.

And he's a pretty exciting character to boot. Mmmm...beer.

19. Vitor Belfort

With his two-minute, Knockout of the Night performance against Yoshihiro Akiyama on Aug. 6, Belfort reentered not only the middleweight title picture but the exciting fighter conversation. He has quick hands and is an unabashed finisher, and as such is a natural for this list.

18. Thiago Silva

Thiago has fallen on hard times of late, even if they're largely self-inflicted.

No amount of time away from the cage, though, can erase his longstanding record of electrifying brutality in the cage.

When 12 of your 14 wins come by way of striking-related stoppage, you've got a place on this list.

17. Demain Maia

Maia is proof positive that you need not be a knockout artist to be an exciting fighter. His silky-smooth and lightning-quick jiu-jitsu is anything but passive, to which his record-tying four Submission of the Night bonuses

16. Melvin Guillard

There’s no telling what’s going to happen when Guillard gets in the cage. Lately, though, that formula has included a lot of big knockouts, and a lot of winning.

After stopping Evan Dunham in January, Guillard finally evened his record. Not wins and losses, though. The important one: Knockout of the Night bonuses and losses/no contests due to various rule breaking. That's a pretty exciting record!

15. Shane Carwin

When a fighter has punching power—and a willingness to use it—like Shane Carwin, I’d pay to watch him fight a Volkswagen.

Eight of Carwin’s 12 wins have come through a striking-related stoppage, and all of them went down in the first round.

Even in his two defeats, Carwin’s effort was unquestionably entertaining. For me, anyway.

14. Sam Stout

If the Canadian kickboxer’s four post-fight bonuses (three Fight of the Night, one Knockout of the Night) don’t convince you, I’ve only got two words for you:  Yves Edwards.

If the rumors of a UFC 137 collision with Dennis Siver prove true, I know where I’ll be on the evening of Oct. 29.

13. Frank Shamrock

One of the great submission wrestlers of all-time has, in 23 professional MMA wins, elicited tap-outs using, by my count, seven different moves. This does not include taps from strikes, which happened six times.

Also, at UFC 16, Shamrock knocked out his opponent with a slam. I guess he wanted his first light heavyweight title defense to be memorable.

His brother Ken was billed as “The World’s Most Dangerous Man,” but when it comes to excitement, Frank is the top Shamrock for my money.

12. Clay Guida

Few fighters are willing to risk life and limb for a good show the way Clay Guida is willing.

Though his go-for-broke stand-up exchanges are memorable (see Guida-Sanchez, Round 1), he is actually much more of a grinder than his frenetic energy and wild-man image might indicate.

Still, no question he’s one of the most exciting fighters in UFC history.

11. Chuck Liddell

The guy was coming to knock you out every time. And, in his heyday, there really wasn’t much you could do about it beyond buckle up and find something sturdy to hold on to.

10. Forrest Griffin

A tough-as-nails brawler who has repeatedly noted that he becomes a better fighter after tasting his own blood. One half of the UFC’s greatest fight has, as far as I’m concerned, a permanent place in this particular pantheon.

9. Junior Dos Santos

Three years and eight fighters worth of carnage is all the testament one needs to the excitement dos Santos carries with him to the cage.

That's the span of El Cigano's current unbeaten streak. Given that during this streak he has, according to CompuStrike, thrown almost 500 punches per contest, it's pretty safe to say dos Santos has stayed fairly busy during that time.

See those storm clouds gathering on the horizon?  That's the tempest already gathering for dos Santos and Cain Velasquez, now scheduled for Nov. 19. Be excited. Be very excited.

8. Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva

I really hope I don’t have to explain this one.

I might just add as a caveat that Wandy would be at or near the No. 1 spot for an all-time MMA list. He loses points here because, unfortunately, he didn't enter the Octagon until he was nearing the end of his prime (or past it altogether).

7. B.J. Penn

Whether it's his boxing-caliber hands or that trademark rear naked choke, Penn comes to the Octagon to finish. And not just in a professional-fighting sense. When Penn is motivated, his efforts are not only brilliant, but downright warlike.

I'm with you on this one, Joe Rogan. I'm with you.

6. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua

When he's on, his uber-frenetic Muay Thai is as tough to stop as it is fun to watch.

