Original Mma Fighters
10-fight win streak 2015-19, longest among female fighters in UFC history (9 of 15 wins by KO/TKO) 10 first-round finishes 7 UFC title fight wins (tied for most among female fighters). Here is a video I put together in my first year of college back in 1998 (video/tv production)I was learning how to do straight cut editing so I brought in my.
Mixed martial arts, simply known as MMA, is one of the most popular sports today. Millions of people around the world enjoy watching MMA and several of the sport’s top athletes have become household names. Although MMA is a demanding sport, in order to rise to the top the best fighters need to have years of experience in various martial arts. Due to this, the average age of a ranked UFC fighter is 31 years old. Since MMA fighters don’t start their career until later in life, its not unheard for them to remain active well past the prime of athletes in other major sports. All of the MMA fighters of this list were over 45 years old when they retired and the oldest were still fighting as senior citizens.
9. Randy Couture (June 22, 1963 – Present)
Randy Couture is probably one of the best-known professional MMA fighters in the world. Before becoming an MMA fighter, Couture was a Greco-Roman wrestler and became a three-time Olympic team alternate (1988, 1992 and 1996), as well as a semifinalist at the 2000 Olympic Trials.
Couture’s success as a Greco-Roman wrestler helped him in his MMA career. During his time in the UFC, Couture became a three-time UFC Heavyweight Champion, two-time UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, an interim UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, and the UFC 13 Heavyweight Tournament winner. Couture is one of only four fighters to hold two UFC titles in two different divisions, the only athlete in UFC history to win a championship after becoming a Hall of Fame member, and is the oldest title holder ever in the UFC and MMA.
8. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (March 6, 1970 – Present)
Tsuyoshi Kohsaka has been competing as a professional MMA fighter since the early days of the sport. Kohsaka made his debut in 1995 when he was sent to represent RINGS (a Japanese combat sport promotion) in the MMA event Lumax Cup 1995. In 1998, Kohsaka moved from Japan and signed with the UFC and debuted at UFC 18 facing Kimo Leopoldo.
Kohsaka is known for his grappling moves and his conditioning. His signature move, known as “TK guard” is famous for its efficiency and is similar to the modern butterfly guard. Kohsaka occasionally still competes today but primarily owns and operates a dojo in Japan.
7. Ron van Clief (January 25, 1943 – Present)
Like a few of the people on this list, Ron van Clief only competed in one professional MMA fight. Van Clief fought against Royce Gracie in 1994 at the age of 51. This fight was part of the 4th Ultimate Fighting Championship, and at the time van Clief was the oldest competitor to fight in the UFC.
While van Clief did not really participated in professional MMA fights, he has had a long career as a martial artist, actor, and film choreographer. Van Clief is a five-time karate and kung fu world champion and a 15-time All American Champion.
6. Royce Gracie (December 12, 1966 – Present)
Royce Gracie is one of the most influential MMA fighters in history and is still semi-active in the sport at over 50 years old. Additionally, Gracie is a member of the famous Gracie family, who are known for the development of Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ). Over his career, Gracie won 15 times and is a UFC Hall of Famer.
Gracie started his MMA career in 1993 and was the winner of the first, second, and fourth Ultimate Fighting Championships. Since Gracie used Brazilian jiu-jitsu as his main fighting technique, as he became more prominent in the sport mixed martial arts, BJJ became popular. Gracie’s success with BJJ eventually led to the movement towards grappling and ground fighting in the sport.
5. Maurice Smith (December 13, 1961 – Present)
Maurice Smith is mostly known for his prolific kickboxing career that began in 1980 as well as his participation in mixed martial arts later in his career. Smith retired from all sports in 2013 and became a member of the UFC Hall of Fame in 2017.
During Smith’s kickboxing career, he won several championships, including the WKC (World Kickboxing Council) world light heavyweight championship, the WKA (World Kickboxing Association) world heavyweight championship, and the ISKA (International Sport Karate Association) world heavyweight championship. Smith continued to excel when he became an MMA fighter and has won the Heavyweight championship in Battlecade Extreme Fighting and the UFC.
