Top MMA Fighters Who Excel With Foot Sweep Technique

Before ranking the best MMA fighters who have used foot sweep techniques, many of you may be wondering what a foot sweep is, so we will be diving into the explanation of it. 

Firstly, a foot sweep is when a fighter attempts to take away their opponents’ base, whether that be to disrupt their balance and/or to take them down to the mat by sweeping their foot or ankle. Foot sweeps are a common aspect of martial arts in Judo, Sambo, Karate and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, and they've now become a huge factor in modern day MMA. 

Foot sweeps are incredibly effective when you are facing an aggressive fighter that's coming forward. Because they will be putting most of their weight on their front leg, and this opens up an opportunity to attack the opposite foot/ankle because it will be easier to grab or sweep.

These techniques are all about timing; momentum can carry a fighter to the mat pretty easily, so understanding timing and distance is key to being good at foot sweeps. 

There are many different techniques fighters can do to achieve a foot sweep. For example, if you're in the clinch, in the middle of the cage, or against it, you can place your foot inside of your opponent's stance and then push them into it, or you can kick into the back of your opponent's ankle while walking them back, to trip them. 

You can do a similar technique in the clinch which is called an outside trip, and this involves placing your leg or foot outside of your opponent’s stance and then trying to trip them.

Another technique is to ankle pick your opponent, this is simply when you level change and grab your opponent’s ankle. From this point, you can try to push and pull your opponent off balance while lifting his foot off the ground, or you can also try to attack the remaining planted foot by the use of kicking or tripping. 

The Best MMA Fighters That Used Foot Sweeps

Although foot sweeps are common in Judo and BJJ, they are now also very common in mixed martial arts due to several top-level artists from these disciplines transitioning over to pro MMA.

Here are some of the best fighters to use foot sweeps…

4. Lyoto Machida 

Although Lyoto Machida was known for his slick counter-striking, his karate-based style blended with excellent BJJ skills made him a dangerous fighter, especially when it came to foot sweeps. His timing on his foot sweep entries were elite, but he wasn't one for focusing on submissions when he executed his sweeps, evidently with just two submission wins in his 38-fight MMA career.

3. Demian Maia 

Demian Maia is one of the best grapplers to ever grace combat sports, and one reason why he was so effective was his foot sweep attacks. His legendary BJJ skills saw him effortlessly take opponents to the ground and then finish them with his array of submissions.

2. Anderson Silva

Josh Rosenthal, Chael Sonnen and Anderson Silva//Getty Images

While Anderson Silva was known as an elusive and creative Muay Thai striker, his usage of foot sweeps played a huge part in his effective striking. Often, the Brazilian used foot sweeps to knock his opponents off balance so he could take advantage and throw combinations, almost like a free-hit situation.