The Best Kickers In The UFC Ranked

In this video I rank the MMA fighters with the best Kicks in the UFC. I rank them based on finishing potential, variety of kicks, leg kick defense and volume. I discuss names such as Alex Pereira, Stephen Wonderboy Thompson, Jose Aldo, Jan Blachowicz, Yair Rodriguez, Edson Barboza, Israel Adesanya and many more. Let me know what you think in the comments.
#alexpereira #israeladesanya

Time Stamps:
0:00 Intro
0:45 Tier List Begins

it’s time to discuss who has the best kicking game in mixed martial arts these are Fighters that can dominate fights with kicks alone and I’m going to be ranking these Fighters with a tier list ranking system the fighters at the top of the tier list the best ones are going to be ranked on how efficient they are with their kicks how often are they winning fights with their kicks alone and can they finish people with kicks for the most part outside of the F tier all of these Fighters are going to have very solid kicking games we’re only talking about the best so if a Fighter’s in the C tier they still have a really good kicking game but they’re just they’re not in the a tier B tier right but they’re all good all right so let’s get into this first off in the C tier just needed to get that out of the way it’s Justin gagei I think that he’s got a good kicking game but I do think that he is an overrated kicker all right and I know that people are going to be pounding their desk and and pissed off and typing in the comments how dare you how dare you tell me that Justin Gage is not the S tier kicker Justin gagei is one of the most overrated kickers in MMA right now because he is a changed fighter all right when Justin gagei came into the UFC and he was spamming leg kicks at Dustin porier or Michael Johnson or when he was in the world series of fighting and he was leg kick tking people I would have him a lot higher the the issue is since he’s become more efficient with his kicks he’s throwing like four leg kicks around and it just isn’t having the same effect the same ability to totally change a course of a fight like it used to right it was hardly a factor against Max Holloway it was hardly a factor against Michael Chandler again gagei has good kicks he’s got good leg kicks I know he had kicked TKO Dustin porier one head kick TKO is not something that I’m going to sit here and say oh wow Justin Gage’s kicks are just it’s one head kick we’re talking about the leg kicks for the most part that’s what he’s known for he doesn’t have amazing body kicks he doesn’t have great knees it’s the leg kicks and we’re lucky to see four or five of them around at best and I know Max Hollow had a bruised leg but come on like if you’re not Joe Rogan you shouldn’t have an aneurysm about a bruise it was not changing the course of that fight for the most part Justin gagei is a boxer these days and I do not think he is making kicking as big of a part of his game as he would need to in order for it to be a more dominant thing in his division all right or in his fights so I’m going to put Justin gagei who is a good kicker he’s got really solid low kicks in the C tier because he doesn’t throw a lot of them anymore and they don’t have the same impact because of that so I’m going to put him in the C tier in the S tier is going to be Edson Barbosa Edson Barbosa may have the most versatile kicking game in the UFC all right and he’s been around for forever he is tied for the most leg kick TKO in UFC history he has multiple flying knee finishes in his career as well he’s got one over darush he’s got one over Billy corello even though it wasn’t really a flying knee and he’s also got tons of spinning wheel kick tko’s all right he’s got body kick finishes where he’s been folding people with body kicks if you watch his fight with Dan hooker that in my opinion is the best display of body kicks overwhelming someone and breaking them down it’s one of the most brutal fights you’ll ever watch a one-sided Beatdown but Barbosa’s got everything switch kicks to the Body wheel kicks to the face right Spinning Wheel kicks he’s got spinning back kicks I mean the UFC just posted uh five Edson Barbosa Spinning Wheel kicks where he’s like rocking every single one of his opponents with them so Barbosa’s up there he’s got to be S tier he’s got so many finishes with his kicks he has leg kick TKO he has it all so I I got to put him in the S tier uh but let’s get a guy let’s get a volume guy in here all right let’s get a volume guy because I just said gagei doesn’t really throw a whole lot well let’s see someone that does throw a little bit more than Justin gagei to where it can impact a fight to where he can win fights with it and that’s Israel adna I’m going to put adna in the B tier all right now it’s no secret that adisan is a more versatile kicker than Justin gagei right he’s got really good roundhouse kicks to the body he’s got pretty good knees he’s got nice head kicks um but he’s not like totally washing people out with his kicks I think Izzy at this Point’s like 60% kicks 40% boxing but he’s not the highest output Striker