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NGANNOU VS FERREIRA

Sherdog’s Top 10: Most Aggressive Fighters

Patrick WymanFeb 24, 2015
Ronda Rousey has stopped all 10 of her opponents, nine inside one round. | Photo: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com


6. Ronda Rousey


The UFC women’s bantamweight champion embodies the ideal of aggressiveness. From the moment she hits the walkout, mean-mugging to the raucous rhythm of Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation,” Rousey is looking to finish the fight in as quick and as vicious a fashion as humanly possible. She has never gone longer than 11 minutes in a fight, and only one opponent has managed to last beyond the opening frame.

Aggressiveness in every phase is the name of Rousey’s game. While she is best known for her impossibly slick judo skills in the clinch and on the mat, she has applied the same emphasis on an attacking style to her striking, both at range and in the tie-ups. She floats effortlessly from punching range into the clinch into takedowns into top position, delivering fight-finishing offense in every phase. Take her 16-second fight with Alexis Davis as an example: Rousey landed a right hand at range, stepped into the clinch, landed a knee, transitioned into a hip toss and then immediately pummeled the hapless Davis for the TKO stoppage.

On the ground, Rousey is even more aggressive. With eight armbar finishes in her first 10 professional fights, she hunts for the finish from the moment she and her opponent hit the mat. It does not matter whether she is on the bottom or on top, that armbar is never more than a couple of quick transitions away, and Rousey looks for it with no delay.

Leaving aside her ridiculous skill in looking for the armbar and the takedowns that precede it, Rousey’s aggressiveness and no-nonsense attitude are a substantial part of her appeal and the reason the UFC has been so happy to put resources behind her. She is the face of women’s MMA for a good reason, and much of that comes down to her killer instinct.

Number 5 » He is a poster child for the different ways a strong commitment to aggressiveness can manifest itself over the course of a long and decorated career. Early on, he simply looked to drown his overmatched opponents in a stream of winging overhand lefts and right hooks delivered with enough force to demolish a skyscraper.