10 best active kickboxers in the UFC, ranked
The UFC is the hub of elite MMA, and as a result, it has experienced countless shifts in the mixed martial arts meta. During MMA's inception, Brazilian jiu-jitsu reigned as the supreme martial art. The guards of renowned BJJ specialists were so widely feared that their vaunted effectiveness became the stuff of MMA legend.
However, as the sport progressed, wrestling emerged as the strongest foundation for aspiring mixed martial artists. A range of former UFC champions from that era owed their success to the wrestling skillset they adopted as their primary weapon inside the octagon. Yet, as the sport evolved, more fighters from different backgrounds arose.
While a large percentage of modern-day MMA fighters possess serviceable talent in all facets of the sport, today is the age of strikers. More strikers are champions than grapplers and wrestlers, and many top contenders have emerged as elite kickboxers. In honor of the new era, this list compiles and ranks the top 10 best kickboxers in the UFC today.
Who are the best kickboxers active in the UFC today?
#10. Jiří Procházka
The reigning UFC light heavyweight champion is an amateur Muay Thai world champion and an unorthodox kickboxer whose combination of speed and punching power often disarms his foes.
Jiří Procházka sits only as the 10th best kickboxer in the UFC because of his status as a double-edged sword. The very tools that the Czech phenom employs to great effect are the same ones that work to his own detriment.
WATCH: Jiri Prochazka scores the third spinning elbow KO in UFC history vs. Dominick Reyes at #UFCVegas25 https://t.co/8aVMdaJ0wa
Procházka stands from a wide, bladed stance. This benefits him by allowing him to enter and exit punching range by bouncing back and forth, ultimately serving as the foundation for his counter-punching abilities. He darts forward to draw out his opponent's punches, only to bounce out of his foe's reach before throwing his counters over the top.
Unfortunately, the drawback of standing so wide is that it overexposes Procházka's lead leg to low kicks, which past foes have capitalized on. Furthermore, despite the reigning 205 pound champion's impressive 80-inch reach, he typically nullifies his own reach advantage due to how often he stays in the face of his opponent to create extended exchanges in the pocket.
#9. Giga Chikadze
A former Glory kickboxing featherweight, Giga Chikadze was riding a 9-fight win streak in the UFC featherweight division before his thrilling clash with Calvin Kattar at UFC on ESPN 32. While Chikadze lost the bout, his kickboxing remains impressive, especially when considering the competitive depth of the UFC featherweight division.
A tricky striker, 'Ninja' often engages his foes from an orthodox stance before stepping up into a non-commital, lead-left high kick. While his foe is preoccupied with the threat of a left high kick from a well-known kickboxer with knockout power, Chikadze retracts his kicking leg, stepping back into the southpaw stance instead of his original orthodox one.
GIGA KICK ALERT 
#UFCVegas25🚨 GIGA KICK ALERT 🚨
@giga_chikadze sent Cub Swanson to the canvas 😤 #UFCVegas25 https://t.co/TzNPMW9TFY
Once he does so, he relies on his opponent's willingness to try countering his left high kick off of a parry. However, as his foe steps forward, they're unknowingly being drawn into a powerful rear-left round body kick that's been famously coined 'The Giga Kick'. A similar setup enabled him to defeat UFC veteran Cub Swanson at UFC on ESPN 23.
While the Georgian is mainly a kicker, his boxing is nothing to scoff at, especially since he uses the threat of his kicks to create openings for his punches. However, he is not without his flaws, as Chikadze steps in deep with almost every strike he throws, exhausting himself if he cannot knock his foes unconscious.
#8. Zhang Weili
Former UFC strawweight champion Zhang Weili is one of the most exciting fighters on the UFC roster. Stylistically, she is as powerful as she is skillful. Possessing a breadth of fast-twitch muscle fibers, 'Magnum' is incredibly explosive. However, she conceals her explosions well in order to mitigate the risk of being countered on her way inside.
She does so by bouncing back and forth, employing the same tactic that Jiří Procházka does to draw out his opponent’s strikes. Due to her explosiveness, every time Zhang bounces into range, her opponent must respect the threat she presents. No fighter wants to react too late to their foe's strikes, because the strikes a fighter does not see coming are often the ones that lead to knockouts.
Here’s Zhang Weili’s full title winning performance against Jessica Andrade in honor of it being a year ago today https://t.co/0C1Dcf5fyW
Against 'Magnum', her foes face a fighter who is not only lightning-quick, but extraordinarily powerful. Thus, even the idea of the threat she might present is enough to coax an overreaction to a simple bounce or shift in weight. Alternatively, her opponents sometimes retreat into defensive shells.
