Top 5 African fighters in UFC history

#2 UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman (Nigeria)

Kamaru Usman might be the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet right now.

There’s a strong argument now that Kamaru Usman, the reigning UFC welterweight champion, is the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet.

The Nigerian Nightmare has been with the UFC since 2015 after making his name in the 21st season of 'The Ultimate Fighter'. In the years that have followed, he has been absolutely unstoppable inside the octagon.

Even before his UFC welterweight title win in 2019, Usman was dominating opponents with seemingly no problem, comfortably beating the likes of Emil Meek, Demian Maia and Rafael Dos Anjos. Since his title win, he has beaten top fighters like Gilbert Burns, Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal.

Currently, he’s on a ridiculous 14-fight winning streak, which is the second-longest in UFC history and the best overall in his weight class.

WHAT A KNOCKOUT! 💥Kamaru Usman makes a statement by finishing Jorge Masvidal in the second round! 🇳🇬 🏆#UFC261 pic.twitter.com/Dk69ac9WXI

— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) April 25, 2021

Even the legendary Georges St. Pierre – the consensus greatest fighter in UFC history – can’t match the dominance of the Nigerian Nightmare.

Judging by his recent form, there’s a strong possibility that Usman could break Anderson Silva’s record of 16 consecutive UFC wins. That would not only make him one of the UFC’s greatest African fighters, but it’d make him arguably the greatest ever. Period.

---

#3 UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya (Nigeria)

Israel Adesanya is the UFC's most dominant middleweight since Anderson Silva.

The UFC’s third current African champion, Israel Adesanya, has been just as dominant as both Kamaru Usman and Francis Ngannou in his weight class.

Adesanya – who fights out of New Zealand but originally hails from Nigeria – only debuted in the UFC in February 2018, knocking out an overmatched Rob Wilkinson at UFC 221.

From there, the Last Stylebender wasted no time, running through opponent after opponent until he won the interim UFC middleweight title in April 2019 and then the undisputed UFC middleweight title in October 2019.

Essentially, it took him less than two years to become the most dominant 185 lb fighter on the planet, an incredible rise by any standard.

With wins over the likes of Robert Whittaker, Yoel Romero, Paulo Costa and Kelvin Gastelum, Adesanya has cleaned out his division almost as impressively as the great Anderson Silva once did a decade ago.

WHAT A STATEMENT 🙌Israel Adesanya ends the rivalry with Paulo Costa inside two rounds with a dominant display!It was THAT easy 😳 #UFC253 pic.twitter.com/jxdchos1zf

— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) September 27, 2020

While he failed in his quest to claim the UFC light-heavyweight title, the way he bounced back against Marvin Vettori in his latest UFC middleweight title defense suggests the best is still to come from Adesanya.

With pinpoint striking prowess and tons of confidence, the Nigerian fighter easily stands out as one of the UFC’s best African imports.