UFC: 12 Guys with the Highest Fight IQ in the Game

While the misconception still exists among some people that MMA is a bloodsport full of steroid cases and Neanderthals, anyone who takes a few minutes to watch it should see otherwise.

Most of the UFC roster is college educated and well-spoken, and are competitors in a sport the same way football or hockey players are.

Sometimes, though, fighters have an entirely different type of intelligence on display. The idea of “fight IQ” that is, or basically how intelligent a man is in the cage when it comes to fighting his fight and implementing a game plan.

It can be done in many ways, and not every fighter with a high fight IQ fights the same, but the guys who are smart are often successful and often stand out.

Here are 12 of the top guys in the field today…

Georges St-Pierre

Probably the easiest active fighter to put on a list of guys with high fight IQ is St-Pierre, the UFC welterweight champion. The Quebec native is notorious for fighting to his opponents’ weaknesses, seeking out the best cross-training options out there, and rarely being put in danger.

Some will say he’s not exciting to watch and that he doesn’t try to finish fights anymore, but there’s no denying that his training and performances show a level of understanding the fight game that isn’t often seen in MMA.

Randy Couture

While he’s technically retired, any list of intelligent fighters would be incomplete without a mention of The Natural. He’s the smartest of all time when it comes to developing and executing a game plan, and that ability allowed him to compete at a high level in two weight classes until he was nearly 48.

He fought bigger guys and guys who people said were better, and more often than not, he fought younger guys. The odds were almost always against him, but Randy Couture was never in a position where he was out-thought or outworked in the cage, and he always knew what he had to do to win...even when he wasn’t successful.

Definitely the first man in modern MMA to transfer his fight IQ into success beyond his physical means as well, which counts for a lot.

Anderson Silva

As Anderson Silva calculated the specifics of how he had to attack Yushin Okami to end the fight at UFC 134, a fascinated Kenny Florian said during the broadcast that Silva is like a computer when it comes to figuring out opponents. Minutes later, Okami was on Dream Street and Silva was celebrating another violent success in the octagon.

He’s the best ever to step in the cage, and among the smartest on account of the fact that you never really see him in trouble, he never needs more than a dozen solid strikes to end a fight, and they come from angles and places that guys outright don’t see coming.

Nobody understands distance and angles better than Silva, and his ability to generate torque on strikes that look effortless displays an understanding of technique that is unmatched in MMA.

Perhaps not the studious, book-smart type of fight IQ, but one of the highest fight IQs out there nonetheless.

Dominick Cruz

While still underappreciated, Dominick Cruz is one of the young guns holding UFC gold after coming over from the WEC. The 135-pound champion is quick and unorthodox, and displays incredible understanding of footwork for someone so young.

What makes Cruz so dangerous is his combination of boxing and wrestling, all of it set up by nonstop movement. He displays a high fight IQ in his ability to get in and out quickly with strikes, or in quickly to commit to a takedown.

It may not seem like rocket science from your couch to think that being in constant motion is a good way to stay out of trouble and have success, but implementing it when a professional mixed martial artist is trying to take your head off is a whole other ballgame. Cruz is among the best.

Kenny Florian

Among the most well-educated competitors in the UFC, Kenny Florian is as smart in the cage as he is outside of it. He does an admirable job of replacing Joe Rogan on color commentary when called upon, and does a better job than anyone who sounds intelligent outside the cage of implementing those smarts once he’s in there himself.

For Florian, MMA is a puzzle that needs to be solved, and while he’s never been able to solve it at a time when gold was on the line, the fact that he’s had three chances speaks volumes. When he’s buzzsawing contenders, he shows an incredible knack for preying on their weaknesses, never being put in trouble himself, and usually finishing the fight inside of the distance.

It’s a shame he couldn’t transfer those traits to a UFC title, because he’s among the most deserving never to hold one.

Lyoto Machida

Lyoto Machida looked invincible in his first 16 fights, leaving high-end opposition baffled at his unorthodox striking and overlooked ground game. While his recent performances have been less overwhelming, he’s still a guy who understands martial arts in the traditional sense and has made it work in MMA.

His defensive footwork and distancing is probably the best in the sport on account of his ability to lunge in and out of distance, striking and getting away before he eats a counter. The result is that he’s not often in trouble, and can maintain more offensive thrust when he does attack in short bursts.

It may not be for everyone, but Machida’s style is founded almost completely around understanding combat and having a high fight IQ, and any such list has to have him on it.

Jon Fitch

He’s not popular, but there’s no denying that he’s smart.