Both outcomes are desirable, as they either allow Zhang to draw her foes into her own counter-punches or close the distance with lead punches without being countered herself. Doing so worked to great effect against Joanna Jędrzejczyk, a former Muay Thai world champion who Zhang defeated at UFC 248 and UFC 275.
#7. José Aldo
José Aldo remains the longest-reigning featherweight champion in UFC history. He is a legend in MMA, having found success against multiple generations of fighters across two separate promotions. In the past, Aldo was known for his brutal low kicks. While he does not throw them nearly as often as he used to, they're still a sight to behold when he does employ them.
The Brazilian's low kicks are among the most powerful in all of MMA. The former world champion always turns his hips fully into every kick he throws, and to avoid getting his low kicks checked, Aldo does two things. First, he does not step in with his low kicks to generate power. He simply turn his hips into his kicks. Second, Aldo only throw kicks at the end of his boxing combinations.
Never throw a leg kick at Jose Aldo https://t.co/NgZSUJzd3E
By initiating a combination, Aldo forces his opponents to step backwards, rendering them unable to lift and turn their leg to check his low kicks, lest they be knocked down while moving backwards with one of their legs airborne. On the defensive front, Aldo himself remains difficult to low kick. Even the calf kick, which many MMA fighters struggle to defend against, finds no success against him.
Against a foe eager to calf kick him, Aldo simply pulls his heel to the back of his thigh, causing his opponent's calf kick to sweep through empty space, exposing them to his counters while they're forced to reset their stance. Because his opponents cannot low kick him, the Brazilian is free to throw his jab and box without fear.
#6. Valentina Shevchenko
Valentina Shevchenko is a former Muay Thai world champion and the reigning queen of the UFC women's flyweight division. She is supernaturally patient, fighting as a low-volume counter-striker who has mastered the art of frustrating her foes into committing mistakes.
From the outside, Shevchenko is content to outpoint her foes with low kicks, maintaining a long enough distance for her to effortlessly slide her own legs out of the way of her opponent's low kicks. If her opponents stay at a distance, 'Bullet' is content to simply outpoint them with kicks. However, the ideal scenario is that by maintaining such a long distance and causing her foes to miss frequently, she frustrates them into closing the distance.
😳
Valentina Shevchenko's stunning head-kick KO of Jessica Eye is two years old today. https://t.co/bEguDCNEDp
Once her adversary obliges, Shevchenko pulls back at the waist every so slightly to counter her opponents with check hooks. Alternatively, she pulls her leg away and throws non-committal spinning back-kicks and body kicks, so she is rarely in position to be hit.
Upon conditioning her opponents to this approach, she causes them to grow wilder. The more they miss, the more they convince themselves they need to land the knockout blow, leading them to be knocked out instead. This proved to be successful even against fellow kickboxing world champion Joanna Jędrzejczyk, whom Shevchenko defeated her four times (thrice in kickboxing, once in MMA at UFC 231).
#5. Stephen Thompson
At one point, Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson was arguably the best striker in MMA. At the peak of his career, Thompson twice challenged for the UFC welterweight championship against Tyron Woodley. While he was ultimately unsuccessful, 'Wonderboy' made an impressive account of himself against a foe no one else had challenged as champion.
Before the onset of his MMA career, Thompson was an undefeated kickboxer whose style translated well inside the octagon. In the cage, 'Wonderboy' fights from a wide, bladed stance that causes him to stand sidewards. Like Jiří Procházka, Thompson bounces in and out of range. However, the American karateka maintains an exceptionally long distance that serves a myriad of strategic purposes.
The perfect head kick to top off a perfect UFC debut 👌
You just don't see head kicks from Wonderboy coming... 😳 https://t.co/ShgIRAs01w
First, the long distance from which he operates forces his foes to take additional steps whenever they close the distance, earning Thompson more time to make reads while simultaneously telegraphing his foe's intent. Second, it is designed to frustrate his foe into lunging recklessly once Thompson simply retreats and circles out of range every time they come forward.
However, when his foes lunge forward, Thompson steps in with them, creating a collision between his straight left and his foe's chin. Additionally, despite his wide stance, 'Wonderboy' bears no vulnerabilities to low kicks, as he often invites his opponent's low kicks by exposing his lead leg deliberately.
When his foes try targeting it with a low kick, Thompson slides out of range before sliding back in with either a counter-punch or side kick while his foe's kicking leg is still airborne, something he did to great effect against Vicente Luque.