either and yeah he’s got a nice flashy question mark kick but how often is he really Landing it right this is not the who’s got the best kicks on the pads or who’s got the best looking kick even though it misses 90% of the time osna has landed that question mark kick on what’s his name Derek Brunson but it’s not like he’s just head kick koing people all over the place um and it’s not like his leg kicks are finishing fights or totally changing the course of a fight right and he’s not really overwhelming people with them that often either because he is a little bit low output so I’m going to say is he’s beater because he wins fights with his kicks he’s really good at putting points on the board with his kicks just you know rocking up leg kicks at range and whatnot again pretty good body kicks as well so I’m going to put him B tier but the reason why he’s not a tier is because it’s not dominant enough you know someone that is going to be a tier is going to be sir gone I talk about someone that can overwhelm people with kicks right I’m talking about someone that is putting a ton of volume out there with kicks um that’s also really versatile with his kicks that would be sirl gone in my opinion the most underrated part of suran’s game are his step in knees to the body right and I’m not even talking about clinch knees to the body but like stepping into the clinch Landing a knee and then folding his opponents with that right now fair enough we don’t really see a lot of kick finishes from gone but he overwhelms people with kicks he basically diminishes his opponent’s gas tank with his kicks he can spam front kicks to the body over and over and over again on these fat sloppy heavy weights that are just going to sit right in front of him and because gon is in really good shape and because he’s a good athlete and he’s agile he can really easily just beat the out of people with kicks at range the front kicks to the body the step in knees he’s also just got a really good clinch game in general so the regular knees to the body and the clinch are awesome he’s got good head kicks uh the only thing stopping him from being in the S tier is that there’s not enough finishes with them right and he’s not like leg kick tking anyone or totally annihilating people and changing the course of a fight with like a couple of kicks for gone it’s about volume right but he does overwhelm people in his Division and uh he is very impressive with his kick so I’m going to put him in the a tier someone else that is going to be in the a tier who am I going to put in the a tier who’s got amazing kicks that’s not necessarily s tier level it’s interesting but you know what let’s see who should I put in the a tier this is tricky I am going to put someone in the S tier I’m goingon to put yon bovich in the S tier all right Yan bovich very different fighter than Edson Barbosa and suron he’s got like these simple oy plotty heavy low kicks like these big ugly low kicks right and Yan he’s not going to wow you he’s not going to throw any wheel kicks but his low kicks alone are some of the most effective kicks in the UFC right now and I’ve seen yam bovich break people with low kicks and he’s got such good low kicks that he doesn’t care if they get defended and checked he will go Shinto shin and he’ll still get the better of those exchanges we’ve seen him wobble around magamed enol with low kicks we’ve seen him hurt Alexander raket with low kicks and we’ve seen him also have some really solid roundhouse kicks to the body and Lead kicks to the body look at his fight with Dominic Rees where Rees had his ribs all bruised up because of just a few lead kicks to the body from yam bovich so he’s got some of the most powerful roundhouse kicks and leg kicks and low kicks in MMA right now but the biggest reason why yam bovich is in the yes TI is because I believe this guy has the best defensive kicking game in the UFC he has the best leg kick and body kick defender in the UFC right now all right I know that someone was able to out leg kick him a little bit but that’s because he has the most untra leg kicks and we’ll talk about him in a minute but yam bovich has the best display of Defending kicks he has shut down people like Israel ad asagna Luke rockold Alexander rakit just to name a few with his defense and the three Fighters that I just named osna rakit rockold all of these Fighters for the most part on the feet are kickers all right racket is a little bit in between but he’s got some of the strongest leg kicks in the game adisan is a great kicker Luke rockold is a great kicker yam bovich you could watch his fights back with these guys he is checking everything sometimes it’s kind of hard to see if something gets checked but bovich he’ll show you man this guy is so good and fast at like bringing up his leg uh and checking everything like he’ll check body kicks this dude will check head kicks all right it’s insane and he easily shuts these guys game down with that defense because again these are Fighters that have to win with you know starting with kicks and if bovich takes that away