Tai Tuivasa and 4 other successful one-dimensional fighters currently in the UFC

Back in its infancy, the UFC pitted fighters from various martial arts backgrounds against each other to see which style was most effective, but those days are now long gone.

Despite most of the UFC's current fighters being well-rounded, though, there are still a handful of one-dimensional competitors who continue to succeed in the octagon.

Even though their skills in certain areas are either unproven or seen as weak, some of these fighters have even ascended into title contention and claimed gold, too.

Here, then, are five successful one-dimensional fighters currently competing in the UFC.

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#5. Tai Tuivasa - UFC heavyweight contender

This weekend's UFC Fight Night event will be headlined by Australian heavyweight favorite Tai Tuivasa, who is set to square off with Marcin Tybura.

'Bam Bam' will come into the bout hoping to snap a three-fight losing skid, and it's no secret that if he does this, it'll probably be via knockout.

On the flip side, Tybura will almost certainly look to take Tuivasa to the ground in order to look for a win. That's because the Australian is one of the few one-dimensional fighters active in the promotion right now.

Of his eight wins in the octagon, seven of them have come via KO or TKO, while his losses have almost exclusively come when opponents have taken him down.

The likes of Junior dos Santos, Serghei Spivac, and Blagoy Ivanov all exposed the Aussie's ground game as lacking in his early days, and a recent defeat to Alexander Volkov revealed the same issues persist.

So why has 'Bam Bam' still been able to ascend into the top 10 at heavyweight?

Essentially, every fight starts standing, and on the feet, Tuivasa is hugely dangerous. He packs tremendous punching power, and he's also surprisingly quick for a big guy.

If he wants to climb into title contention, then he'll need to round out his game at some point, but for now, his striking-heavy approach has served him well enough.

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#4. Movsar Evloev - UFC featherweight contender

There are very few undefeated fighters floating around at the top of the UFC, but Russian featherweight Movsar Evloev is one of them.

The No.5-ranked 145-pound fighter is currently 18-0, and most recently edged out the highly rated Arnold Allen to throw his name into the hat of title contenders in the division.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about Evloev's win was the fact that many observers expected Allen - who is known as a well-rounded fighter - to be able to overcome the Russian's more one-dimensional approach.

Essentially, Evloev never looks to stand and trade with his foes, instead looking to close the distance as quickly as he can to set up a takedown.

Sure, he is capable of throwing jabs, low kicks and heavier punches, but to say that it isn't his speciality would be an understatement.

However, none of his foes thus far have really been able to stop his takedown, meaning he hasn't really needed to prove himself as more well-rounded.

Whether that will change as he continues to ascend to the top of the division remains to be seen, but for now, the Russian stands as an example of a highly successful yet one-dimensional fighter.

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#3. Jairzinho Rozenstruik - UFC heavyweight contender

The heavyweight division tends to produce more successful one-dimensional fighters than any other weight class in the UFC, primarily because of the extreme punching power possessed by larger men.

One good example of this is Jairzinho Rozenstruik. 'Bigi Boy' is currently ranked at No.11 in the division, and he's a regular and reliable headliner for the promotion's smaller Fight Night events.

However, to call him a well-rounded fighter would probably be disingenuous. Rozenstruik is almost purely a striker, with eight of his nine octagon wins coming via KO or TKO.

'Bigi Boy' has rarely shown off his ground game since his debut back in 2019, and when he has been put on the mat, he's tended to struggle. We saw examples of this in his losses to Jailton Almeida and Curtis Blaydes, as well as during his 2019 victory over Alistair Overeem.

Sure, the native of Suriname has displayed improved takedown defense recently, but it's still highly unlikely that fans will ever see him shoot for a double leg or attempt a triangle choke.

Instead, Rozenstruik's opponents will probably continue to try - and largely fail - to avoid his concussive punches and nasty low kicks, making him a great example of a successful fighter who is also one-dimensional.

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#2. Merab Dvalishvili - UFC bantamweight contender

Right now, there are few hotter fighters in the entire UFC than bantamweight contender Merab Dvalishvili.

'The Machine' is riding a lengthy 10-fight win streak which dates back to 2018, and has beaten three former titleholders in a row in the form of Jose Aldo, Petr Yan and Henry Cejudo.

In fact, many fans suspect that the powerful Georgian will be able to dethrone current 135-pound kingpin Sean O'Malley, assuming the two men lock horns in the near future.

Despite all of this, Dvalishvili is surprisingly one-dimensional.

Essentially, 'The Machine' approaches every one of his fights with the same gameplan. He wants to close the distance, clinch with his foe, abuse them from close quarters and then take them down to continue the punishment.

This approach has, of course, been hugely successful for him. Even a world-class wrestler like Cejudo found himself slammed to the ground, while Aldo and Yan simply couldn't keep 'The Machine' off them even when they defended the takedown.

Dvalishvili's style has garnered some criticism, largely because he doesn't tend to finish his foes. However, nobody can deny that he's been hugely effective, and if he can use the same gameplan to dethrone O'Malley, he'll be living proof that a largely one-dimensional fighter can still rule in the octagon.

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#1. Alex Pereira - UFC light heavyweight champion

It's arguable that all of the UFC's current champions would be considered extremely well-rounded fighters, with one glaring exception - reigning light-heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.

'Poatan' surprised fans by claiming his second UFC title last year when he knocked out former titleholder Jiri Prochazka in just his second bout at 205 pounds.

Prior to that, he'd held the middleweight crown for a short period after stopping Israel Adesanya, only to lose it back to him in an immediate rematch.

Despite all of his success, though, the Brazilian has essentially never shown any skills outside of his phenomenal kickboxing inside the octagon. As far as most fans are aware, his ground game is a major question mark.

Why is this? Put simply, 'Poatan' is so good standing that he hasn't needed to use any other weapons thus far. The only fight that saw him utilize anything different was his clinch-heavy bout with Jan Blachowicz, but even that bout remained on the feet for the most part.

Outside of that, it should come as no surprise that Pereira - renowned as one of the world's best kickboxers - should look to keep his fights standing.

After all, who else could knock out Adesanya, or make Sean Strickland look silly on the feet in the way that he did?

It's likely that someone in the near future will attempt to find out whether Pereira's ground game is his big weakness, but for now, the Brazilian's largely one-dimensional approach has served him just fine.