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#4. Israel Adesanya
The reigning UFC middleweight champion is one of the most puzzling strikers his divisional rivals has ever seen. Israel Adesanya has a storied and successful kickboxing career that predates his transition to MMA. Inside the octagon, he has proven even more effective than he did in his days as a high-level kickboxer.
Long and rangy, 'The Last Stylebender' uses his physical attributes well, forcing his opponents to engage him from a distance longer than what they're accustomed to. On the outside, Adesanya repeatedly stings his foes with step-in jabs and hard low kicks if they refuse to close the distance against him. Once he's established the threat of his powerful low kicks, Adesanya's feints begin working in his favor.
While most fighters feint with their hands and shoulders, the Nigerian also feints with his hips, thrusting them to tease a phantom low kick. If his foes refuse to engage him, they sit at the mercy of Adesanya's feints, allowing him to dictate every striking engagement. Against foes who dare to close the distance against him, he proves deadly.
He pulls back at the waist as his opponents step forward, causing their punches to overextend. Once his foe is out of position, the Nigerian twists his upper-body at an angle, stunning his adversary with counter-hooks through their open side. Doing so led to his knockout wins over former UFC champion Robert Whittaker and one-time UFC title challenger Paulo Costa.
The difficulty opponents encounter in landing blows to Adesanya's head also causes them to fixate on his chin.They convince themselves that because of how often they miss, the next punch or kick they throw must be thrown with maximum power, so that if anything does land, it will be a knockout blow.
This, however, works in Adesanya's favor, as it causes his opponents to overextend even more, ultimately exposing them to his counters as they bring themselves out of position.
#3. Rafael Fiziev
As a former world champion Muay Thai kickboxer and current kickboxing coach at Tiger Muay Thai, Rafael Fiziev is a surging contender in what is arguably the deepest and most talent-rich weight class in MMA: the UFC lightweight division. The Russian recently defeated former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos by knockout at UFC on ESPN 39. However, prior to that bout, Fiziev faced UFC lightweight staple Brad Riddell, a skilled kickboxer himself.
High-level kickboxers tend to have a habit of leaning out of range when their opponents come forward, forcing their foes to overextend on punches. Fiziev, however, puts his defensive lean to offensive use by leaning back into range right after avoiding his foe's strikes. Upon leaning back into range, the former Muay Thai world champion uses the momentum of his punches to sting his opponents with counters.
He often punctuates his combinations with hard kicks to the body, which can be difficult for his foes to defend due to Fiziev's use of stance-switching to shift the alignment of his strikes. However, Fiziev's use of misdirection extends beyond mere stance-switching. The Russian kickboxer incorporates level changes when kicking or glancing in one direction before kicking in another to disrupt his own rhythm.
Additionally, he's an especially calculated striker in the clinch, often using it to throw elbows off the break when his opponents exit with their hands low. Alternatively, Fiziev steps across his foe, forcing them to step into him and the path of a hard elbow.
#2. Cedric Doumbe
One of the greatest kickboxers of all-time, Cedric Doumbe is a former two-time Glory kickboxing world champion and the UFC's newest welterweight acquisition. While he is the owner of a 2-0 MMA record, the UFC debutant is a veteran of 83 kickboxing bouts.
As a striker, Doumbe is unorthodox, using a breadth of non-standard movements in his matchups. His stance, for one, is atypical in Dutch kickboxing circles. Doumbe positions his body at an angle with a bladed stance, enabling him to more easily commit his weight to his jabs whenever he steps in.
Despite his bladed stance, the former world champion kickboxer's opponents struggle to engage him in the pocket. Whenever he's backed up and his space is crowded, Doumbe immediately flattens out his stance, shuffling from side to side to misdirect his foes until they commit to a punch. This allows him to slip on the outside of the punch with a counter to his opponent's open side.
While most fighters only pivot at angles to slip punches through their opponent's open side, Doumbe pivots and turns his hips into kicks that he smashes in through their open sides, targeting either the head or body. The UFC debutant uses feints, fakes, and stance readjustments, going from bladed to squared and then back again as he builds his offense into layers.
#1. Alex Pereira
The first Glory kickboxer to capture two championships in different weight classes is expected to face Israel Adesanya for middleweight supremacy in the UFC. Alex Pereira's storied rivalry with 'The Last Stylebender' is due to the former's two victories over the reigning UFC middleweight champion.
Not only was Pereira good enough to defeat Adesanya in the past, he's only improved since their last matchup. 'Poatan' possesses one of the greatest left hooks in kickboxing history. He understands that in order to land a left hook, an opponent must first be in position to be countered by one.
The Brazilian power-puncher uses this knowledge to tweak his stance by keeping his shoulders square and his chest open. Whenever he steps into range, seemingly exposing himself to his opponent's left hook, Pereira's competing left hook is already halfway complete due to his stance. While his foes swing their left hook through a wider, longer arc, Pereira simply intercepts them with his own.
The shorter distance his left hook has to travel is what led to his knockout against Israel Adesanya when the pair last crossed paths. Even beyond his left hook, Pereira's skillset is a dangerous tool, as he attacks the body, cuts off angles, incorporates low kicks, and defends against them in magnificent fashion.