from them now they have to box with them and he’s also really good there and he’s dangerous there so uh bovich the best leg kick defense and body kick defense in the UFC in my opinion um so I have to put him in the S tier Alex Pereira we’re also going to put him in the S tier now I don’t think Pereira is as good defensively even though he is he’s really good at checking kicks absolutely he was checking a lot of Adis Anna’s kicks he was even checking some of yanovich kicks but he’s also W tier because he out leg kicked Yan bovich like he is the only person that I saw get the better of yan bovich when it came to leg kicks bovich wasn’t wobbling around Alex Pereira with his kicks Pereira on a few occasions had yam bovich wobbling around a little bit with his leg kicks and Alex Pereira has the least telegraphed kicks or leg kicks in the UFC right now you can’t prepare for them you can’t see if they’re coming he doesn’t have a tell he doesn’t twist over his hips at all um and they’re also extremely powerful which is crazy because again he’s not really he doesn’t really look like he’s putting a lot on them yet they with people all right and you see his opponents have to switch stances and you see his opponents slow down a lot he even knocks people down with them sometimes like in his fight with Yuri prasa he was dropping Yuri with low kicks as well in that fight um so have to put Alex Pereira in the S tier he’s also got some really sneaky head kicks as well uh so I have to mention that to another guy that I’m going to put on this list this is going to be an F tier fighter that’s Yuri pahasa speaking of Yuri prasa even though Yuri’s a really dangerous Striker his kicks are so clumsy slow they look like he’s you know he looks like he’s in slow motion when he’s throwing these kicks he’s looks like he’s throwing a change up like he’s purposely throwing them at the slowest speed possible he has no sting on his kicks um and they’re flimsy they just don’t look powerful uh it looks lazy I don’t understand what Yuri does when he’s like throwing a flimsy body kick or a flimsy leg kick with absolutely nothing on it but it just looks real ugly and he does not win his fights with it as well so I’m going to put Yuri Brasa in the F tier just to kind of put someone down there all right he stands out as someone that has some bad kicks so on to the next one Jose Aldo I’m going to put Aldo in the a tier all right now I understand that a lot of people might want to see him in the S tier but at this point he doesn’t really throw enough volume with his kicks to be up there and yes he shut down Jonathan Martinez’s leg kicks very well but that’s also because his leg kick defense is Elite but I just think offensively with his kicks he’s not at the level he once was sort of like Justin gagei who I would have had higher back in the day Aldo isn’t like leg kick tking people anymore he’s not spamming leg kicks anymore he’s not hurting people and dominating people with his kicks as much as he used to he is kind of transformed into a predominant boxer but his leg kicks are still really solid um his leg kick defense is as Elite as it gets so for that alone he should be in the E tier and he’s also got some really good flying knees and knees to the body as well but the only issue that’s holding him back from the S tier is just the volume just doesn’t throw enough volume uh Jonathan Martinez I’m going to put Martinez in the S here I know Aldo shut him down I get it the thing is I think if you put Jose Aldo in front of 10 different opponents and you put Jonathan Martinez in front of the same 10 opponents in the bantamweight division Jonathan Martinez has a much higher chance of like outle kicking those Fighters and like changing the course of a fight with the leg kicks alone and sure you can make the argument that well actually Aldo’s a better fighter in general so he’ll do better and Martinez won’t have the same ability to set those kicks up but in general when it comes to the kicks alone I just think that Martinez’s leg kicks he is tied at the age of 29 he is tied on the alltime list for the most leg kick tko’s how many lighter weight class Fighters have a leg kick that is as damaging as Jonathan Martinez and if you’re not as good as as Jos Aldo at defending them he’s going to get to you unless you take him down unless you knock him out early you have to have Next Level leg kick defense to be able to get the better of him there but you know I still think two leg kick tko’s this early on in his career um is really solid and if this guy gets like four or five winning fights with leg kicks alone is really impressive okay so I I I’m going to put him in the S tier I’m still putting him in the S tier B tier I’m going to put Roman kopilov in the B tier now he doesn’t have that many Elite wins in the UFC he doesn’t have Elite wins in the UFC but I think Roman kopilov has the best roundhouse kick to the body in the heavier weight classes some of the best liver kicks right he folds people with roundhouse kicks man this guy has a lot of sting on them a lot of power on them we saw