The 5 best UFC fighters from Europe

UFC 194: Aldo vs. McGregor
Where does Conor McGregor sit on the pantheon of top European UFC fighters?

As the UFC exploded worldwide shortly after the TUF boom of 2005 began, fighters from all around the world have flocked to the Octagon to attempt to make their name against the best. Since then, Europe – well-known for producing some great fighters in other combat sports including kickboxing, judo and sambo – has contributed tons of fighters onto the UFC roster.

Despite MMA still being outlawed in some countries such as France, and rival promotions springing up in Eastern Europe – particularly in Poland and Russia – the UFC has seen a handful of true greats emerge from Europe to take their place on the pantheon of legends. For this list, I’ll be looking past fighters from the UK – as they already had a top five – and around the remainder of Europe for who to call the best of the best.


#5 Alistair Overeem

UFC Fight Night: Overeem v Arlovski
Alistair Overeem is still one of the world's best Heavyweights

A divisive fighter due to his entire aura, most fans either love or hate ‘The Reem’, but no matter which side you fall on, you have to respect him.

One of the most experienced fighters on the UFC roster with almost 60 professional bouts to his name, Overeem entered the UFC in 2011 after moving to Heavyweight some four years beforehand.

Although rumours that his huge growth in muscle mass was down to PEDs persisted, he was put into a Heavyweight title eliminator against Brock Lesnar in his promotional debut, and won the fight violently in the first round with a kick to the body.

Overeem was then booked against Junior Dos Santos in a match for the Heavyweight crown, but about a month before, he tested positive for elevated testosterone levels and was banned for a year.

Upon his return, knockout losses to Antonio Silva, Travis Browne and Ben Rothwell seemed to signal an end to his run, but he rebounded by beating Stefan Struve, Roy Nelson, Dos Santos in a re-booking of that fight, and Andrei Arlovski.

A title shot against Stipe Miocic saw him fall short, but he’s since beaten Mark Hunt and Fabricio Werdum, and a win over Francis Ngannou could net him another title shot.

A genuinely brilliant kickboxer who won 2010’s K-1 Grand Prix, Overeem has developed his skills to the point where he is both deadly from range and from inside the clinch, preferring the use of his knees and a looping left hook, as well as kicks to the legs and body. But he’s also a very dangerous grappler, and his guillotine is as potent as any on the UFC roster.

At 37 years old he’s fighting as well as he ever has despite years of damage, and his longevity and success earned him a spot here.

#4 Khabib Nurmagomedov

UFC 205: Nurmagomedov v Johnson
Khabib Nurmagomedov has the talent to become a UFC champion in the future

At 24-0 with wins over legit fighters like Michael Johnson, Rafael Dos Anjos and Gleison Tibau, you’d think Khabib Nurmagomedov would make it higher in a list like this.

The Dagestani grappling sensation certainly has the ability to do so, but he’s been massively held back by his own issues – a mixture of weight issues, various injuries, and the fact that he won’t fight during the Festival of Ramadan has restricted him to just eight UFC appearances in the last five years.

If he could’ve fought more frequently, then who knows – he could already have been holding a UFC title.

Nurmagomedov debuted in the UFC in January 2012 with a win over Kamal Shalorus, and he’s been perfect ever since. A wrecking ball of a fighter, Khabib prefers to wrestle his opponents to the ground and beat the hell out of them when they’re down.

Thus far, nobody has really been able to stop his takedown – he hit 21 of them on Abel Trujillo, for instance, and Trujillo isn’t a bad wrestler! – and he’s shown both solid skills standing and in terms of submissions too, as his kimura last November on Michael Johnson showed.

The word now is that Nurmagomedov is fit and healthy, and he’s signed to fight Edson Barboza at UFC 219 later this month.

Beat the Brazilian and he should find himself in line for a title shot again, as he did before withdrawing due to weight cutting issues this past March. If he can continue to dominate his opponents as he has done thus far in his career, he could well end up being recognised as the best European fighter in UFC history. At 29 years old, he’s certainly still got time on his side, too.

