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While striking, grappling, and submission skills are all important, perhaps the most underrated weapon a UFC fighter can possess is tremendous conditioning.
The ability to fight for several rounds without tiring is paramount to success in the UFC, so it’s not surprising that there are a number of fighters who possess this ability.
Of course, on the flip side, there are also some fighters – even high-level contenders – who have shown a deficit in regard to this ability.
With that in mind, here are five UFC fighters who are conditioned to go five rounds (and five who need to work on their cardio).
#5. Jiri Prochazka - UFC light-heavyweight champion
Prior to his recent five-round UFC light heavyweight title bout with Glover Teixeira, it probably would’ve been fair to question the cardio of Jiri Prochazka.
After all, the Czech Republic native deployed such a ferocious attack to take out Volkan Oezdemir and Dominick Reyes that it would’ve been hard to imagine him ever going three rounds and remaining fresh, let alone five.
However, Prochazka’s clash with Teixeira was an eye-opener in more than one sense. ‘Denisa’ was remarkably aggressive in the early rounds, as fans probably suspected he would be, but he didn’t slow down when the Brazilian veteran refused to go down.
Instead, the Czech native’s striking output remained largely consistent throughout the bout – peaking with 72 strikes thrown in the third round – so the fact that he finished Teixeira via submission with just seconds to go in the fifth round was remarkable. The achievement stands out even more when considering the damage both fighters sustained.
It should be clear that ‘Denisa’ has the conditioning to go five rounds with ease, even in a wild firefight like he had against Teixeira.
#4. Max Holloway – UFC featherweight contender
Perhaps no other fighter in the UFC has earned as much of a reputation for being able to throw strikes with extreme volume as Max Holloway. It goes without saying, then, that the Hawaiian is definitely comfortable fighting for five rounds.
Sure, ‘Blessed’ was unable to regain the featherweight title from Alexander Volkanovski in their recent trilogy bout, but he was still incredibly active during that fight, throwing a total of 335 strikes across five rounds.
Prior to that bout, he’d broken a UFC record by landing a ludicrous 447 significant strikes against Calvin Kattar. He followed that by landing an equally impressive 230 shots against Yair Rodriguez — both clashes went the distance.
The Hawaiian appears to be an athlete who simply doesn’t get tired, which is astonishing considering that he’s renowned for making a huge weight cut to reach the 145 pound featherweight cut-off limit.
Despite his losses to Volkanovski, it’s safe to say that any fighter who ends up in a five round clash with ‘Blessed’ is probably in for a world of trouble.
#3. Alexander Volkanovski – UFC featherweight champion
Given that he’s been able to outlast Max Holloway, the UFC’s greatest-ever volume striker, in three separate five round clashes, it’d be insane not to name current featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski on this list.
‘Alexander the Great’ has demonstrated how easily he can fight for five rounds at a torrid pace against foes other than Holloway, as well.
The last time the Australian fought in a bout that was scheduled for less than five rounds was his clash with Jose Aldo in May 2019, and even then he showed off his phenomenal conditioning, landing 95 strikes on the Brazilian.
Since then, not only has Volkanovski outlasted Holloway on three occasions – outscoring him in terms of striking in all three of their bouts – but he’s also beaten Brian Ortega and Chan Sung Jung, going the distance with the former and stopping the latter in the fourth round.
Given that ‘Alexander the Great’ racked up an incredible 214 strikes against Ortega – with 50 of them coming in the fifth and final round – it’s definitely fair to say that there are no questions about his conditioning.
#2. Nate Diaz – UFC welterweight contender
Both of the Diaz brothers have always been well-known for their excellent conditioning, but while older brother Nick came under fire for his seemingly poor cardio in his 2021 bout with Robbie Lawler, the same criticism cannot be levied at Nate.
Even in fights that he’s ended up losing, the younger Diaz has never appeared to be tired, and in many of his bouts, he’s the one coming on stronger than his opponent in the later rounds, even if it’s been too little, too late at times.
He notably managed to push Conor McGregor to the breaking point in their second fight in 2016, only losing due to the Irishman’s fast start in the earlier rounds. Had the bout gone to a sixth or seventh round, there’s no disputing that the native of Stockton would’ve likely won.
Most recently, Diaz almost pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in UFC history when he came from behind to stun Leon Edwards in the fifth round of their bout, almost taking the English fighter out despite being miles behind on the scorecards.
Diaz lost that clash, but due to his fifth-round performance, he essentially stole the show and ensured that he remained a hot commodity. How much longer he’ll be with the UFC is anyone’s guess, but it’s safe to say he definitely belongs on this list.
#1. Kamaru Usman – UFC welterweight champion
Given that he’s currently ranked as the top pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC, it should hardly come as a surprise that reigning welterweight champion Kamaru Usman has some of the best conditioning in the promotion.
‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ is a master of dragging his opponents into deep water and drowning them with his relentless pressure, and much of that ability stems from his seemingly endless gas tank.
Usman has gone the distance in a total of five bouts inside the octagon, and even in grueling clashes like his second fight with Colby Covington in 2021, he’s never appeared to slow down for a second, let alone look tired or exhausted.
