5 of the best finishers in the UFC today

#2. Amanda Nunes – UFC bantamweight & featherweight champion

Amanda Nunes has built a reputation for crushing overmatched foes in genuinely violent fashion

Not only is current UFC bantamweight and featherweight champion Amanda Nunes arguably the best female fighter in MMA history, she’s also easily one of the most ruthless finishers in the UFC today.

Whether she’s fighting at 135-lbs or 145-lbs, ‘The Lioness’ seems to be operating in another realm entirely when compared to her opponents. But thankfully, unlike some of her fellow all-time greats, Nunes rarely plays with her food inside the octagon.

Since arriving in the UFC in 2013, Nunes has defeated 14 opponents, losing just once in return. And incredibly, of those 14 victories, just four have seen her go the distance.

More impressively, Nunes holds a total of eight wins over current or former UFC champions, and just one of those fighters – reigning UFC flyweight queen Valentina Shevchenko – managed to go the distance.

And like all of the best finishers, ‘The Lioness’ is well-rounded. It doesn’t matter where the fight is taking place – Nunes can finish her opponents. She’s put away three foes via submission, holds five standing knockouts, and has also used ground-and-pound to take out two of her opponents.

GOAT STATUS.🏆🏆 @Amanda_Leoa didn't need long! #UFC259 pic.twitter.com/LADS0snV0b

— UFC (@ufc) March 7, 2021

Essentially, Nunes’ ruthlessness marks her out even above the other great female fighters in the UFC and means she’s up there with the best finishers in the promotion today.

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#1. Francis Ngannou – UFC heavyweight champion

Francis Ngannou might be the most devastating finisher that the UFC has ever seen

Arguably the best finisher in the UFC right now across all weight divisions is the reigning UFC heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou.

“Whatever he hits, he destroys” was the famous line used to describe Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, but the quote fits Ngannou equally well. Since his arrival in the UFC in 2015, ‘The Predator’ has won a total of eleven fights – and none have gone the distance.

More to the point, he’s finished all of his opponents, bar one, by knockout. The lone exception was Anthony Hamilton, but even he couldn’t escape the first round, as Ngannou simply ragdolled him to the ground and finished him with a kimura instead.

Of course, it’s the punching power of ‘The Predator’ that makes him such a scary finisher. Ngannou doesn’t have the cleanest technique when it comes to striking, but his punches carry unusual power, even for a UFC heavyweight.

A seemingly glancing blow can often be enough to take out a foe – just ask Junior Dos Santos or Cain Velasquez. And when he lands cleanly, the results can be devastating, as we saw in his knockouts of Stipe Miocic, Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Alistair Overeem.

FRANCIS NGANNOU REALLY KNOCKED OUT STIPE MIOCIC 🤯 #UFC260 @espnmma pic.twitter.com/IXMTQBIIvu

— ESPN (@espn) March 28, 2021

No other UFC fighter has ever rocketed to the top of the mountain in quite the same way as Ngannou, who has finishing abilities that most other fighters can only dream of. When it comes to finishing opponents in violent fashion, he’s practically in a league of his own.