Best Kickboxers of All Time: A Comparative Analysis

Kickboxing is one of the best styles of combat on the planet because of the huge potential for explosive knockouts. Fighters that have achieved success in kickboxing have also historically transitioned well in mixed martial arts. While they don't have a background in wrestling or grappling, they almost always have a big advantage in the stand-up game, because of their understanding of range and angles.

In this article, we will rank the best kickboxers of all time that have successfully transitioned to MMA. But, before we get into that, we will explain how kickboxing has forced the sport of MMA to evolve.

How Kickboxing Has Forced MMA to Evolve

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The sport of kickboxing has well and truly changed the way people strike in MMA. In the early 2000's, the majority of fighters would either have a wrestling or boxing background, and this caused several fights to be contested at close range. You look back on fighters such as Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture and Cain Velasquez for example. However, since the emergence of elite kickboxers in the sport, the way striking has now evolved is all based around the kickboxing style. 

Fights are now fought at a longer range and new techniques have become far more frequent in fighter's game plans. For example, the usage of low calf kicks is now just as important and as frequent as what a jab is to a boxer. This technique allows you to score on your opponent from distance whilst doing severe damage to your opponent's leg by hindering their mobility.

Successful kickboxers transitioning over to MMA has forced everyone involved in pro MMA to learn elements of striking. Once upon a time, in the early days of MMA, you could get away with being a great wrestler and having no striking skills. But, this is no longer the case. Even current elite wrestlers and grapplers such as Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira have evolved their stand-up to the point now where they are classed as very good well-rounded fighters.

Elite kickboxers are known for their excellent footwork, precision and knockout power, so these skills are easily translatable if you move from professional kickboxing into MMA. Alex Pereira is the perfect example of how effective elite kickboxing can be in MMA, even without any prior grappling experience. “Poatan” can control range with his footwork, and his precision striking with both his punches and his kicks makes him fun to watch. Add to that his freakish power and that's the reason why he is a two-weight UFC champion and a global superstar right now.

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Alistair Overeem leads the rankings due to his dual success in kickboxing and MMA, particularly his K-1 career and achievements in the UFC. The Dutchman's powerful striking and precision saw him explode onto the UFC scene in 2011 when he folded Brock Lesnar in half with a brutal body kick in the first round. 

Other notable stoppage victories came against fellow top heavyweights such as Junior Dos Santos and Fabricio Werdum. Unfortunately though, “The Demolition Man” had a suspect chin in MMA which stopped him from claiming UFC gold, and for that reason, his MMA success ranks at 30%.

Israel Adesanya, with his undefeated kickboxing record and success in the UFC, being the only two-time UFC middleweight champion in history, follows closely. The Nigerian fighter looked destined to break Anderson Silva's UFC records as middleweight champ. But after five successful title defences, Adesanya's old foe, Alex Pereira showed up and ended his reign as 185-pounds champion, before eventually reclaiming it. 

Adesanya still has plenty of time to improve his legacy in MMA, and his MMA success rank at 33% could increase.

Mirko Filipović’s success in both kickboxing (K-1) and MMA places him in the top 5. The Croatian was known for his lethal kicks, targeting legs, body and head, producing several highlight reel stoppage wins over his illustrious career. Cro Cop has the joint-best MetaScale score (37.5), alongside Alistair Overeem, and this is because he was highly successful across both kickboxing and MMA.

Fighters like Stephen Thompson, Mark Hunt, and Melvin Manhoef rank highly due to their exceptional kickboxing skills and notable MMA careers. “Wonderboy” is still going strong at the age of 41, and his speed of hand and foot is still good, making his karate-based style still effective. However, Thompson is likely to never win a title in the UFC which is why his MMA success ranks at 28.

Mark Hunt is the king of walk-off knockouts. He may have finished his MMA career with a losing record, but kickboxing and MMA fans will never forget him for producing some of the most crazy knockouts in combat sports.

Melvin Manhoef was a knockout machine in both kickboxing and MMA. The Dutchman recorded 56 knockouts out of a total of 70 victories across the two sports. Between February 2005 and October 2006, he fought ten times, winning nine of them by knockout, highlighting the ridiculous power and precision he had.

Special mention to Cung Le, who is the only fighter on this list to get a maximum ranking in either criteria (50 - Kickboxing Success). The Taekwondo black belt had an unbeaten kickboxing record going 17-0 with 12 KO's. Unfortunately, his MMA career wasn't as impressive as his kickboxing career, nevertheless, he still managed to win the Strikeforce middleweight title, but he never defended it.