him beat up pelli Sorano with kicks we saw him beat up Josh f with body kicks and of course we even saw some nasty body kicks in his last outing which he lost but he still looked really dangerous in that one and um yeah I think Roman kopilov is some of the most dangerous body kicks in the UFC so I’m going to put him in the B tier another s tier fighter Yer Rodriguez the variety of kicks that this guy has in his Arsenal is Next Level and so for that reason I’m putting him in the S tier because he is one of these guys that with his kicks alone can also win fights right I I think that Yaya Rodriguez you know him having volkanovski and Max Holloway shoot takedowns on him is a credit to how dangerous he is with his kicks right because it’s the boxing that dropped Brian Ortega the only guy to ever Dro Ortega and people act like this guy’s just a easy fighter to beat but either way it’s the kicks that are giving people issues for the most part right it’s the potential head kick over the top that’s making volkanovski second guess the Striking with a guy as dangerous as Yer it’s the unpredictable kick at the end of a one-w that people can’t see coming that makes people want to shoot takedowns I mean we saw what he was doing to Max just mincing up Holloway’s legs Landing head kicks at will all of these kicks are untra all of them are extremely fast and they’re all very dangerous too he’s got a bunch of kick finishes in the UFC on top of that um and his roundhouse kicks to the body just as simple roundhouse kicks are also really good he was folding Josh EMT with those so I got to put Yaya Rodriguez in the S tier um because again he’s flashy on the feet you don’t know what’s coming he’s really good at putting kicks at the end of combinations to sneak them in there and everything’s fast everything’s dangerous so I’m going to put him in the S tier as well B tier Vulcan offski I’m going to put vul in the B tier vul has really solid body kicks roundhouse kicks lead kicks to the body switch kicks and he’s got really good leg kicks but he’s not that dangerous with his kicks and it’s not like you know he’s not like Alex Pereira where he’s totally taking away his opponent’s movement with his kicks to be fair he has won a title fight against Max Holloway with kicks for the most part in their first fight but that’s like and he did out low kick Jose Aldo which was also really impressive he’s one of the few fighters to be able to to land a lot of kicks on Aldo it’s mostly volume right he’s not got the dangerous element that’s needed for him to be in the a tier he can’t necessarily overwhelm people as well like gone right or like Yaya Rodriguez the volume isn’t crazy for kicks alone especially since volkanovski these days for the most part a big part of his game is boxing and offensive grappling and whatnot but his kicks are still really solid and he’s really fast with them as well well uh so I’m going to put vul in the beat Tier just got some good old basic kicks man bolal Muhammad I’m going to put bolal Muhammad in the C tier all right I think balal Muhammad has a really underrated kicking game all right now again C tier he’s got good kicks arguably he has better kicks than Justin gagei you know what I actually think he has better kicks at this point than Justin gagei and people are going to get pissed off that I’m saying that but hear me out Gage’s throwing four kicks around all of them to the leg they’re not necessarily winning fights for him right balal Muhammad is keeping people at the outside and beating the out of people with kicks on the outside body kicks head kicks and not only is he beating people with kicks but like he’s got really solid technique and he’s throwing kicks that you don’t expect to be as fast as they are because he’s a wrestler and a lot of these wrestlers have a bit of a stiff build like Kamar Usman or Kobe Covington or khabib B muhamad is getting those kicks out there super fast he’s very agile with them and they’re pretty damn impressive so I got to put him in the C tier I mean even though Gilbert Burns was injured when balal fought him balal was mincing him up at range with kicks just putting them together really effortlessly so uh very underrated kicking game from balal Muhammad next up we have Jon Jones I’m gonna put Jones this is tricky man this is very tricky I’m going to put Jones in the B tier I think that in his prime we’re talking about an S tier kicker because of how good his clinch game was and how good his knees were and head kicks and front kicks and body kicks and leg kicks but since 2019 and 2018 since his Anthony Smith and gustus 2 fight he’s not looked that impressive with his kicks against Reyes they were all right he’s got some good spinning back kicks in there against Rees and whatnot but I don’t know there’s still a lot of questions that need to be answered at heavyweights we saw Jones throw like one spinning leg kick against serl gon and that was kind of it it’s been forever since he’s shown us striking anyway so I’m just going to assume it’s just not as good as it used to be as well just because his