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In the UFC, there is no outcome more ideal for a fighter than finishing their opponent. Whether it's by knockout or submission, it punctuates their performance with a finality that, more often than not, cannot be denied. More than that, exciting finishes can lead to life-changing opportunities.
For example, Cody Garbrandt knocking out Takeya Mizugaki faster than Dominick Cruz did was the exclamation point he needed to secure a title fight against 'The Dominator'. Unfortunately, finishing one's opponent is easier said than done, even for high-level fighters.
Some mixed martial artists, even perennial contenders in the top three of their division, simply struggle to finish their foes. Whether it's due to a stylistic reason or simply a lack of knockout power or offensive Brazilian jiu-jitsu, some fighters are more prone to decisions than others. This list covers five of them.
#5. Raquel Pennington, UFC women's bantamweight
In the aftermath of Amanda Nunes' retirement, Raquel Pennington may very well be the next 135-pounder to fight for the vacant title. Her opponent will likely be Julianna Peña. Unfortunately, most fans don't remember 'Rocky' for anything besides her crushing loss to 'The Lioness'.
This is due partially to Raquel Pennington's struggles with finishing her opponents, which makes some forget that she is currently at the helm of a five-fight win streak. In 15 career wins, 'Rocky' has just five finishes, with three of them happening in the UFC.
One of them came against Jéssica Andrade, who fights at strawweight. Meanwhile, Raquel Pennington was large enough to fight at featherweight, where she scored her latest finish against Macy Chiasson via submission.
#4. Belal Muhammad, UFC welterweight
No one can dispute the competitive merits of Belal Muhammad's current win streak. 'Remember the Name' is on a five-fight run of consecutive wins. While a no-contest against Leon Edwards due to an accidental eyepoke robbed him of another potential win, he had won four fights straight prior.
Thus, 'Remember the Name' is unbeaten across 10 fights and is hoping to be booked for a title fight against Edwards in a rematch. Unfortunately, Muhammad is not a finisher. He doesn't have much punching power, nor is he a consistent submission threat. He has six finishes in 23 wins, an extremely low percentage.
Last year, he TKO'd Sean Brady to score his first finish since 2019. In 18 UFC fights, he has only finished three opponents. Instead, Muhammad is more comfortable coasting to a convincing decision win.
#3. Marvin Vettori, UFC middleweight
Marvin Vettori isn't the most remarkable fighter when he steps inside the octagon. 'The Italian Dream' is a hard-nosed generalist who can wrestle and has serviceable striking. Unfortunately, he offers no submission threat, nor does he have the knockout power to make his strikes potential fight-enders.
After amassing a five-fight win streak, he challenged Israel Adesanya for middleweight supremacy in a rematch. He lost the bout and has gone 2-2 since. Nevertheless, he remains a constant fixture at the top of the division. His finishing rate, however, is low for a fighter who is ranked as high as #4 at 185 pounds.
While a glance at his records shows 11 finishes in 19 wins, context matters. Of those 11 finishes, 9 came on the regional European MMA scene before his UFC run. Thus, he has only finished two opponents in his 9 UFC wins thus far.
#2. Colby Covington, UFC welterweight
Colby Covington is often regarded as the second-best welterweight in the world. At least, that was his label during Kamaru Usman's dominant reign atop the division. The NCAA Division I standout's tireless workrate and suffocating wrestling style rendered him a difficult outing for nearly any fighter he faced.
He became the interim welterweight champion and had mounted a seven-fight win streak to earn a crack at undisputed gold. He is currently awaiting his third title fight against Leon Edwards and is currently ranked #2 in the division. However, Covington has never been known for his finishing ability.
Instead, he tires his opponents out, while rarely posing a knockout or submission threat. He has eight finishes in 17 wins, three of which came prior to his UFC run. And of his five finishes in the UFC, one was due to a rib injury Tyron Woodley suffered after awkwardly cranking on a guillotine choke.
So of his 12 wins in the promotion, only four can be considered traditional finishes that came due to strikes or a submission.
#1. Leon Edwards, UFC welterweight champion
While Leon Edwards won Knockout of the Year honors for his legendary head kick against Kamaru Usman in Salt Lake City, the Englishman is by no means a knockout artist. In fact, he's not a consistent finisher at all.
His rematch with 'The Nigerian Nightmare' had an outcome more expected of him as he won via majority decision. In 21 wins, Edwards has scored 10 finishes. However, six of those finishes happened on English soil, before he embarked on his run in Dana White's promotion. So in 13 UFC wins, he has four finishes.
In the last six years, 'Rocky' managed just three finishes in 12 fights. It's a low finishing rate, which is especially glaring given Edwards' general size advantage over most of the welterweights in the division.