It's a pity, then, that he's not always on.

5. Diego Sanchez

Now we're getting up into some rarefied air.

Sanchez is an absolute berserker in and out of the cage. His no-first-gear, take-two-to-land-one fighting style and all-around intensity makes him one of the most entertaining (whether intentionally or not) fighters of all-time.

4. Chris Leben

For my money, Christian Cyrus Leben is the most exciting boxer in the history of MMA.

Five post-fight bonuses, including three Knockouts of the Night, pad his resume. His first-round knockout of Wanderlei Silva in July was one of my personal favorites out of the 300 or so I've seen.

As with some of these other fighters, Leben is exciting in defeat as well as victory. Anderson Silva's UFC coming-out party comes to mind.

3. Chris Lytle

Lytle cracks the top-three on this list, but probably finishes at No. 1 on the list of best UFC retirements.

As we all know by now, Lytle closed out his career in style earlier this month when he earned Fight of the Night and Submission of the Night honors following his swan song win over Dan Hardy.

The double award set records for the most bonus money earned by one fighter in one night, and for the most bonuses received in a career. Lights Out won 10 fight bonuses in 20 UFC fights: three SOTN, one KOTN and six FOTN. The second-place bonus winner, Anderson Silva, trails Lytle with eight.

All in all, though, the picture says it all. Lytle does not give an ish; even covered in his own blood, he's just a guy who loved to do what he did.

For many years and many fights, he did it very well, and did it in singularly exciting fashion. The almost universal love and respect he gets from fans is a direct reflection of that.

2. Anderson Silva

The greatest fighter in mixed martial arts today puts on an exciting fight almost every time he goes out there. Even when he’s watching as Thales Leites put his feet in the stirrups, he’s arguably still keeping it interesting with all that taunting and so on. Maybe not everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s entertaining nonetheless.

Silva misses out on the top spot here for two reasons. First, all joking aside, the pace does slow down quite a bit when The Spider feels untested by the Cotes and Leiteses of the world. If you’re not into taunting, you’re going to have a bad time.

We can argue all day over whose fault that inaction is, but the bottom line is, it has happened enough with Silva that the UFC has expressed concern over his consistency, and more than a few others have questioned his desire to put on a show for the fans.

Yes, job one is to win fights. But this isn’t a list of the most winning fighters, now is it?

Second, Silva could probably top every list at the moment. It’s almost like the list is immediately rendered illegitimate if Anderson Silva doesn’t occupy the top spot. I’m here to cut through the groupthink. How about a little variety?  A little outside-the-box thinking?  I know we can do it. Thank you for your support.

1. Jon “Bones” Jones

Jumping knees.
Crushing takedowns.
Flying kicks.
Vicious ground and pound.
Inverted chokes.
Spinning elbows.    
A freaking suplex.

How can you deny a man who has executed all this and more during live combat his rightful place as the most exciting fighter in UFC history?  I’ll tell you how: you can’t.

I know we’re all suffering from Jon Jones fatigue here, but facts is facts, and even Bones’ detractors have to marvel at what he is capable of in the cage. He is, quite simply, the perfect combination of raw talent and creativity. It’s a seamless and seemingly effortless blend of striking and grappling, which results in just epic, epic beatings. He takes opponents apart, puts them back together, then takes them apart again in a different way.

Greg Jackson—yes, The Boring Greg Jackson—has called Jones “an artist,” and expressed a desire for Bones “not to be limited by a certain game plan, to a certain thing, but to just let his timing flow and get him in situations where he can show his creativity.”

When the ultimate game planner is openly saying he doesn’t want to limit you with too much of that cumbersome game planning, that’s saying something. It’s like Bill Belichick saying “you know, what?  If we have a good week of practice, let’s not worry about calling the plays for Tom Brady this Sunday.”

This is not to say Jon Jones is the best in the world. It’s not to say there aren’t questions about his game. And it’s not to say he doesn’t have weaknesses.

But those things aren’t relevant here. The fact that he’s young and relatively unproven doesn’t disqualify him for this list. Nor should it.

Because, as of this moment, he’s the most exciting fighter in UFC history. It’s something we all just have to make our peace with.