last two performances before Gone his kicking game did not look in any way shape or form that impressive back in the day he would have been been higher right now uh I’m going to give him the respect to someone that is one of the best kickers in UFC history but now I I I don’t think I could put him that high just because we haven’t seen a whole lot of it right but I’ll put him B tier just because Jones for the most part on the feet kicks that’s what he does right and he’s really good with it and he’s really good at keeping distance with his kicks on to the next one Peter Yan I’m putting Yan in the beat Tier similar to Roman kopilov he’s one of these guys that for the most part is a boxer but when he does throw kicks they’re perfect technique he’s got some of the best roundhouse kicks to the body and it looks like they take the wind out of people I mean sha Ali was talking about how the thing that hurt the most in his fight with Yan were the body kicks and they look like they hurt really good switch kicks to the body and also Peter Yan has some really underrated head kicks look at him dropping Uriah Faber with a front kick right look at him throwing spinning wheel kicks against s Yong and you know hurting Cory sanhan with a spinning wheel kick as well so I think that Yan has some really underrated kicks everything that he throws is perfect technique as well the only issue is you know he doesn’t have a lot of volume on them right so volkanovski for example lots of volume but they’re not as powerful as Peter Yan right and he doesn’t have the same variety as a guy like Peter Jan but Yan I think is a really underrated kicker so I’m going to put him in the B tier on to the next one Islam makev I’m going to put Islam makv in the B tier mv’s got amazing kicks he was able to hold volkanovski at Bay in the rematch with kicks alone long roundhouse kicks to the body head kicks leg kicks and the most underrated part of Islam mv’s game is his clinch game and the reason why he’s so dangerous there is because of the knees he’s got amazing clinch knees to the body as soon as you see him in the clinch people he’s mincing them up with knees to the body and he’s also got some really good knees to the face where he was Landing those on volkanovski in their first fight he’s even tko’ed or or hurt people and dropped people with knees back in the day so I do think that Islam makv is a very underrated kicker and of course we’re going to include knees on this list because not just going to make the best knees list okay we’re going to do knees as a part of the kicking game for the sake of this list let’s get on to the next one Shao Mali I’m going to put Shao Mali in the a tier all right I am going to put him in the a tier speaking of knees sha Ali’s knee up the middle the same one that he caught Yan with and cut him open with the same one that he caught Cheto Vera with which would have knocked out 99% of the people in his division all right I don’t know how Cheto Vera took that knee it was the the craziest sound I’ve ever heard while watching a fight it it honestly sounded like it had broke cheo’s whole face but Al’s knees are nasty and he’s got really good flashy kicks spinning kicks head kicks right but most importantly om Al’s really good with his leg kicks he has very strong leg kicks he has really solid teps to the body and if he wants he can hold people at Bay with them right the only thing stopping him for being in the S tier is that he’s slowly but at this point turning into a predominant boxer and for the most part he boxes but he has the ability to just keep people at Bay with his kicks alone did a really good job at that when he was fighting Thomas Almeida held him at range easily with front kicks and leg kicks and oblique kicks and whatnot so yeah I think om Ali has to be mentioned here too and also he’s head kicked people and knocked people out with them like Jose konz and I believe he even dropped Thomas Almeida with a head KCK as well and he’s got a bunch of head kicks before he even entered the UFC so Ali I’m going to put him in the a tier he could do a ton with his kicks uh but it’s really the basics that make him so dangerous and that knee very underrated weapon from Shao Ali so let’s get on to the next one Ian Gary I’m going to put Ian Gary in the B tier all right I think Ian Gary’s kicking game you know what it man I’m putting Ian Gary in the a tier it might be too too soon it might be a little bit too soon but this guy was throwing steeping knees on Jeff Neil which I don’t think people give him enough credit for because Jeff Neil is one of the most dangerous Heavy Hitters in the welterweight Division and for Ian Gary to be closing the distance crashing in with steeping knees is very impressive Ian Gary’s leg kicks also underrated he was taking Neil magy off of his feet when he was leg kicking him right he’s got incredibly strong low kicks and he’s got good front kicks to the body he’s got good head kicks he’s got good roundhouse kicks uh we saw him head kick KO uh Rodriguez D Rod I think he’s got a really good kicking game his boxing