The Top 5 European Fighters on the UFC Roster Right Now
UFC Fight Night 209 goes down Saturday in Paris, or as I like to call it, the City of Light. It’s the UFC’s first event in France, and comes just two years after the nation legalized the sport.
In the main event, Frenchman and heavyweight contender Ciryl Gane will tangle with Australian slugger Tai Tuivasa. But this card has several European names of note.
In that spirit, we are listing here the five best active UFC fighters in Europe.
For the sake of simplicity, we’re focusing on European Union member nations here. That means we aren't counting the United Kingdom or Russia, since including them would frankly make this too easy. You’d barely get out of the North Caucasus.
Anyway, on to the list.
Honorable Mentions
Listed in no particular order:
- Marvin Vettori, middleweight, Italy
- Mateusz Gamrot, lightweight, Poland
- Jack Hermansson, middleweight, Norway
- Nassourdine Imavov, middleweight, France
- Marcin Tybura, heavyweight, Poland
- Manon Fiorot, women’s flyweight, France
- Ian Garry, welterweight, Ireland
5. Conor McGregor, Lightweight, Ireland
Record: 22-6
Conor McGregor's UFC resume is unassailable. However, losses, injuries and time away from the sport have kept his future a perpetual question mark for going on six years now.
McGregor is still only 34 years old, and he’s staying in top shape, at least according to his social media accounts. There's plenty of time for him to return to, and find success in, the UFC.
Nevertheless, he’s still recovering from the gruesome leg break he suffered in his last fight, his second loss to Dustin Poirier. He was originally targeting a return in July, but his manager said last week that he wouldn’t return to the Octagon until 2023.
As it stands, any hunch about what's next for McGregor is just that, and prospects for his future competitiveness are still murky at best.
4. Jan Blachowicz, Light Heavyweight, Poland
Record: 29-9
Jan Błachowicz has a few odd footnotes on his distinguished UFC career.
His only successful light heavyweight title defense came against Israel Adesanya, a career middleweight who promptly returned to 185 pounds after Błachowicz big-brothered him. He was also on the losing side when Glover Teixeira became the UFC’s oldest first-time champ at the age of 42.
Teixeira went on to lose the strap in his next fight to Jiří Procházka. On paper, Błachowicz’s next performance—a TKO of the well-regarded and hard-hitting Aleksandar Rakić in May—seemed a little more impressive. But it only came after Rakić tore his ACL, a flukish injury that came while Rakić was untouched and in the third round of a bout that was tied to that point on all three judges’ scorecards.
All of that is to say, Błachowicz might not be the world’s most illustrious light heavyweight champ, but he is still plenty dangerous, especially in a thin 205-pound division. Błachowicz is continuously calling for Procházka as his next opponent. We’ll see what transpires.
3. Ciryl Gane
Record: 10-1
Lauded for his skills and athleticism almost as much as he’s jeered for the dreaded “boring” tag, Ciryl Gane has a chance Saturday to shake off his title-fight loss to Francis Ngannou against an opponent in Tai Tuivasa that may be his polar opposite.
Tuivasa’s charisma jumps off the screen, even if you think shoeys are vile. His Plan A through Plan G is hitting you as hard as he can to try and force you horizontal.
Still, the more measured Gane is a -520 favorite to take care of business against Tuivasa as of Thursday, per DraftKings. He will likely look to test Tuivasa in the clinch and from range and to tax his overall stamina. And the odds are that he will be successful, padding a career resume that contains only one professional defeat.
Gane won’t leave the heavyweight title picture for a long time.
2. Jiří Procházka, Light Heavyweight, Czech Republic
Record: 29-3-1
Jiří Procházka has the MMA world on a silver platter right now.
Not only did the 29-year-old storm his way to the light heavyweight championship in only three UFC fights—each one, including the win over Glover Teixeira, coming by stoppage and earning him at least one post-fight bonus—but he did so while endearing himself to fans with his go-for-broke style, his samurai training, his hair antenna and essentially everything about his public persona.
That battle with Teixeira remains an instant classic and my Fight of the Year. The back-and-forth engagement ended in the final round when Procházka, losing on the scorecards, reversed the champ’s position, took his back and submitted the Brazilian with a no-hooks rear-naked choke.
It looks like a rematch with Teixeira is in the works for December. No one’s going to turn that one down. And the aforementioned Błachowicz is always waiting in the wings.
If things break a certain way, this could become an interesting (eh, semi-interesting) three-man weave for years to come. For now, though, this is Procházka’s division, and everyone else is just along for the ride.
1. Francis Ngannou, Heavyweight, France
Record: 17-3
Saying “Francis Ngannou wouldn’t be nearly as good if he didn’t hit so hard” is a lot like saying “a bicycle would be a lot slower if it didn’t have wheels.” That’s especially true after a surprisingly well-rounded performance lifted him over Gane back in January.
And that's why, all taken together, Ngannou is the best European fighter in the UFC today. (Ngannou was born and raised in Cameroon but has called France home for nearly a decade now.)
The Baddest Man on the Planet faces an uncertain future, at least to those on the outside looking in. Knee surgery put him out until the end of the year at a minimum, and it happened amid contract difficulties with the UFC. Meanwhile, boxing is in on his bucket list, and everyone would enjoy that. Even Tyson Fury wants in.
Ngannou is a great, gifted and likable fighter in his pure prime. Whatever he does next, he’ll be the most feared guy in any ring, cage, contest or stadium he enters for the foreseeable future.