We’ve picked out who we think are some of the most successful and iconic black UFC fighters in the history of the sport.
Below you’ll find nineteen Nigerian, Brazilian, African-American, and African MMA fighters who have left a considerable mark on combat sports. Let’s crack on!
Table of Contents
Jon Jones
Jon “Bones” Jones enters this list as he is often considered one of the best pound-for-pound black MMA fighters of all time.
Jones has always had a diverse set of abilities across grappling and striking that has led him to success. Aged 23 years old, he defeated Maurício Rua for the Light Heavyweight Championship belt.
That victory made him the youngest UFC champion in history. So it’s no wonder, then, that MMA fans across the globe have kept singing his name for so long, even with a meager number of fights in recent years.
Jon was born in New York but lived and fought mainly out of New Mexico, making him an all-American black fighter.
Jamahal Hill
After recently defeating the illustrious Glover Teixeira at UFC 283 and becoming the new Light Heavyweight champion, Jamahal Hill is the newest addition to this list.
It comes as no surprise that he would reach these heights after a burst of standout performances in the UFC.
He has only gone from strength to strength since beating Jimmy Crute in 2021, collecting four straight wins on his path to the top and against other big names like Johnny Walker and Thiago Santos.
Kamaru Usman
Kamaru “The Nigerian Nightmare” Usman is undoubtedly one of the strongest Welterweight fighters there has ever been in the UFC, having won the Championship belt and defended it multiple times against the likes of Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal.
Kamaru has always depended on his Wrestling abilities to secure wins back-to-back for many years and multiple title defenses.
His fighting origins go back to competing in professional wrestling as he became the National champion at NCAA Division II back in 2010. Kamaru hung up his wrestling singlet in 2012 to dedicate full-time to MMA.
Kamaru was born in Auchi, a city of Edo State in Nigeria. He and his family moved to Dallas, Texas, USA, when he was eight years old.
He is just one of the many great UFC fighters from Nigeria on this list.
Francis Ngannou
Francis, “The Predator” Ngannou, has one of the most fascinating origin stories on this list. While Francis now resides in Las Vegas, Nevada, he comes from the humble streets of Cameroon.
The exceptional Heavyweight with one of the most forceful punches on record was born in the small village of Batié in Cameroon. In his young years, Francis lived in poverty. At 10, he began working in a sand quarry to bring income in for himself and his family.
Francis kept himself away from local gangs long enough to pursue Boxing. He moved to Paris, France, aged 26, and lived on the streets until Fernand Lopez allowed him to sleep and train at the MMA Factory after seeing his potential.
He remained with MMA Factory until 2018. Although they built him into a UFC fighter, two consecutive losses to Stipe Miocic and Derrick Lewis resulted in moving teams to Xtreme Couture. He was undefeated to become the Heavyweight Champion, beating Stipe Miocic on this rematch.
The Cameroonian has faced challenges throughout his life and career. It seems that he’s even had several disputes with the UFC and, specifically its president, Dana White, over pay disputes.
Whatever the drama, The Predator is undoubtedly one of the greatest knockout hitters in the UFC’s history.
Israel Adesanya
Israel “The Last Stylebender” Adesanya is one of the greatest Middleweights ever, proving himself to be nearly unbeatable time and time again.
Quickly, let’s just get his full birth name correct because it’s a long one: Israel Mobolaji Temitayo Odunayo Oluwafemi Owolabi Adesanya. That’s better.
Israel has an exciting heritage as he is Nigerian by descent, born in Lagos in 1989. He spent some time in Ghana in 1999 with his family before moving on to Rotorua, New Zealand, to seek a better level of education.
While this Stylebender experienced bullying during high school, he dove further into his passions for Japanese Anime. His nickname “The Last Stylebender” originates from “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” which is an Americanised anime-inspired cartoon.
Israel started kickboxing aged 18, being inspired by the movie Ong-Bak. His amateur career took off so well that he decided to pursue fighting full-time, which led him to join other UFC fighters (of today) at City Kickboxing.
A tattoo across Adesanya’s chest reads “Broken Native,” a title he gives to himself from his days in a dance crew and his personal feelings about the difference from his Nigerian roots.
Nevertheless, Israel stands as one of Nigeria’s and New Zealand’s greatest mixed martial artists that there has ever been. Quite a triumph for this “Broken Native.”
Anthony Johnson
Anthony “Rumble” Johnson is a worthy addition to this list because of his veteran status in the history of MMA, as he fought across UFC and Bellator most recently.