is real good but I think actually the most impressive part of his game in my opinion is his ability to throw kicks with volume and with good power as well so I’m going to put Ian Gary in the a tier I think you know arguably he’s a top three kicker in his Division and the reason why that’s impressive is because his division has some of the best kickers in the UFC speaking of one of them Wonderboy Thompson I’m going to put in the Ester all right Wonderboy Thompson is not very powerful with his leg kicks or body kicks but man Wonderboy Thompson can Style on people and embarrass them with his kicks and if he lands the right spinning head kick on you Spinning Wheel kick question mark kick hook kick scissor kick whatever the Wonderboy Thompson’s throwing if if he lands the right shot on you in the head you’re done he’s got a bunch of head kick Kos throughout his career as he’s gotten older we are not seeing a whole lot of them but the dude is 41 years old and embarrassing people with his kicks okay this guy against Kevin Holland looked like he was fighting in a karate movie it looked like it was fake that’s how impressive Wonderboy Thompson was he’s literally pulling off spamming Spinning Wheel kicks question mark kicks hook kicks in a UFC fight against a dangerous guy like Kevin Holland which is just insane and also I talk about like him embarrassing people he’s not hurting people with leg kicks that often but Wonderboy Thompson will like take you off of your feet with a simple Sid kick to the body right and he can just keep you at range and make it impossible for his opponents to close the Distance by just spamming that s kick to the body and you know catching you off guard with head kicks so I think wboy has to be mentioned fair enough a big part of his game is also his hands like he’s got really good hands as well but the kicks are ridiculous from Wonderboy Thompson he could do it all when it comes to his kicks another guy that has to be on this list I don’t know where he’s at uh I forgot to include him but I’m going to put MVP in the a tier all right MVP is going to go in the a tier Michael Venom pagee insanely good kicks great flying knees he’s got a bunch of flying knee Kos throughout his career he’s got a bunch of head kick Kos throughout his career as well but a lot of Michael Venom Page’s success comes from the hands as well and I need to see him do a little bit more with his kicks in the UFC maybe in his next fight if he goes out there and wins a fight with his kicks or looks really solid with it I’ll put him in the S tier but for now um I’m going to put him in the a tier all right he’s up there with the best of them because of how explosive he is but again you know what it it I’m putting MVP in the S I’ve seen this dude like kick TKO people as well and like Bend people’s knees back into their leg with leg kicks so I’m going to put him in the S tier actually Michael Venom page is insanely good with his kicks uh so I’m going to put him in the S tier with Wonderboy Thompson on to the next one Corey sandhagen I’m going to put San hien in the B tier all right I know that some people are going to say what do you mean he’s not a here uh I just you know listen sandhagen has a flying knee KO sandhagen has a spinning wheel kick KO fair enough but at the same time outside of those two finishes he’s got good body kicks he’s got really good roundhouse kicks he’s got really good leg kicks but he’s not necessarily doing anything other than putting points on the board like San Hick’s not folding people with body kicks um and he’s not just kicking for the most part like he’s not overwhelming people with his kicks he has he has great technique don’t get me wrong but this is about how effective are you like are you winning with the kicks are you dominating with them are you finishing people with them outside of his two finishes where he’s been able to flying knee someone and wheel kick KO someone a lot of Cory Sanden his just efficiency just putting points on the board which is really good he’s in there with some other great kickers but I’m going to put him in the B tier all right on to the next one you know what I might put Yan in the c-tier honestly I don’t think Jan throws enough kicks in order for me to put him in the B tier technical wise technique wise I think he’s much better than gagei and I think he’s much better than balal but again when I’m talking about kicks I’m talking about like does he use them to win his fights Yan does not throw that many kicks he doesn’t throw that many right I feel like all these guys make kicking a bigger part of their game than Yan but it I’ll put Yan in the B tier it just feels wrong to put him in there with balal uh on to the next one Alexander vov putting him in the B tier too very good kicks and he’s folded people with front kicks to the body we saw him TKO jarino Rosen strike with just simple old front kicks to the body we saw him mince up tied to iasa a big part of that coming from leg kicks and front kicks to the body uh so yeah I think that Alexander vov needs to be mentioned on this list as well