Best Leg Kickers in UFC History
MMA has been evolving at a high rate over the past two decades and you can continuously see fighters bringing in new techniques and skills and changing the game.
Although leg-kicks have been around since the birth of the UFC, they actually got popularized in recent times as one of the best tactics to neutralize the opponent’s movement, protect the range, and even finish the fight. Just a couple of well-placed low-kicks can damage the calf and peroneal nerve to the point a fighter can’t stand anymore.
And in this article, we are going to look at the best leg-kickers in UFC history who have mastered and utilized this specific technique to perfection.
12. Jon Jones
Many fans and MMA experts consider Jones to be the most naturally gifted freestyle fighter in history. Although he comes from a wrestling background, Jones primarily relies on his striking game inside the octagon. He is a master in using the most out of his long physical attributes. This includes protecting his range with long-range shots, or demolishing his opponents with vicious Muay Thai elbows and knees in the clinch or on the ground.
His kicks are not necessarily very powerful. In the end, Jones doesn’t have big legs to generate massive force in each kick. However, his legs are quite long, and over the years, he learned how to use this to his advantage, primarily to demolish his opponents from the distance by repeatedly landing kicks at the same spot.
So he doesn’t rely on landing a single hard kick and doing instant damage but rather emphasizes cumulative damage. He is so good at playing with those “soft” kicks that his opponents often look frustrated not being able to respond to this.
Next, Jones’s kicking game is quite versatile. Apart from calf and kicks to the thigh, his favorite kicking technique is the infamous “Oblique kick”. In fact, Jones is one of the pioneers of this specific move in MMA or at least someone who popularized it.
Using his long reach, he would throw some type of sidekick, or front kick directly targeting the opponent’s knee. A single well-placed one can easily dislocate the knee and neutralize their movement. In his fight against Thiago Santos, he landed multiple oblique kicks to the same spot, and the Brazilian ended the match with both ACLs blown out.
11. Maurice Smith
Back in the 90s when the UFC was coming up and when MMA fighters were quite one-dimensional, Smith arrived as one of the world’s best strikers. In some way, Smith was the very first elite striker and the one who put kickboxing on the map in MMA. Despite competing in a time when the sport was dominated by wrestlers and BJJ style-based fighters, Smith enjoyed huge success.
One of the key aspects of Smith’s standup game was leg kicks which he used to great effect in many of his matches. At the time, many fighters were one-dimensional, relying heavily on one particular style and set of skills, and although grappling was dominant, many of grapplers didn’t know how to check kicks or deal with elite striking.
All of this gave Smith a big advantage on the feet where he was a master in keeping his range utilizing fast and powerful kicks. Some of the most famous victims of his vicious kicks were Mark Coleman and Tank Abbot and both of these fights are painful to watch. He brutalized both to the point they couldn’t stand anymore.
In the first, he beat Coleman at UFC 14 to win the UFC heavyweight championship and become the first African American UFC champion in 1997. And he demolished Abbott to defend his title before losing it to Randy Couture in December of the same year.
10. Thiago Alves
Alves has always been known for his aggressive fighting style, strength and durability, and exceptional Muay Thai skills, primarily kicks. In his prime, Alves was the most dangerous matchup for anyone simply because of his violent instincts. He carried that Muay Thai approach into MMA where he would chase a finish at all costs without showing any mercy.
During his era, Alves was the face of Muay Thai in MMA and his leg-kicking skills were by far the best at the time. The best example of how skilled he is was his fight against Josh Koscheck at UFC 90. In that fight, Alves landed an astonishing 35 leg kicks out of 43 thrown and the majority landed right on the spot.
Although Alves never won the UFC title, fans will forever remember him for his exciting style, big heart, and vicious kicks. Upon retiring, he started working as a coach at the “American Top Team”. He was directly responsible for improving Dusting Poirier’s kicking game which helped him finish Conor Mcgregor in both fights.
9. Pedro Rizzo
Pedro Rizzo is an MMA legend and one of the pioneers of modern freestyle combat. During his long career, he fought for various premiere promotions such as K-1, PRIDE, M-1 Global in Russia, Affliction, and Vale Tudo. During the late 90s and early 2000s, he was a force to be reckoned with mainly because he was an all-around fighter. A black belt in BJJ, Luta Livre, and Muay Thai, and he also competed in over 30 kickboxing matches.
Many fans remember Rizzo for his incredible kicking skills which are rooted in Muay Thai and Capoeira. Combine his perfect leg-kicking technique with the massive size of his legs, and you will understand why his opponents couldn’t take more than a few. For example, he needed only two inside leg-kicks to finish the former UFC champion, Dan Severn at UFC 27. He also demolished the lead leg of the legendary Josh Barnett at UFC 30 with 10 hard low kicks, but the way he put out Tank Abbott was simply painful to watch. He had a tendency to blast his opponent with a couple of hard low kicks before unloading with a barrage of punches to knock them out.
