List of Mythical Fighters in MMA & UFC – The Fight Fanatic

In mixed martial arts, and even the broader context of combat sports, we have mythical fighters. These are fighters who on a particular night, under a certain set of circumstances, become a different fighter altogether. Think ‘Prime’ Mike Tyson. MMA is rife with these joke mythical fighters.

Here’s a comprehensive list of mythical fighters in MMA (in no particular order)

BJ Penn, but motivated

Vitor Belfort when he was on testosterone replacement therapy

Alistair Overeem when he was clearly on steroids

Chuck Liddell when he had ‘that look in his eye’

Mauricio Hua when he didn’t have bad knees during fights

Fedor Emilianenko when he was on his insane winning streak in PRIDE Fighting Championships

Cain Velasquez when he fought at sea level

Dustin Poirier with salon quality hair, since he lost more often with a buzz cut

Sean O’Malley when he maintains the undefeated mentality (he isn’t undefeated)

It’s only a Nate Diaz fight when he starts to bleed

Francis Ngannou when he shows patience in a fight

Chad Mendes when he had a full training camp

Georges Saint Pierre when he was going through it

Robbie Lawler when he gets to the 5th round of a fight

Max Holloway whooped Calvin Kattar after admitting to training on zoom calls (COVID)

Derek Brunson looked more impressive after dying his hair blonde

Charles Oliveira shot to championship stardom after dying his hair blonde

That version of Jon Jones who appeared to be untouchable before he popped for ‘pictograms’ in his system

Charles Oliveira is notorious for finishing opponents after they hurt him

Glover Teixeira defies age by beating young prospects after they hurt him

Kamaru Usman when he admitted to being at 30% during a dominant performance

Wanderlei Silva had a noticeable decline after leaving PRIDE Fighting Championships

Yoel Romero when he enters the third round

When Ronda Rousey claimed she’d beat the then HW champ Cain Velasquez ‘under the right circumstance’

Anderson Silva when he takes the fight seriously

Donald Cerrone after he became a dad

Tony Ferguson after he gets hurt in a fight for the first time

Cro Cop never lost a rematch

Junior Dos Santos when he had hair

The cold and calculated Justin Gaethje that picked his shots instead of leading with his head

Demian Maia when he decided to strike

Anderson Silva before USADA was introduced

Michael Bisping went on a legendary UFC run, including winning a title. He did all this whilst lying to the commission about the fact he couldn’t see out of one eye (a result of a head-kick from TRT Vitor).

That motivated Conor McGregor who seemed unbeatable before winning the featherweight and lightweight belts.

Israel Adesanya with Gynecomastia

Jan Blachowicz claims to touch the noose of a hung man he came across in the woods, before major fights. “when you find a hung man, you take part of his rope for good luck” “that’s what they said in the old days”. Apparently Jan has had a 90% success rate with this morbid ritual.

Stipe Miocic when he adjusts his strategy mid-fight, like in his second fight with Daniel Cormier.

Alexander Volkanovski stomped his opposition even harder after shaving his head.

Michael Bisping called himself ‘left hook Larry’ after KO’ing Luke Rockhold for the middleweight title with a left hook.

Can you think of any more mythical fighters? Feel free to Drop a comment below or consider supporting me on Patreon.