#3 Alexander Gustafsson

UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson v Teixeira
Alexander Gustafsson came close to winning the Light-Heavyweight title on two occasions

The face of Swedish MMA, Gustafsson has been a contender in the UFC’s 205lbs division for the best part of a decade now. Debuting back in 2009 with a knockout win over Jared Hamman, ‘The Mauler’ was a very raw talent back then, and it was actually a loss that changed his career trajectory.

Gustafsson was choked out by Phil Davis, but the experience and friendship he formed with Davis allowed him to hook up with Team Alliance – Dominick Cruz’s famed camp – and his improvement since that time has been immeasurable.

Since then he’s defeated real top contenders and former champions – the likes of Matt Hamill, Thiago Silva, Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua and Glover Teixeira have all fallen at the hands of the lanky Swede.

He’s also come within a whisker of winning the UFC title on two separate occasions, and both fights could be argued to be within the top handful of title fights in promotional history. His first attempt saw him go toe-to-toe with Jon Jones, pushing Jones harder than anyone had ever done before, and even taking the champion down for the first time before the judges decided Jones had done enough to retain.

And his second attempt saw him almost knock Daniel Cormier out with a knee before he came away on the wrong end of a split decision.

Given how close he came to beating two of the all-time greats at 205lbs – and the fact that his only other UFC losses came early on in his career against Davis, and a knockout at the hands of ‘Rumble’ Johnson following an accidental headbutt – there’s no reason to suspect that Gustafsson couldn’t end up with the belt around his waist at some point – particularly now that Jones is likely to spend a long time on the shelf after a second positive drug test.

When all is said and done though, regardless of whether he ever wins the Light-Heavyweight title, Gustafsson will certainly go down as one of the best European fighters in UFC history.

#2 Joanna Jedrzejczyk

UFC 217: Jedrzejczyk v Namajunas
Joanna Jedrzejczyk managed five successful defences of her UFC title

Otherwise known as ‘Joanna Violence’ or ‘Joanna Champion’ due to the tricky pronunciation of her Polish surname, Jedrzejczyk was recently defeated by Rose Namajunas for her Strawweight title.

Before that loss though, she’d built a reputation as one of the UFC’s most fearsome champions, and with five successive title defences – over just two years, which is insane really – she could already have made a fair claim as being one of the all-time greats of the Octagon. After all, even legendary champions like BJ Penn and Chuck Liddell didn’t manage as many successful defences.

Joanna was largely unknown when she joined the UFC’s roster in 2014 as part of the new Strawweight division. She came in from her native Poland with a 6-0 MMA record and a handful of world kickboxing titles, but it was her win over Brazilian standout Claudia Gadelha – seen by many as the best 115lber in the world – that opened many people’s eyes.

Jedrzejczyk showed striking skill not yet seen in the division and was able to survive Gadelha’s powerful grappling, too. That win netted her a title shot against champion Carla Esparza, and although she came in as an underdog, Jedrzejczyk butchered the champion over two rounds to claim the title.

After that, she just seemed to get better with each fight, showing improved movement, striking variation, cardio and wrestling, and it was this incredible curve that allowed her to defeat top contenders like Gadelha (in a rematch), Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Jessica Andrade, all with relative ease in lopsided fashion.

It’s too early to tell how she’ll bounce back from the loss to Namajunas – did she take her too lightly? – but even if she fails upon her return, for her run of dominance from 2014 to 2017 – eight successive wins and five title defences – she’ll remain up there with the greats anyway.

Honourable Mentions:

Bas Rutten
How can we forget them?

Bas Rutten – an MMA pioneer from the Netherlands who fought initially in Japan under the Pancrase banner, ‘El Guapo’ made his way into the UFC in 1999. Two fights and a controversial decision later, and he was the UFC Heavyweight champion. Unfortunately, injuries prevented him from ever defending the title and forced him into a premature retirement, meaning he couldn’t really cement himself as a UFC legend. He went on to become one of MMA’s most well-known commentators and has been inducted into the UFC’s Hall of Fame.