More to the point, ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ has always displayed ridiculous levels of toughness in terms of his ability to take a shot and recover from it, and a lot of that may also be attributable to his incredible conditioning.
Few fighters have the ability to look as good late in the fifth round as they do in the first, and Usman is one of them, making it unsurprising that he’s rated so highly by fans and experts alike.
#5. Paulo Costa – UFC middleweight contender
Based on his most recent bout, one UFC fighter who probably needs a bit of work on his conditioning – whether he fights at 185 or 205 pounds – is former middleweight title challenger Paulo Costa.
To be fair to ‘The Eraser’, his conditioning at 185lbs looked excellent in his initial run to title contention. After all, he was involved in one of the best bouts of 2019 against Yoel Romero and managed to outlast the Cuban down the stretch to edge out a decision win.
However, in his most recent trip to the octagon, the Brazilian seemed to tire out very quickly and ended up being worn out in the later rounds by Marvin Vettori, who ended up coming away with his hand raised.
Costa did claim that a bicep injury had derailed his training camp for the fight – both causing him to miss weight and to gas out somewhat – so if that’s the case, then perhaps it’s unfair to say he needs some work on his cardio.
Either way, though, ‘The Eraser’ will hope to produce a better performance in his next fight.
#4. Derrick Lewis – UFC heavyweight contender
One of the classic tropes of MMA is that heavier fighters often don’t have the best cardio, and while that isn’t always true, one fighter who has proved the validity of this stereotype is Derrick Lewis.
Given that he possesses near-unparalleled punching power, ‘The Black Beast’ doesn’t often have to go deep into his fights. In fact, in a total of 24 trips to the octagon, Lewis has been the distance on just four occasions. Incredibly, he also hasn’t lost a decision.
However, in some of his lengthier bouts, ‘The Black Beast’ also blatantly ran out of gas. He seemed to be exhausted in his 2017 fight with Mark Hunt before succumbing to a fourth round TKO and lost to Ciryl Gane via the same method in the third round in 2021.
To add to this, Lewis has always been particularly susceptible to body shots – often a sign of a fighter who could stand to work on their conditioning.
#3. Tai Tuivasa – UFC heavyweight contender
Right now, there are few hotter fighters in the UFC’s heavyweight division than Australia’s Tai Tuivasa. Not only has his ‘shoey’ celebration gone viral across the planet, but he’s also won his past five fights, all via KO or TKO.
While ‘Bam Bam’ displayed both tremendous knockout power and a granite chin in those fights, he’s also shown that he can struggle when a bout goes deeper. Notably, the longest that any of his recent wins have gone is just under seven minutes.
Prior to this, Tuivasa was defeated by Blagoy Ivanov via decision in a fight that he initially appeared before tiring out in the later rounds. He also lost to both Junior Dos Santos and Sergey Spivak in the second round after arguably winning the first round of both fights.
If ‘Bam Bam’ could work on his conditioning to the point that he could remain dangerous into the latter rounds of his fights, he’d be a very dangerous man indeed. This would almost certainly make him a bonafide title contender if he isn’t already.
#2. Conor McGregor – UFC lightweight contender
While Conor McGregor is definitely the UFC’s biggest-ever star and one of the most successful fighters in the history of combat sports, it’s also fair to suggest that his conditioning has often not been his strongest point.
In his early days with the promotion, ‘The Notorious’ didn’t exactly need amazing cardio, as he took out most of his opponents early on in their fights, even when competing against world-class fighters like Jose Aldo and Dustin Poirier.
However, it was during his two fights with Nate Diaz that his cardio issues were exposed, as he self-destructed after being unable to put the Californian away with his power punches during the early rounds.
To be fair to the Irishman, he did manage to find a second wind in his rematch with Diaz – something that may have won him a decision. However, he then appeared exhausted in his two fights with Dustin Poirier in 2021, which may have cost him the fight at UFC 257 in particular.
Whether better conditioning could really help ‘The Notorious’ is debatable, as at his best, he tends to dispatch anyone he faces quickly. Regardless, if he could avoid tiring quickly, he’d definitely be better for it.
#1. Khamzat Chimaev – UFC welterweight contender
Khamzat Chimaev is undoubtedly the fastest-rising star in the UFC right now, and with five wins in the octagon under his belt – including a win over former welterweight title challenger Gilbert Burns – it only seems like a matter of time before he captures the title.
However, if ‘Borz’ has shown a single chink in his armor thus far, it’s arguably his conditioning in fights that go to the later rounds.
Chimaev’s first four bouts didn’t go long enough to warrant any questions about his cardio. He took out three of his opponents in the first round, and while John Phillips made it into the second, he was also painfully overmatched.
In his bout with Burns, though, Chimaev threw so much heavy leather at the Brazilian in rounds one and two that by the time the fight went into the third and final round, he was clearly beginning to run out of steam.
Would ‘Borz’ be able to thrive in the later rounds of a five-round bout, particularly if it were a title clash with current champ Kamaru Usman, one of the best conditioned athletes in the UFC?
Based on his fight with Burns, it’s a genuine mystery, and although he could easily prove his doubters wrong, right now his conditioning appears to be the only question mark around him.