one of the best best kickers in the heavier weight classes all he needs to do is have another really impressive Showcase with his kicks for me to bump him up a little bit but right now I’m going to put him in the B tier s magedov a tier may have not had the same amount of finishes as some of these other guys and he has finished some people with his kicks but they’re against lower level opponents but either way just what this guy’s able to do how quick he is with his kicks we talked about Jonathan Martinez Sider mov was whooping Jonathan Martinez up with spinning kicks and just good oldfashioned body kicks and whatnot and I think that side magam medov needs to be mentioned on this list as well maybe not enough finishes maybe not enough uh high level performances for him to like move up into a higher tier but I do believe he is more impressive with his kicking game than anyone in the B tier right now so I’m going to put s in there too Leon Edwards I’m going to put Lon in the beach tier all right now Lon isn’t like finishing that many people with his kicks of course there’s the head kick KO beautiful head kick KO over Kamar Usman that’s one of the best moments in UFC history but outside of that he doesn’t really overwhelm people with kicks he kind of just skirts by and that’s basically it but the fact is Leon Edwards does win fights with his kicks he doesn’t throw his hands that often a lot of his success just comes from body kicks leg kicks at range and it works and he does it at the high highest level he has perfect technique on it he manages that the kicking range better than anyone else in his division arguably but he’s not really doing the same things as Wonderboy or Ian Gary and to be fair the people that he’s out leg kicking are guys like Usman and Colby Covington Fighters that aren’t really known for also having phenomenal kicking games so for that reason I think he’s a little bit more or a lot more underwhelming than MV P or Ian Gary or Wonderboy but uh Leon Edwards kind of like Islam makv also was a really good clinch game he’s got some really dangerous knees in the clinch but uh just not the overwhelming ability and the dangerous element needed to be higher up on this list okay Max Holloway I want to put Holloway in the B tier too now I know Holloway broke Gage’s nose with spinning kicks I get that but for the most part Holloway is for the most part a boxer right he’s been throwing a lot of kicks these days absolutely and it’s becoming a bigger part of his game but I just need to see a little bit more of it in order for me to bump him up like I think that he’s still for the most part winning his fights with his boxing but his leg kicks are solid his roundhouse kicks to the body are really good uh he’s got some decent head kicks but nothing crazy outside of that spinning kick outside of that jumping spinning kick that he likes to throw when people are closing the distance at him outside of that there’s nothing that really impresses me that much other than just straight volume and like good oldfashioned like basic solid technique uh but I’m just saying he doesn’t really stand out that much from the rest of the guys on the beach here but Holloway’s got a really good kicking game man he’s one of these guys that can just you know win fights and outpoint people in part due to the fact that he’s kicking a lot as well so I’m going to put Hall in the B tier especially at this point in his career since he’s throwing a lot more of them uh Robert Whitaker I’m going to put Whitaker in the C tier and I know people are going to Riot in the comments but listen Whitaker outside of the head kick combination outside of the knee Stomps against Dar till and yoel Romero in the rematch maybe Whitaker doesn’t really throw that many kicks right like he has some decent Sid kicks and he has some decent body kicks and he can keep people at Bay pretty well but for the most part would is a guy that uses his karate Blitz to box to throw hands the head kick setup is amazing from Robert Whitaker it’s it’s super high level but when is he finishing people with it outside of way back in the day I know he dropped Jared Kenan year I know he was catching Marvin vitori with kicks and I know he was catching Marvin vtori with like knees to the face so you know n it dude I’m going to put whiter in the be tier now that I’m thinking about the vitori fight the caner fight he he’s got some solid kicks but in the Costa fight Whitaker was hardly throwing kicks right in the osna fight I get it is he’s going to be the the ranger guy Whitaker was for the most part just boxing with him right yoel Romero fights Whitaker what you know he was throwing a lot of kicks I’m going to give Whitaker some some respect man he he was Landing a lot of good kicks on yel Romero he even broke his orbital bone with a kick too so you know for that reason I’m going put Whitaker in the B tier but again it’s like Whitaker’s one of these guys like Roman popul love where he doesn’t throw a ton of them but when he does throw them he puts a lot of sting on them and uh he can hurt people with them