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The only certain way a fighter has to reach the top of the UFC is to win their fights, but sometimes, that path can be lengthy and fraught with plenty of tricky bouts. However, if a fighter can show that they are a ruthless finisher, they can skyrocket up the rankings far quicker.
Right now, the UFC is filled with several excellent finishers, but as always, some shine over and above their peers as the best in the promotion.
Some of them have been deadly finishers from the moment they set foot in the octagon, while others have honed their skills over a longer time.
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However, the one thing that links them is that when they go to battle, the usual outcome is their opponent either tapping out or leaving the octagon unconscious.
So with this in mind, here are 5 of the best finishers in the UFC today:
#5. Vicente Luque – UFC welterweight
He is currently one of the hottest fighters in the UFC welterweight division, thanks to his submission victory over Michael Chiesa at UFC 265. There’s simply no way of denying that Vicente Luque is one of the most ruthless finishers in the UFC.
‘The Silent Assassin’ entered the octagon for the first time back in 2015 following a run on TUF 21, and largely thanks to his low-key personality, he didn’t come with much fanfare.
However, over the six years that have followed his debut, Luque has proven that very few fighters are capable of finishing their opponents quite like he is. ‘The Silent Assassin’ has 14 UFC wins to his name, and incredibly, only one of those victories has gone the distance.
With a finishing rate like this, it’s hardly surprising that Luque has won a total of eight performance bonuses from the UFC.
The most impressive thing about the finishing skills of 'The Silent Assassin,' though, is the fact that he’s equally deadly with both his striking and his submissions – which means his opponents should fear him no matter where the fight takes place.
Basically, Luque is as ruthless a finisher that we’ve ever seen in the UFC, and right now, he’s proving he can do it against elite-level opponents.
#4. Niko Price – UFC welterweight contender
With a UFC record of 6-5-1-2, nobody is going to mistake Niko Price as a genuine contender for the UFC welterweight title any time soon. In fact, ‘The Hybrid’ hasn’t actually won a fight in the octagon since October 2019.
However, Price will probably have a job for life with the UFC purely because he’s one of the most dangerous finishers in the history of the promotion, seemingly capable of ending a fight out of nowhere at any point and from any position.
Price debuted in the octagon back in 2016, finishing Brandon Thatch with an arm triangle choke. Since then, he’s won a further five fights, finishing each one in genuinely ruthless fashion.
And ‘The Hybrid’ doesn’t just use conventional strikes or submissions to stop his opponents, either. He finished his 2018 fight with Randy Brown with a series of hammer fists from the bottom – a completely unique finish even inside the crazy realm of the UFC.
Meanwhile, his most recent win came via upkick – the first time someone had used the rare move to knock out an opponent in the octagon since 2006, and only the second time it’d occurred in UFC history.
Sure, Price’s fighting style makes him highly vulnerable too – he’s been stopped in four of his five UFC losses, all in violent fashion – but to tell the truth, that’s all part of his appeal.
Simply put, this ruthless finisher is one of the most exciting fighters to watch in the UFC today.
#3. Kamaru Usman – UFC welterweight champion
If you rewound the clock a few years – back to 2018, for instance – there’s absolutely no way that current UFC welterweight kingpin Kamaru Usman would’ve made a list of the best finishers in the UFC.
That’s because ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ had developed a reputation as one of the dullest fighters to watch in the UFC, largely due to a string of dominant, but admittedly somewhat boring decision victories.
However, since he claimed the UFC welterweight title from Tyron Woodley in 2019, Usman has demonstrated that not only is he capable of finishing his opponents, he’s capable of doing it in remarkably violent ways – making him one of the most potent finishers around.
‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ showed flashes of his potential as a finisher back in 2017, when he viciously knocked out Sergio Moraes. But that didn’t prepare fans for what he’s been doing in recent years.
Usman knocked out Colby Covington at UFC 245, breaking his jaw in the process. And after a workmanlike decision over Jorge Masvidal, he then used his striking to methodically destroy Gilbert Burns, eventually finishing him with a series of heavy punches.
And most recently, the Nigerian took out Masvidal in a rematch with a right hand that appeared to turn ‘Gamebred’ into a rag doll. It looked like the kind of knockout that could easily alter a career.
Sure, Usman doesn’t have as many finishes on his ledger as some of his UFC peers, but right now, he’s in a scary groove and he’s taking out some of the best fighters in the world – and that means he belongs on this list.
#2. Amanda Nunes – UFC bantamweight & featherweight champion
Not only is current UFC bantamweight and featherweight champion Amanda Nunes arguably the best female fighter in MMA history, she’s also easily one of the most ruthless finishers in the UFC today.
Whether she’s fighting at 135-lbs or 145-lbs, ‘The Lioness’ seems to be operating in another realm entirely when compared to her opponents. But thankfully, unlike some of her fellow all-time greats, Nunes rarely plays with her food inside the octagon.
Since arriving in the UFC in 2013, Nunes has defeated 14 opponents, losing just once in return. And incredibly, of those 14 victories, just four have seen her go the distance.
More impressively, Nunes holds a total of eight wins over current or former UFC champions, and just one of those fighters – reigning UFC flyweight queen Valentina Shevchenko – managed to go the distance.
And like all of the best finishers, ‘The Lioness’ is well-rounded. It doesn’t matter where the fight is taking place – Nunes can finish her opponents. She’s put away three foes via submission, holds five standing knockouts, and has also used ground-and-pound to take out two of her opponents.
Essentially, Nunes’ ruthlessness marks her out even above the other great female fighters in the UFC and means she’s up there with the best finishers in the promotion today.
#1. Francis Ngannou – UFC heavyweight champion
Arguably the best finisher in the UFC right now across all weight divisions is the reigning UFC heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou.
“Whatever he hits, he destroys” was the famous line used to describe Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, but the quote fits Ngannou equally well. Since his arrival in the UFC in 2015, ‘The Predator’ has won a total of eleven fights – and none have gone the distance.
More to the point, he’s finished all of his opponents, bar one, by knockout. The lone exception was Anthony Hamilton, but even he couldn’t escape the first round, as Ngannou simply ragdolled him to the ground and finished him with a kimura instead.
Of course, it’s the punching power of ‘The Predator’ that makes him such a scary finisher. Ngannou doesn’t have the cleanest technique when it comes to striking, but his punches carry unusual power, even for a UFC heavyweight.
A seemingly glancing blow can often be enough to take out a foe – just ask Junior Dos Santos or Cain Velasquez. And when he lands cleanly, the results can be devastating, as we saw in his knockouts of Stipe Miocic, Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Alistair Overeem.
No other UFC fighter has ever rocketed to the top of the mountain in quite the same way as Ngannou, who has finishing abilities that most other fighters can only dream of. When it comes to finishing opponents in violent fashion, he’s practically in a league of his own.