Sadly, Anthony passed away in November 2022, aged just 38 years old. The MMA community has spoken out to offer condolences and personal stories of their time with him while he was alive.
From random personal texts checking in with friends to support when fellow fighters suffered a hard loss. Anthony clearly had a lot of kindness in his heart.
Rumble had an interesting career as he fought over three separate weight classes and fought against some of the most popular names in the UFC’s history like Daniel Cormier (twice, once in 2015 and the rematch in 2017), Glover Teixeira, Alexander Gustafsson and even Vitor Belfort.
Anthony was the kind of fighter that opponents feared because of his knockout power and versatility. He signed for Bellator and won his last fight against Jose Augusto Azevedo Barros in 2021.
Rest in peace, Rumble.
Anderson Silva
Anderson “The Spider” Silva is one of the most famous black UFC fighters in the entire history of MMA. His extraordinary striking abilities awarded him his “The Spider” nickname and has inspired millions of fans.
While Silva was born in São Paulo, Brazil, he resides in California, USA.
This legend is a former UFC Middleweight Champion. He has an astonishing record that still exists today, with the longest title reign of 2,457 days. In that time, he defended his title 10 times.
Anderson has also dabbled in the Light Heavyweight division during and after his Middleweight belt, successfully overcoming Stephan Bonnar and James Irvin.
Eventually, his reign was taken by Chris Weidman. Towards the latter end of Silva’s career, he suffered 6 more losses before retiring from MMA completely.
This bald Brazilian fighter has some of the loosest and most effective styles that I’ve ever seen in the octagon, and rewatching his victories is never a bad idea to see just how good he was.
Jared Cannonier
Jared “The Killa Gorilla” Cannonier is a Middleweight contender who originally began his career in Heavyweight in 2011, moving to Light Heavyweight in 2016, and finally to Middleweight in 2018.
Most fighters struggle to change weights between two divisions. Still, Jared has successfully cut enough weight and fat to make him a challenge across three of the heaviest divisions.
Cannonier was born in Dallas, Texas, USA. Now he fights out of Phoenix, Arizona, with the MMA Lab team.
Lately, Jared has been very successful moving down weight divisions and becoming the #2 contender for the Middleweight Championship Belt in 2022 after defeating Derek Brunson.
Rashad Evans
Rashad “Suga” Evans was born in Niagara Falls, New York, in 1979 and is a UFC Hall of Famer after a robust career in mixed martial arts with some excellent performances.
Rashad specialized in Wrestling style for his MMA fights which is partly what made him so effective. In fact, it was so effective that Rashad was undefeated for his first 13 fights, of which 10 were within the UFC.
While his first loss to Lyoto Machida inspired Rashad into a four-fight win-streak, he was next undone by the infamous Jon Jones in 2012 at UFC 145. Sadly, this loss was the second of many more to come as Evans’ career took a downturn from that point before he eventually left the UFC in 2018.
That wasn’t the end of Rashad Evans’s appearances in the mixed martial arts world, though, as he has moved on to compete with Eagle FC by early 2022.
Regardless, Rashad Evans is a legend of the history of the UFC and inspired the combat sports world when he knocked out Chuck Liddell in brutal fashion at UFC 88. We will never forget it.
Alistair Overeem
Alistair “The Demolition Man” Overeem was born in Hounslow, London, England but is of Dutch nationality. He moved to the Netherlands at a young age and began first training in martial arts.
Alistair was a rare fighter who started martial arts very early. He even began training in mixed martial arts when he was just 15 years old.
The Demolition Man shares similarities with Israel Adesanya. They both had early careers and successes in K-1 Kickboxing tournaments, where they refined a lot of their striking skills before applying them to mixed martial arts.
Overeem eventually left the UFC and mixed martial arts to return to his Kickboxing roots to sign to the Glory promotion. His debut was against Rico Verhoeven, but Overeem had to pull out due to injury.
José Aldo
José “The King Of Rio” Aldo is a true fighter’s fighter. The Brazilian has an incredibly long career, fighting since 2004 in MMA, defeating many other great names in his journey.
José specializes in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, but he has proven to have a unique style that utilizes aggressive Boxing and countering. If things end up on the ground, Aldo has a high level of grappling to deal with it.
Because of that, it seems like many opponents with Aldo try to keep the fight on the feet to beat him there. But many fighters are not successful with that mindset, as Aldo is a classic brawler.
Despite his swift loss to Conor McGregor in 2015, he isn’t typically easy to put out of the fight. Most of his fights go to the decision and Aldo often comes out as the winner.
Demetrious Johnson