Jon Fitch is the ultimate case of a fighter maximizing what he has to get the best possible results. He understands that he’s not going to go out there and score axe-kick knockouts three times a year, and instead focuses on perfecting his top control-heavy game and implementing his strategy.

Many consider him the uncrowned champion of the welterweight division, and outside of his fight with Georges St-Pierre and the first half of his fight with BJ Penn, every one of his fights has looked the same. Get on top, grind it out, win a decision.

It shows a great understanding of the fight game and how to win under the current rules, and while those rules are problematic, people should blame athletic commissions instead of the fighters using those rules to their fullest benefit. Fitch is clearly a smart guy.

Stephan Bonnar

Don’t mistake ignorance for a lack of intelligence. Stephan Bonnar is a smart guy and smart fighter...when he wants to be. He just prefers going to war and being entertaining over winning fights that no one wants to watch.

However, if you actually listen to Bonnar when he’s in a position as an analyst, he has some insight into MMA and shows a fight IQ that’s definitely higher than you’d expect from a guy so notorious for frantic bloodbaths.

Where Dominick Cruz was mentioned earlier as a guy who displays a high fight IQ by executing something simple with near-perfect results, Bonnar is the guy who ignores all wisdom in the cage in favour of making things messy.

He’s a smart guy with a high fight IQ, he’s just better at applying it to others instead of to himself.

Rich Franklin

The guy who was smart before it was cool to be smart in MMA, Rich Franklin is still one of the craftier guys in the game. It’s no secret that he honed his skills in a backyard shed while teaching math in his hometown, a development which signified the blend of athleticism and smarts that would make him a UFC champion.

Franklin is a guy who has gotten a lot further on his mental mettle than he ever has on his physical attributes, fighting in two divisions and only ever really being dominated by Anderson Silva.

He’s calm and cool in the cage, never gets ruffled when things aren’t going his way, and has signature wins over the likes of Chuck Liddell and Ken Shamrock.

He gets mixed martial arts, is very well-rounded, and has mental toughness for days. To say he isn’t among the top dogs for fight IQ would be insulting to him.

Frankie Edgar

Similarly to Dominick Cruz, Frankie Edgar displays incredible fight IQ and understanding of the game in the way that he approaches battle. Lots of movement, lots of mixing things up, and securing wins over some of the toughest guys out there at 155 today.

Granted, we’ve seen him in trouble a few times in his two 2011 bouts with Gray Maynard, that had more to do with the combustible stylistic matchup and Maynard’s heavy hands.

When Frankie is on, he’s in and out, left and right, quick jabs and combinations, and then gone again. Throw in a few takedowns for good measure along the way, and you’ve got the recipe for a pretty sharp champion.

Josh Koscheck

While a few people will question his IQ outside of the cage on account of hit-or-miss trash talk, there’s no denying that once he steps into it, Josh Koscheck is a man who knows what he’s up to.

He tailors his game to his opponent, a spoil he’s allowed himself by spending years on the wrestling mats and now years at American Kickboxing Academy developing his standup.

Ignoring his loss to Georges St-Pierre in 2010, Koscheck has recently KO’d Matt Hughes, decisioned Paul Daley, and choked out Anthony Johnson.

Hughes is a high level wrestler with questionable striking, so Koscheck stood with him and won. Daley is a lethal kickboxer with the heaviest hands out there at 170, Koscheck exposed his terrible ground game.

Johnson is a good wrestler with violent KO power, so Koscheck wore him down and then submitted him when the time was right.

You don’t have to like him, but the proof is in the pudding. The guy knows how to approach a fight.

Frank Mir

Aside from being a good analyst and a guy who displays great insight when it comes to breaking down fights (both those he watches, and those in which he participates) Frank Mir may be one of the better guys out there at identifying what went wrong after he loses.

He’s apt to say some utterly moronic things on occasion when hyping up a fight, but that speaks more to his inability to hype than it does to his lack of understanding.

It seems like whenever Mir loses, he’s able to offer coherent, insightful explanations as to why he was on the wrong side of the ledger that night. He admitted to getting caught up in his improved wrestling against Shane Carwin, and being too happy to lay in half guard and get punched against Brock Lesnar.

Both points are incredibly cogent, as anyone who saw those fights would have told you the same thing; however, you rarely hear a fighter participating in such events showcasing such a sound grasp on what went wrong.

Such statements show a high fight IQ, and when you’ve got the belts that Frank does on his mantle, he’s got the results to back it up, too.