Ilia Topuria and 4 other UFC champions who started off as wrestlers and became great strikers
In the UFC, few skill sets are as synonymous with success as wrestling is. The ability to dictate where a fight takes place is invaluable, as is one's defensive ability to prevent the same from being done to them. So it is no surprise that many of the promotion's most dominant fighters have been wrestlers.
However, not everyone is a Khabib Nurmagomedov type of wrestler whose relentless takedowns, pressure, pace, and physicality need minimal striking development to carry him to unbeaten status. In fact, some wrestlers fall in love with their striking once they discover their own punching power.
The rare few, though, find that they're just as competent at striking as they are at wrestling, and before the fans know it, said fighters become so slick that, in many cases, it is forgotten that they weren't always great strikers.
#5. Islam Makhachev, reigning UFC lightweight champion
Islam Makhachev prides himself on his wrestling skills. In fact, he even jokingly talked about besting all-time great Olympic gold medalist and six-time world champion freestyle wrestler Jordan Burroughs, dismissing him as having nothing more than a double-leg takedown.
Despite coming from the feared school of Dagestani wrestling, Makhachev has become a terrific striker. In fact, his striking was responsible for his greatest career success. He knocked Charles Oliveira down with a long right hook, leading to his title-winning submission over the Brazilian.
Check out Islam Makhachev knocking out Alexander Volkanovski:
He stumbled and stung Alexander Volkanovski, a highly credentialed striker himself, several times in their first outing and, of course, knocked him out in their rematch. Makhachev's counterpunching is sharp, his kicking elite, and his patience in striking exchanges something only seen in lifelong snipers.
#4. Cain Velasquez, former UFC heavyweight champion
Like his American Kickboxing Academy teammate Islam Makhachev, Cain Velasquez was a wrestler who found that he was a shockingly good striker. Specifically, his boxing was as sharp as the heavyweight division had ever seen at the time.
He demolished Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira with a blinding combination in the pocket, twice outboxed the then 'best boxer' in heavyweight MMA at the time, Junior dos Santos, with frightening success, and swarmed towering power-puncher Travis Browne with a suffocating boxing performance.
Check out Cain Velasquez knocking out Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira:
Few heavyweights understood pocket boxing sequences like Velasquez, who ripped the body with uppercuts and hooks before coming up top once his foe's arms dropped. And no man at heavyweight mastered the overhand right quite like he had.
#3. Jon Jones, reigning UFC heavyweight champion
Jon Jones boasts a Greco-Roman wrestling background, as evidenced by his clinch dominance and suplexes in the early phase of his career. But over time, he became more well-known for his punishing kickboxing, specifically his elbows and kicks, of which he is among the UFC's most dynamic proponents.
'Bones', for example, will often step in with a right cross, deliberately missing only to spin into an elbow that catches his opponent on their open side. No strike, however, has been more effective for him than the oblique kick to his foe's lead knee. It has been so successful for him that even past opponents decry it as unfair.
Check out Jon Jones TKO'ing Maurício 'Shogun' Rua:
It carried Jones to significant success, enthroning him as the UFC light heavyweight champion, a status he held for years as he made a name as the undisputed 205-pound GOAT.
#2. Alexander Volkanovski, former UFC featherweight champion
Many will watch Alexander Volkanovski and assume that his base if striking. After all, he is one of the sharpest boxers in the UFC, having even outboxed Max Holloway in their trilogy bout. He counters the jab with an inside low kick to destabilize his foe's stance. When his opponent tries to reset, he pounces.
He lands punishing combinations over the top, uses stance-switching like a lifelong expert, and lands shifting combinations on foes who try to maintain a long range. Despite outstriking the likes of 'The Korean Zombie' and Holloway, Volkanovski is actually a wrestler by trade.
Check out Alexander Volkanovski outboxing Max Holloway:
Due to his Greco-Roman wrestling background, 'The Great' spent the first half of his MMA career as a suffocating cage-wrestler of sorts, stifling opponents against the fence and drowning them before leveling up his striking.
#1. Ilia Topuria, reigning UFC featherweight champion
Ilia Topuria has more submission wins than TKOs or knockouts. In fact, he took up Greco-Roman wrestling as early as seven years old, and he used the skill set to find significant success in the first half of his MMA career. However, at some point, he became one of the best boxers in the UFC.
He is allegedly a self-taught striker who has mastered boxing fundamentals. He invests in the body, whether it is with a lead left hook, uppercut or jab. Furthermore, he is among the greatest users of the Philly Shell in MMA, which he used to tremendous success against Josh Emmett.
Check out Ilia Topuria knocking out Alexander Volkanovski:
The apex of his striking performance, however, was when he dethroned Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298, knocking him out cold to become the new featherweight champion.