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Brazil is considered to be the birthplace of MMA by many.
Over the years, a long list of MMA fighters from the nation has backed up this statement with their performances. Today, the sport has grown so much in Brazil that UFC Fighter Kelvin Gastelum once noted that MMA is right next to soccer in the country.
While the statement from Gastelum is a topic that has room for a debate, there is no debate on whether Brazil has contributed to the sport or not. Apart from how the country helped the sport to evolve, a long list of legendary names came up from the streets over the years and most of them are still unmatched.
Picking five names from this long list was a paramount task and many big names had to be left out for one reason or the other. With this anticipatory bail in place, here are five of the most decorated Brazilian UFC Fighters.
#5 Vitor Belfort
Vitor Belfort has been a household name in the UFC from the early days itself. He won the Heavyweight tournament of UFC 12 at the tender age of 19 and it proved to be his big break.
Over the next two decades that followed, Belfort fought some legendary battles and also won the UFC Light Heavyweight championship once.
Belfort drew battle lines with names like Randy Couture, Anderson Silva, Chuck Liddell, and Wanderlei Silva during his UFC run and all these rivalries were iconic, to say the least.
The best part about Belfort was perhaps the way in which he reinvented himself over the years. He was a relevant name for nearly 20 years and finished with a professional record of 26-14 to his name.
Unlike most of the other names in this list, Belfort didn’t have many championships or title defences to showcase but he was someone that the fans loved to see.
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#4 Jose Aldo
Up until his infamous defeat to Conor McGregor, Jose Aldo was a fighter that seemed unstoppable at Featherweight. Aldo’s dominance in the weight division started back in WEC where he won the Featherweight title in 2009. He defended the WEC title twice before it was converted to the UFC Featherweight title.
Though the title was converted, Aldo’s brilliance remained the same. He went on to have seven successful defences over the course of five years and defeated the likes of Chad Mendes (2), Ricardo Lamas, Frankie Edgar, and Kenny Florian among others.
This impressive run was put to an end by McGregor and after that fight, Aldo never seemed the same. He did come back strongly by securing wins against Frankie Edgar and Jeremy Stephens but at the same time, he suffered two back to back defeats against Max Holloway.
He now holds a professional record of 27-4 to his name and is hands down one of the most dominant champions that came out of Brazil.
#3 Cris Cyborg
The fact that Cris Cyborg has not lost a fight since 2005 is enough to justify her inclusion in the list. The reigning UFC Women’s Featherweight champion started her career back in 2005 with a defeat against Erica Paes.
She followed up this loss with seven straight victories that landed her a fight against Gina Carano for the Strikeforce Women’s Featherweight championship. The showdown with Carano proved to be the turning point in Cyborg’s career as the first round victory she secured catapulted her to the top. 10 years and 12 fights later, Cyborg still remains on top of the food chain.
The Brazilian currently holds a professional record of 20-1 to her name and was crowned the UFC Featherweight champion when she defeated Tonya Evinger at UFC 214. Prior to her run in the UFC, Cyborg also left her mark in Invicta Fighting Championship where she was the Featherweight champion.
#2 Anderson Silva
It is easy to describe the inclusion of Anderson Silva in this list with numbers. But the fact is; Silva is beyond numbers. Although he went on to have a 16-fight winning streak in the UFC which included 10 UFC Middleweight title defences, he will always be remembered for the flair and flamboyance that he brought into the octagon.
During his dominant 16-fight run, Silva outclassed names like Dan Henderson, Demian Maia, Chael Sonnen, and Vitor Belfort among others and had only two decision victories. The defeat to Chris Weidman, however, changed everything. Silva is 1-3-1 after his first loss to Weidman and he got caught up in PED controversies as well.
The suspensions have indeed left a black mark on his resume but that doesn’t take away anything from what Silva has achieved.
Currently holding a professional record of 34-8, Silva is hands down one of the greatest fighters of our generation.
#1 Royce Gracie
On top of the list is Royce Gracie, the original Ultimate Fighting Championship Champion.
Royce played a huge rule in changing the way in which people looked at fighting. Before Gracie, there was an assumption that size was the biggest deciding factor when it came to a fight. But with the first UFC Tournament, Gracie proved everyone wrong.
He managed to defeat opponents who were twice his size and went on to win the tournament with three straight submission victories. UFC 2, UFC 3 and UFC 4 also ended up being proving ground for Gracie. He won both UFC 2 and UFC 4 and was forced to withdraw from UFC 3 only because of fatigue. His record stood at 11-0 after UFC 4 which is mighty impressive.
Royce currently has a record of 15-2 with his only losses coming up against Kazushi Sakuraba and Matt Hughes.
