Across mixed martial arts, you’re guaranteed to see an array of talents like one-punch KO power or submission mastery.
But one thing that often goes under the radar, is how some of the best talents always have incredible footwork. After all, it is the bedrock to an elite fighting style.
Moving with your feet in inventive ways makes it very hard for your opponent to hit you and opens up all kinds of new angles for offense.
In this article, I’ll rank who I think are the fighters with the best footwork in MMA history—including new and retired competitors. Let’s get to the list.
Table of Contents
1. Dominick Cruz
- Nickname: The Dominator
- Born: March 9th, 1985
- Height: 5’8″ / 172.72cm
- Weight class: Bantamweight
- From: San Diego, California, United States
- Gym: Alliance MMA
- Current Promotion: UFC
- Status: Active
Cruz has a legendary history with the UFC, competing in the promotion since 2011 with notable wins over the likes of Urijah Faber, Demetrious Johnson and T.J. Dillashaw.
It’s no wonder, then, he continues to be my top pick for footwork mastery in MMA.
“The Dominator” is often regarded as having Matrix reactive abilities in the octagon, leaving his opponents expelling shots at nothing but air while he moves off-line and creates new angles in split seconds using his footwork.
He’s consistently displayed this kind of elite-level movement that allows him to stay out of the firing line of strikes.
Whenever Dominick discusses his techniques in public, he pinpoints that most martial arts forms require their target in a midline—meaning strikes or takedowns require your opponent being in front of you.
So, instead, Cruz focuses on moving off the train tracks at any opportunity to make it hard for enemies to connect a shot onto him.
And this perception makes sense when you think about it. And especially when you watch Cruz display it so effectively.
By always throwing his own attacks that put him out at an angle off from his opponent, he is immediately ready to counterattack from a dangerous position.
It’s his footwork that allows him to move off-centre so quickly as he constantly swings his weight from one hip to the other and repositioning his stance between orthodox and southpaw.
You’ll often see him tip-toeing between stances at speed, throwing feints, ducking under hooks, and creating openings.
When Dominick entered professional MMA, he went on a tearing nine-fight win-streak while at promotions Range in the Cage (RITC) and Total Combat (TC).
It was a streak that was broken by Urijah Faber at World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) in 2007 during their first matchup, but Cruz rebounded to go on yet another tirade for a thirteen-fight win-streak between WEC and his entry to the UFC in 2011.
But his unique style isn’t always perfect. Largely because it relies on his hands being held low as he uses his momentum to switch quickly.
That tactic has resulted in being caught a few times by the likes of Henry Cejudo and more recently, Marlon Vera, with a head kick KO.
He’s still my number one for best footwork in UFC history and all of mixed martial arts. Don’t agree? Come at me, bro (in the comments).
2. T.J. Dillashaw
- Nickname: N/A
- Born: February 7th, 1986
- Height: 5’6″ / 167.64cm
- Weight class: Bantamweight
- From: Angels Camp, California, United States
- Gym: Ludwig Martial Arts
- Current Promotion: UFC
- Status: Retired
Dillashaw has had a rocky history in his MMA career, as he served a long-time ban for performance drugs use.
After returning from a long hiatus of bans and injuries, he dislocated his shoulder one final time when facing Aljamain Sterling and that pushed him to retirement.
But even so, he still remains one of the most talented fighters we’ve ever seen and in large part down to his footwork.
T.J. implements a few particular strategies that make him a nightmare to fight against. His style was incredibly fluid and reliant on his natural strike detection and countering.
The footwork strategies that Dillashaw implemented gave him options to push the opponent into a weaker position, opening striking advantages.
He is a prolific user of the switch cross (a quick fake stance switch, followed by a rear cross whilst moving the head off-center) to dazzle the opponent and move to their weaker/open side for easy hits.
After using the switch cross enough times to confuse the opponent, it then opens up new attacks like the head kick and takedowns when they’re not expecting it.
These are just a few samples of what T.J. Dillashaw was capable of in his prime. Extremely hard to predict and would constantly throw jabs that dampen enemy vision and hide his movement.
That’s what makes him a high addition to this list, he was one of the greatest at confusion tactics and that comes down to how he moves his feet to position—never letting the opponent settle on an angle.
3. Max Holloway
- Nickname: Blessed
- Born: December 4th, 1991
- Height: 5’11” / 180.34cm
- Weight class: Featherweight
- From: Waianae, Hawaii, United States
- Gym: Gracie Technics
- Current Promotion: UFC
- Status: Active
He’s a fighter that has explicitly claimed he’s the best boxer in the UFC (during his matchup with Calvin Kattar) and there aren’t many of us who could disagree.
Max Holloway has had a long history with the UFC with a high fighting and footwork IQ despite his young age.
His methods match to that of a traditional boxer, but with a greater level of freedom and flow.
His hands are dropped low often, absorbing punches and slipping the most dangerous strikes to stay in a close range where he deals multiple strikes.
Not only does he throw a lot of strikes, sometimes even breaking records for number of strikes, but utilizes stance-switching during a flurry that opens up his opponents for more impactful angles.
The volume of punches and angles he can throw from comes from his strength in moving his feet intelligently.
His style involves planting his feet firmly in a modified boxing stance that opens up for kickboxing and he isn’t shy at using his feet for more than just movement with abilities that make him one of the greatest strikers in UFC history.
And he is one of the greatest!
