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#4. Brandon Moreno, Mexico
While the promotion has had champions of Mexican descent, such as Cain Velasquez and Tony Ferguson, who captured the heavyweight championship and interim lightweight championship respectively, it has never had a Mexican-born champion with citizenship from the country—until the rise of Brandon Moreno. Unlike most champions, Moreno's initial run through the promotion was underwhelming.
After a 3-2 run, 'The Assassin Baby' was released and went on to capture the LFA flyweight championship. Following his victory, Moreno returned to the UFC in a draw against Askar Askarov. 'The Assassin Baby' later amassed a 3-fight win streak, including a win over future interim title-challenger Kai Kara-France. This earned Moreno a title fight against reigning flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo.
The initial bout ended in a draw, a shocking result given how unstoppable Figueiredo had seemed prior. An immediate rematch was booked, and this time, Moreno shocked the world by forcing Figueiredo, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, to submit to a rear-naked choke in the third round to become Mexico's first and thus far only UFC champion.
#3. Francis Ngannou, Cameroon
MMA is a relatively new sport in Africa. Yet even in the early stages of its introduction to the continent, elite African fighters emerged in the form of Kamaru Usman and Israel Adesanya, with both men reigning over their respective divisions as dominant champions. While both Usman and Adesanya are Nigerian-born, current heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou is from Cameroon.
Arguably the most powerful fighter in MMA history, 'The Predator' is relatively new to mixed martial arts. With no prior combat sports experience, Ngannou was first introduced to boxing at the age of 22 before committing to MMA under the direction of former coach Fernand Lopez. Ngannou embarked on an impressive win streak, eventually earning a title fight against Stipe Miocic off the back of 10 wins, all of which were finishes.
Unfortunately, Ngannou's inexperience showed in his initial bout with Miocic as he loaded up on his punches before being thoroughly outwrestled and exhausted by his foe. It was a lopsided loss that led to a 2-fight losing streak. After recapturing his confidence and changing gyms, however, Ngannou worked his way back to a title fight by knocking out every foe before him en route to doing the same to Miocic in their rematch to become the first Cameroonian champion.