Although Pedro Rizzo never managed to win any major world titles, many fans still remember him as one of the most exciting fighters of all time. His matches were packed with action and rarely went to a decision.
8. Forrest Griffin
The UFC Hall of Famer, Forrest Griffin, has for some reason always been underrated when it comes to striking, especially leg-kicks which he utilized a lot throughout his long UFC career. In just about every fight, he would strategically target the opponent’s calf to take away their mobility, before starting to open up with his hands. He wasn’t throwing each one with full power like the others from this list but was rather focused on hitting the same spot over and over again. It’s one of those things where you don’t even notice him landing kick after kick until his opponent can’t take it anymore.
The best example of this type of cumulative leg-kick damage was the most important fight of his UFC career against Rampage Jackson. The two met at UFC 86 in a fight that stands for one of the best displays of leg-kicks in history. Griffin went on to land 35 hard leg kicks in that fight, and destroy Rampage’s ability to move and stand, and even will to fight. In fact, Ramage’s lead leg was already done in the middle of the second round.
Some of the other victims who felt the power of his kicks were Tito Ortiz who absorbed 15 kicks at UFC 106, and Rich Franklin at UFC 126.
7. Edson Barboza
You can’t talk about leg kicks in MMA without bringing the legendary Brazilian into the conversation. Although he has been fighting at the top for many years, he never fought for the UFC title. With a background in Muay Thai, he has some of the best leg-kicking skills that place him among the best in the sport.
Throughout his entire career, Barboza has been known for his fast, precise, and powerful kicks. Right from the start, he would chop the legs of his opponents relying on his Thai boxing and Taekwondo backgrounds. The best example of how devastating his kicks are is the beating he put on Dan Hooker. Barboza was landing brutal kicks to the legs and body until Hooker couldn’t stand anymore. Another memorable fight was against Rafaello Oliveira, where his leg kicks left Oliveira hurt and unable to continue.
He is also not shy of throwing all types of flashy spinning moves. Probably the most memorable one was when he knocked out Terry Etim with a stunning wheel kick. This KO will go down in the history books as one of the greatest in the history of combat sports.
6. Pat Barry
Pat Barry might be the least accomplished fighter on this list. However, though he didn’t come even close to winning the UFC title, Barry was a talented striker who gave the world some of the wildest fights in history. Combine his exciting style with his charming and comic personality, and you get why Barry was such a big star.
He came into the sport from competing in K-1 kickboxing and he fought in the heavyweight division where he competed under a massive size disadvantage. Standing 5’11” (180cm), he was the shortest heavyweight on the roster and in order to win fights, he needed to somehow find a way to keep his opponents stationary, get in, and make the fight dirty. The most effective solution to his problems was, of course, his legendary low-kicks. And one of the good things about being short in his case was that his legs were massive.
In his second MMA fight, Barry squared off against Simon Diouf and he needed only two kicks to the leg to end the fight. Then in his UFC debut, he did the same to Dan Evenson who just couldn’t handle the power of his kicks. Looking at the size of his legs and the way he threw them, being hit with Barry’s kicks felt probably the same as being hit with a baseball bat. Or at least the outcome was the same.
It’s a shame that Barry never unleashed his full potential simply because he came into the sport too late, and in a time when the one-dimensional approach didn’t work anymore. He certainly had the fighting skills and personality to reach the pinnacle of the sport.
5. Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson
In MMA, Stephen Thompson has a reputation for being a tough matchup for anyone. But the reason why he is so awkward and hard to beat lies in his karate background. His footwork is fast which combined with his fast and precise kicks and direct punches makes him a nightmare matchup. As a point fighter in karate, he is a master in using angles and moving in to land a strike, and then angle out without being hit back. That’s what point fighting is all about and he transitioned these skills quite well in MMA.
Apart from his pinpoint perfect kicking technique, one of the things that make him so great is his ability to time and hide each kick. Thompson is a master in using punches to hide the kicks behind, which is why his opponents often do not know what hit them. And the strikes you don’t see are usually the ones that hurt the most. Fighting out of the southpaw stance, he would often throw a hook with his lead hand and follow with the head kick with the lead leg.
4. Israel Adesanya
The UFC middleweight champ, Israel Adesanya, is often considered the most talented and dynamic striker of all time. And looking at his performances inside the octagon, it’s easy to see why. He is fast, agile, flexible, and has incredible feelings for distance, always picks his shots well, and his kicking skills are highly underrated.
