The 5 heaviest fighters in UFC history

#4 John Matua – 400lbs

Any longtime UFC fan who’s seen highlights of the old Wild West days of the promotion would probably recognise John Matua instantly. Unfortunately for Matua, they probably wouldn’t recognise him for his massive size. The Hawaiian stood at an imposing 400lbs and claimed to be a master in the “ancient Hawaiian art of bone breaking”. Unfortunately for Matua, in his one fight with the UFC, he never got the chance to show off such skills.

See, the reason fans would recognise Matua is that he’s the poor dude in the black bodysuit who faced off with David ‘Tank’ Abbott in both men’s UFC debuts back at UFC 6. You could never fault Matua for his efforts – he came forward and attempted to grab Abbott, who was massively outweighed but not outgunned. Tank hit him with a barrage of punches that sent him crashing down, and added one extra right hand for good measure, stiffening Matua up and leaving him convulsing.

Abbott’s mocking celebration of Matua’s convulsions – arms outstretched, shaking – remains infamous to this day. The Hawaiian was taken out of the Octagon wearing an oxygen mask, but thankfully he was alright. He went on to post a 1-4 MMA record before retiring in 2000, proving that a lot of the time in MMA, size doesn’t count for all that much.