4. Israel Adesanya
- Nickname: The Last Stylebender
- Born: July 22nd, 1989
- Height: 6’4″ / 193.04cm
- Weight class: Middleweight
- From: Lagos, Nigeria
- Gym: City Kickboxing
- Current Promotion: UFC
- Status: Active
Israel Adesanya was an undefeated champion in the UFC for a long time, only earning his first loss after moving up a weight division.
Although his strategies have been picked apart in recent years with the likes of Alex Pereira and Sean Strickland defeating the Nigerian, his movement and footwork is still some of the best we’ve ever seen in the octagon.
Adesanya can keep his opponents at range, moving in to deliver quick combinations, and dart backward again to avoid damage and deliver head kicks as counters.
With his unique size advantage against most opponents, he can stay agile and on his toes for most of the fight.
Usually, Israel doesn’t get involved in trading blows and prefers to work at a distance, picking each opponent apart.
Izzy constantly moves around his opponents to make them follow him around the cage, even from the outside, so they use up energy and burn out trying to chase him down.
When the moment is right, he’ll use switching stances to open his opponent for clinical strikes. Often constantly changing up the region he attacks, whether legs, torso, or head.
This is all possible from years of high-level kickboxing that creates footwork patterns that are hard to deal with.
Some might say Adesanya wins tons because he avoids the fight. But his record speaks for itself, he’s still overcame huge opponents in his MMA career and doesn’t avoid any fighters.
This is all thanks to his fast footwork that’s always changing and keeping the enemy guessing.
5. Sean O’Malley
- Nickname: Sugar
- Born: October 24th, 1994
- Height: 5’11” / 180.34cm
- Weight class: Bantamweight
- From: Helena, Montana, United States
- Gym: MMA Lab
- Current Promotion: UFC
- Status: Active
“The Suga Show” was once Dana White’s next hype-up project, but he recently put all doubters back into their box with a KO victory over the dominant Aljamain Sterling and became Bantamweight champion.
O’Malley has proved that he can knock out opponents and make it look a breeze. I’d argue any day that this is down to his unique movement patterns, fake-outs, and footwork.
With his speed, accuracy and positioning, he can deliver force that turns off the lights.
His unique Ectomorph body type allows him to have a very light frame, whilst remaining very tall and fast compared to his opponents at the same weight class.
This makes Sean light on his feet and gives him the physical ability to spring in and out of range of opponents easily, whilst also keeping them at his long range.
By maintaining distance with his footwork, Sean can work his feints in to bait a strike and allow him to counter with that right hand straight down the middle.
He’s also an expert of lateral movement, persistently faking towards one direction of movement and bouncing into the opposite, throwing a jab as he recovers space or moves off the cage.
Even when he is up against the cage, he utilizes it beautifully to persuade an attack so he can counter and punish their approach.
Sean might have a few more fights to go to prove himself in being able to apply that footwork with some of the best aggressive fighters in his division, but everything seems set for him to shine by continuing to build up experience until then.
6. Anderson Silva
- Nickname: The Spider
- Born: April 14th, 1975
- Height: 6’2″ / 187.96cm
- Weight class: Middleweight
- From: Curitiba, Parana, Brazil
- Gym: Team Nogueira
- Current Promotion: UFC
- Status: Retired
The Spider. The Legend. Anderson Silva goes down in all of our books as one of the greatest to have ever done it.
One of the most electric and diverse fightings displays that we’ve ever had the pleasure to see and especially down to his fantastic footwork.
Silva captivated the entire sporting world when he knocked out Vitor Belfort with a front kick (or “teep”) to the face.
We’ve seen others do it like Michael Chandler against Tony Ferguson—but nothing compares to Silva’s highlight.
In many of the other great moments of Silva, we have seen him avoid punches with Neo precision like he’s already watching the code of The Matrix. Only to deliver a single blow that drops the opponent.
After Anderson Silva left the MMA world, he dove into his childhood dream of becoming a professional boxer. He’s continuing to show that he can move with the best of them as he still looks spritely despite his age.
It’s clear to me that Silva has always had a lot of study in the boxing methodologies of movement and using his feet to position advantageously against the opponent.
It’s what made him so effective with the UFC and how he has continued it into the boxing realm at his age.
7. Jon Jones
- Nickname: Bones
- Born: July 19th, 1987
- Height: 6’4″ / 193.04cm
- Weight class: Heavyweight
- From: Rochester, New York, United States
- Gym: Jackson-Wink MMA
- Current Promotion: UFC
- Status: Active
He may go down as one of the greatest fighters of all time, that’s a given due to his dominance in the Light Heavyweight and now Heavyweight divisions of the UFC.
An incredible grappler who’s strong up against the fence and the ground, handy with choke submissions or the ground ‘n’ pound.
But one thing that maybe goes under the radar for Bones’ expertise is his footwork ability.
Jon does have a mastery of distance management and forces his opponents to engage with him so he often has the upper hand.
He’ll confidently switch between stances, teep the gut of his opponent to frustrate them or manage distance and step back into a position where he’ll deliver a nasty strike to destabilize.
His movement is subtle but effective and I’d recommend watching back fight tape to see just how special it is.
8. Conor McGregor
- Nickname: Notorious
- Born: July 14th, 1988
- Height: 5’8″ / 172.72cm
- Weight class: Lightweight
- From: Crumlin, Dublin, Ireland
- Gym: SBG Ireland
- Current Promotion: UFC
- Status: Active
Conor may have had some less-than-ideal results in the latter end of his career, but he still remains one of the footwork masters in UFC history and that’s why he’s right here.
Conor McGregor would have been unlikely to reach the phenomenal heights in his career, like becoming the Champ Champ, without having the exceptional ability to move his feet in and out of range.
It’s exactly this ability that