Adesanya came into MMA as a kickboxing world champion so naturally, he has very good kicking skills. One of his most dominant performances was against his fierce rival, Paulo Costa. The two faced each other at UFC 253 in what ended as a one-sided beatdown thanks to Adesanya’s kicks. Right from the opening bell, he started blasting Costa with vicious calf kicks, and throughout the first and second rounds, he landed a total of 26 kicks out of 27 thrown, incredible. Although Costa gave his best to hide the pain, he eventually crumbled with a minute to go in the second round.
The champ put on an even better-kicking performance against Marvin Vettori where he landed an amazing 41 kicks to the leg. But on the other side, Vettori is known as probably the most durable fighter on the UFC roster who can take an incredible punishment.
Overall, Adesanya is among the best kickers in UFC/MMA history. Whether he would throw them to do damage, play with the opponent’s rhythm and timing, or set up the punches, kicks remain Adesanya’s main weapon. To understand how crucial his kicks are, just watch his first fight against Alex Perreira. The Brazilian wisely targeted Adesanya’s lead leg and his standup game got shut down as soon as he couldn’t use his leg as effectively anymore.
3. Justin Gaethje
Justin Gaethje is one of if not THE most exciting fighters of all time who has never been in a boring fight in his career. Fans love him because of his wild nature and tendency to always look for a brawl inside the octagon. He is always marching forward, trying to get inside the pocket and wear his opponents down. People don’t call you “The Highlight” for nothing, right?
But one of his key weapons is actually hard leg kicks.
Gaethje has a perfect leg-kicking technique, and although these might look “soft” at first glance, he can actually generate a big force behind each one. Many of his opponents, including Dustin Poirier, Rafael Fiziev, and Khabib Nurmagomedov, have stated that Gaethje’s kicks are incredibly strong and that they felt each one. One of the key secrets behind his skill is the fact that he has flexible kicks and good timing on the rotation.
One of his main tactics is to start unleashing kick after kick from the opening second of each round. His main goal is to compromise the opponents’ lead leg, which then limits their movement and ability to throw combinations off that leg. Once they become more stationary, Gaethje would become more confident with his hands and start catching them with vicious hooks.
Back in a time when he was fighting for the WSOF promotion, he managed to finish two of his opponents with low kicks only. First, he dismantled Brian Cobb at WSOF 3, and then, he demolished Luis Palomino at WSOF 19 in his second title defense.
2. Jose Aldo
The legendary Brazilian Champion, Jose Aldo, ruled the UFC’s featherweight division for almost a decade. During this time, he faced and beat the best of the best fighters, often by putting his incredible kicking skills to work. In fact, many would agree that Aldo had, perhaps, the most beautiful leg-kicking game, or at least the fastest. The speed behind his kicks was insane and one of the secrets behind this lies in his sports background.
Like most Brazilian kids, Aldo dreamed about becoming a soccer player, and he spent his youth training soccer. The motion of the kick in soccer and martial arts is quite different, but at the same time, there is a close correlation and Aldo is one of the few fighters who managed to combine the two to develop his signature kicking style. When you look closely, Aldo’s hip rotation was perfect which allowed him to generate a lot of power. And the speed by which he was firing each one enabled him to often catch his opponents off guard and not give them time to place the check.
His most memorable leg-kicking beatdown was the one against another legend, Urijah Faber. The two met way back at WEC in a fight where Aldo landed an amazing 31-leg kick on Faber. Despite the fact that the match ended in a unanimous decision, Faber’s leg was completely done. It turned purple and we don’t want to know how he felt the day after. The other great example of the match against Frankie Edgar where he completely naturalized Edgar’s ability to use the lead leg.
1. Marco Ruas
Marco Ruas is a legendary Brazilian freestyle fighter who fought in the famous Vale Tudo tournaments in the 80s long before the name “MMA” even existed. He is one of the pioneers of modern MMA, and alongside Bas Rutten and a couple of others, the first all-around athlete in the sport who was a master in multiple styles. And he was one of the first to acknowledge the importance of cross-training and covering all the aspects of the sport.
He came into cage fighting as a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Luta Livre, and Judo. However, he was also trained in different striking styles such as Muay Thai and Boxing, Capoeira, and Taekwondo. Weighing only 210 pounds, Ruas was a small heavyweight but he managed to make up for the lack in size with a high level of technique.
The best display of his leg-kicking skills was the finale of the UFC 7 tournament where he faced Paul Valerans, who at the time, was weighing around 300 pounds. Despite the massive difference in weight, height, and reach, Ruas used his speed and agility to his advantage. He was constantly on the move, landing kick after kick until one of them didn’t drop Valerans down and enabled Ruas to close the show with vicious ground and pound.