Mirko Cro Cop – The Croatian kickboxer is widely recognised as one of the greatest Heavyweight MMA fighters of all time, and his list of victims – Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman, Igor Vovchanchyn, Wanderlei Silva, Josh Barnett – reads like a who’s who list. But the majority of his success came in Japan inside the PRIDE ring, and in the UFC his record was a poor 5-6, which keeps him off this list.

Germaine de Randamie – I felt I had to include her given she did win a UFC title, although her reign was both short and controversial as she gave the title up rather than face Cristiane Justino. Recognised as a world-class kickboxer, de Randamie built a record of 5-2 at 135lbs across StrikeForce and the UFC before beating Holly Holm for the inaugural Women’s Featherweight title this February. But due to her spotty record and her lack of title defences, she can’t make the top five.

Andrei Arlovski – With his flowing hair, thick beard and fanged mouthpiece, Arlovski was one of the most recognisable and fearsome fighters on the UFC roster as the TUF boom exploded in 2005. He captured the Heavyweight title with a win over Tim Sylvia and then defended it twice, but lost it back to Sylvia a year later. Arlovski left the UFC to become one of the sport’s highest-paid fighters in 2008, and a string of losses outside the promotion seemed to signal an end to his career. But he returned to the UFC in 2014 and resurrected himself with four straight wins. He’s still competing and remains ranked in the top 15 today.

#1 Conor McGregor

UFC 194: Aldo vs. McGregor
Conor McGregor's accomplishments alone put him up there with the all-time greats

Okay, so this was probably quite obvious in the end. Conor McGregor is, of course, the UFC’s first ever Irish champion, and he’s probably the most famous man in MMA history.

He’s almost certainly the biggest draw in the young history of the sport – selling pay-per-views by the million – and whether you love him or you hate him for his money-obsessed, trash talking, braggadocio style, you can’t deny that he’s been simply amazing since emerging onto the UFC scene in 2012.

Like it or not, based on his accomplishments alone – holding two titles in two weight classes at the same time – he’s up there with the greats like GSP, Silva and Hughes.

Debuting with a knockout win over Marcus Brimage on the undercard of a UFC on Fuel show, McGregor’s rise was as meteoric as any we’ve seen in the sport. Even when he was on the shelf for a year following an ACL injury, he kept his name out there with his non-stop trash talk.

Upon his return, he headlined the first UFC show in Dublin in five years and knocked out Diego Brandao, took out a top contender in Dustin Poirier in a matter of minutes, and then shut up the detractors who said he was avoiding wrestlers by starching Chad Mendes to take the Interim Featherweight title at UFC 189.

The Interim title was created when Jose Aldo pulled out of a meeting with McGregor, but he couldn’t avoid the unification match for too long and when the two met at UFC 194, it was expected to be a titanic battle. Instead, Conor shut up his critics with a one-punch, 13-second knockout.

The title win cemented him as the biggest name in the sport, and since then it’s just gotten bigger. His infamous series with Nate Diaz followed – McGregor lost the first meeting, but avenged the loss in the second – and then he knocked out Eddie Alvarez to claim the Lightweight title, too.

Since then, of course, it’s all gotten a little silly – a freakshow boxing match with Floyd Mayweather earned him millions of dollars and quite a lot of respect, but since then, it’s been weird controversies like his homophobic slurs at a UFC event and his recent cage-jumping escapades during a Bellator show.

Whether McGregor gets back into the cage is anyone’s guess – he certainly doesn’t need to from a financial perspective, but if he doesn’t, his detractors will always call him out on his lack of title defences – but he remains a superstar in every possible facet. And with his accomplishments to date, he’s certainly the best European fighter to ever set foot into the UFC Octagon.

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Edited by Shruti Sadbhav