4. Ken Shamrock (February 11, 1964 – Present)
Ken Shamrock is one of the most famous MMA fighters ever and one of the oldest people still active in the sport. Over his two and a half decade career as a professional mixed martial artist, Shamrock has headlined over 15 main events and co-main events in the UFC and Pride Fighting Championships. Shamrock’s fights have also set several pay-per-view records.
Through his long and highly successful career, Shamrock has become a legendary figure and household name in the sport of MMA. In addition to his MMA career, Shamrock was also fairly successful in professional wrestling. Shamrock in the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) while he was an active MMA fighter and won a few WWF Championships.
3. Dan Severn (June 8, 1958 – Present)
Dan Severn, who is nicknamed “The Beast”, is currently the oldest active professional MMA fighter. In addition to being a well-known mixed martial artist, Severn is also an actor and has also competed as a professional wrestler. Severn has been an athlete his entire life and he began his amateur wrestling career in high school.
While attending Arizona State University, Severn was a three-time all American and he participated in two Olympic trials in the 1980s, becoming a U.S. Team alternate. Severn has been a professional MMA fighter since 1994 and became famous for his success during the early years of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) tournaments. Despite his long career, Severn is still in top shape and continues to fight professionally.
2. Skip Hall (c. 1945 – Present)
Sources differ over Skip Hall’s actual birth date, but several sources said that he was 63 years old in 2008 when Hall had his last MMA fight. Although another person holds the official Guinness World Record, Hall considered himself the “Oldest Active MMA Fighter in history.” Hall competed in his first professional MMA fight in 2001 when he was reportedly 57 years old.
Original Mma Fighters
Due to the novelty of Hall’s age as an MMA fighter and mild success, he attracted a lot of media attention. This led people to dispute Hall’s claim that he had served in the U.S. Army Special Forces during the Vietnam War as a “5th SF SOG A Team Leader.” A Freedom of Information Act request for Hall’s official war records proved that he had lied and was only a clerk typist stationed in Korea during the war.
1. John Williams (March 7, 1940 – Present)
Original Mma Women Fighters
Original Ufc Fighters Dan Severn
photo source: MMA FightingAlthough John Williams was not a professional MMA fighter, he competed in one professional fight in 2010 at the age of 70 – this makes Williams the oldest MMA fighter ever. Williams first and only professional fight was against the much younger, 49-year-old former pro wrestler Larry Brubaker. While the match-up may seem unfair, Williams is a seasoned MMA fighter – he started fighting at age 7 – and ended up winning the match.
In his younger days, Williams was part of a very successful Canadian wrestling team. Williams continued to fight even as he got older and he made his amateur MMA fighting debut in 2000. With such a long history of fighting experience, Williams has set two Guinness World Records: one in 1987 for breaking multiple blocks of ice with a single punch, a record that still stands today; and the second in 2010 when Williams became the oldest person to compete in a professional MMA Fight.
In a bit of a rarity, the post-fight bonus winners at UFC 259 all came from the preliminary card.
The promotion handed out a pair of “Performance of the Night” bonuses and “Fight of the Night” at Saturday’s event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The card had three title fights at the top of the bill.
Check out the $50,000 post-fight bonus winners below.
Fight of the Night: Kennedy Nzechukwu def. Carlos Ulberg
Kennedy Nzechukwu (8-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) was the third biggest underdog on the card against the unbeaten Carlos Ulberg (3-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC), and Ulberg was in control early in the fight. But Nzechukwu started to come on toward the end of the first round, and in the second, he stunned Ulberg and took him out with his hands.
Performance of the Night: Uros Medic
In the second fight of the night, Uros Medic (7-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) stayed unbeaten when he took out Aalon Cruz (8-4 MMA, 0-2 UFC) quickly into their fight. But in the opinion of analysts Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier, it wasn’t quick enough. Referee Mark Smith didn’t wave things off fast enough for their liking with Medic pouring on punch after punch – he outstruck Cruz 55-0.
Performance of the Night: Kai Kara-France
Kai Kara-France (22-9 MMA, 5-2 UFC) had a hard time early against Rogerio Bontorin (16-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC) and had to fight off a submission attempt. But that might have made his finish all the sweeter. Kara-France rallied and knocked out Bontorin with five seconds left in the first round. It was a walk-off finish – but a crazy one.