Kickboxing
Alex Pereira, Israel Adesanya and more: Ranking the UFC's greatest ever kickboxers
Watch SENSHI 33 live and for free on DAZN
Some of the greatest kickboxers in combat sports history have made the transition from the ring to the UFC Octagon.
For some, kickboxing provided the foundation for a championship-winning MMA career. Others arrived in the UFC having already established themselves among the best fighters in the world in their original discipline.
Few have combined the two quite like Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya, whose rivalry ultimately crossed over from kickboxing into UFC championship fights.
For this ranking, however, we are looking primarily at what each fighter achieved as a kickboxer before establishing themselves in the UFC, rather than simply ranking the greatest strikers in UFC history.
That is why legendary names such as Anderson Silva do not feature. Silva is undoubtedly one of the greatest strikers and fighters the UFC has ever seen, but he did not enter the promotion with the elite-level professional kickboxing pedigree of the five fighters below.
From K-1 legends to GLORY world champions, DAZN ranks five of the greatest kickboxers ever to make it into the UFC.
5. Gökhan Saki
Gökhan Saki's UFC career may have been brief, but there can be little argument about his credentials as a kickboxer.
The Turkish-Dutch star spent years competing against the elite of heavyweight and light-heavyweight kickboxing, building a reputation for his ferocious combinations and devastating knockout power.
Saki competed against a who's who of elite kickboxers during his career and eventually reached the top of GLORY, becoming the promotion's light-heavyweight champion in 2014.
He eventually signed with the UFC and produced exactly the type of debut fans expected, knocking out Henrique da Silva in 2017.
His MMA run never came close to matching his kickboxing career, but purely in terms of the striking résumé he brought into the Octagon, few UFC fighters can rival him.
4. Mark Hunt
Long before the 'Super Samoan' became one of the UFC heavyweight division's most popular figures, Mark Hunt had already reached the summit of kickboxing.
Hunt won the prestigious K-1 World Grand Prix in 2001, establishing himself among the best heavyweights in the world during one of the strongest eras the sport has seen.
His combination of a granite chin and devastating power would eventually translate to MMA, with Hunt competing in PRIDE before beginning a lengthy UFC career.
He produced memorable knockouts of the likes of Stefan Struve, Roy Nelson and Frank Mir and even challenged Fabricio Werdum for the interim UFC heavyweight championship in 2014.
Hunt therefore earns his place not simply as a famous UFC striker who once kickboxed, but as a genuine K-1 champion who successfully carved out a second career among MMA's heavyweight elite.
3. Israel Adesanya
(Getty Images)
Israel Adesanya's transition to MMA was so successful that it can sometimes overshadow just how experienced he already was before becoming a UFC superstar.
'The Last Stylebender' amassed a reported 75-4 professional kickboxing record, with 29 victories by knockout, before turning his attention fully towards MMA.
Adesanya competed extensively in China and New Zealand and also tested himself at the highest levels of GLORY, establishing an enormous amount of striking experience before he ever entered the UFC Octagon.
That background became the foundation of one of the defining UFC middleweight careers of the modern era.
Adesanya defeated Robert Whittaker to become undisputed champion and successfully defended the middleweight title five times during his first reign, with his precision, feints, distance management and counter-striking making his kickboxing roots unmistakable.
His story is also permanently connected to the man at No. 1 on this list.
Adesanya and Alex Pereira fought twice in kickboxing before renewing their rivalry in the UFC, where Pereira took the middleweight championship from Adesanya before the New Zealander produced a spectacular knockout to regain it in their MMA rematch.
Few fighters have transferred such an extensive kickboxing skillset into UFC championship success so effectively.
2. Mirko Cro Cop
For an entire generation of combat sports fans, Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic was one of the most frightening strikers on the planet.
The Croatian competed during a golden period of heavyweight kickboxing, sharing the ring with legendary names including Peter Aerts, Andy Hug, Jérôme Le Banner, Remy Bonjasky and Mark Hunt.
Cro Cop reached the final of the K-1 World Grand Prix in 1999 and eventually won the K-1 World Grand Prix Final in 2012, while his devastating left high kick became one of the most recognisable weapons anywhere in combat sports.
Unlike some elite kickboxers who struggled to adapt their skills to MMA, Cro Cop also became one of the world's leading mixed martial artists.
His peak came primarily in PRIDE, where he won the 2006 Openweight Grand Prix, before competing across multiple spells in the UFC.
There are fighters on this list who achieved more inside the UFC itself, but very few arrived in MMA with the kind of elite striking pedigree Cro Cop possessed.
If this ranking were based exclusively on status within kickboxing history, there would be a very strong argument for putting the Croatian at No. 1.
1. Alex Pereira
Ian Maule/Getty Images
Alex Pereira ultimately takes top spot because nobody has combined elite kickboxing success and UFC championship success quite like 'Poatan'.
Pereira became a GLORY champion at both middleweight and light-heavyweight and remarkably held the two belts simultaneously, while also successfully defending his middleweight crown five times.
He finished his professional kickboxing career with a reported 33-7 record and 21 knockouts, with his victories including two wins over Adesanya.
Then came an extraordinary rise through the UFC.
Pereira made his Octagon debut in November 2021 and barely a year later stopped Adesanya to become UFC middleweight champion.
After moving up a division, he defeated Jiřà Procházka to capture the vacant light-heavyweight title, making him a two-weight champion in both GLORY and the UFC.
Becoming a world champion in two weight classes in one elite combat sport would represent a remarkable career on its own. Doing it in both elite kickboxing and the UFC puts Pereira in almost unprecedented territory.
For that combination of kickboxing pedigree, knockout power and championship success after crossing into MMA, Pereira takes the No. 1 spot.
Watch SENSHI 33 live on DAZN
The next generation of elite kickboxers will be looking to build their own legacies when SENSHI 33 takes place in Varna, Bulgaria.
The event is headlined by an eight-man Grand Prix at 95kg, with the eventual champion needing to win three fights in a single night to take the tournament crown.
Reigning SENSHI European champion Eduard Aleksanyan moves up to 95kg in pursuit of another title, while Germany's Ali Nasir has already revealed that he wants to meet Aleksanyan in the Grand Prix final.
There is also more kickboxing action outside the tournament, with reigning European K-1 champion Simeon Nakovski making his SENSHI debut against Pedro Granjo in a 70kg Super Fight.
Some of kickboxing's most celebrated names will also be in Varna for the event, with K-1 greats including Semmy Schilt, Ernesto Hoost, Albert Kraus and Andy Souwer involved around SENSHI 33.