he can sort of change the course of a fight and you know fold people a little bit if he lands the right shot but it’s just like we don’t see enough dominance from the kicking game to put him that much higher all right Jamal Hill I’m going to put Jamal Hill in the Beats here underrated kicker he’s got a really good kicking game fast leg kicks great body kicks great head kicks he beat the A Glover toer with kicks alone for the most part not kicks alone all right but I feel like people forget people forget man Jamal Hill a lot of his strikes against Glover came from head kicks body kicks leg kicks uh he’s really good with his kicking game for the most part he is a boxer but his kicks underrated very underrated uh no I’m going to put him in the seat to be honest because I feel like there’s not enough feel like there’s not enough performances from Jamal Hill where his kicks are like the main focus point where um you know for some of these B tier Fighters there have been more fights where they’ve like had kicks be a big thing for them throughout their career Giga chazi I’m putting Giga in the B tier this dude beat the out of Edson Barbosa with kicks and people forget it people forget but they really do Giga chazi sunned Edson Barbosa with kicks to the body and kicks to the Head very impressive performance but that was old Giga chazi current giga chazi underwhelming a little bit underwhelming now yes he body kicked tko’ed Cub Swanson dude Cub Swanson’s been finished by so many kicks throughout his career but he had a really good liver kick KO against uh Cub Swanson and he soned Edson Barbosa when they fought with his kicks his speed was on another level that night but uh he took a few years off looked a little bit Rusty in his last fight I don’t know I mean I think gigas still has a really good kicking game but um I need to see him come back against Arnold Allen and show out a little bit more for me to bump him back up but right now I’ll put him in the B tier Colby Covington I’m going to put Colby Covington in the D tier all right I know Yuri prasa is in the f-tier col’s in the D tier I just felt like I needed to have another fighter that’s not that good with his kicks um but Covington has like some flimsy kicks as well but you know what he did head kick Usman a few times he had some good body kicks against Usman some good body kicks against Tyron Woodley as well uh I’ll put him in the D tier although he should be in the F tier and Yuri Brasa should be in the Z tier to be honest but you know I thought he was just slightly better than Yuri with his kicks good front kicks too um yeah Chris ceras another mention uh for the B tier kieras is a guy that’s always on the back foot pitter patter he’s he’s a he’s a pitter patter pop shotter right no sting on his kicks just kind of backs up and kicks you at range and stays safe uh but he can’t really beat people at the highest level with this kicking game alone it’s only like lower level guys or people that are on the verge of retirement right he doesn’t really finish a lot of people with this kicks but it’s like 95% of his game and he’s had a UFC main event and like he is a known fighter and the only thing he does is kick it range so I may as well put him in the B tier cuz like you know in order to be close to the rankings where all you do is kick you’re pretty good with your kicks so you got to give him some respect for that uh CLE rry C tier I know some people are going to hate that this dude doesn’t throw kicks anymore all right I know he has a couple of crazy soccer kick to the body Ko’s and he dropped uh what’s his name he dropped Eric Anders with kicks and he was you know showing a really good Muay Thai stance this dude fought Anthony Smith and didn’t throw more than one or two kicks throughout the entirety of that fight I don’t even think he threw two that alone is putting him C tier he’s got great roundhouse kicks but for the most part this guy is a boxer all right and I think people give him too much credit for his kicking game and how much success it gives him he’s like gayi he’ll throw like four around if you’re lucky and that’s if you’re lucky all right but right now he’s C tier again gagei would have been way higher back in the day imav off B tier amazing front kicks to the body really good head kicks um and a really good ability to keep people at distance with his kicks but uh nothing too amazing Charlie Campbell I’m going to put Campbell in the C tier underrated kicker solid leg kick Ko’s outside of the UFC and he reminds me of gayi he puts everything into his leg kicks and I think that as we see this guy more in the UFC we’re going to start to think of him as like one of the best leg kickers in the UFC I’m going to put Charlie Campbell in the c-tier last but not least Kyler Phillips I’m going to put him in the B tier very flashy on the feet great knees up the middle great side kicks really good head kicks and super fast and untra with everything that he throws so yeah this is my kicking tier list guys s tier we got all these best kickers in the UFC best kickers in MMA a tier guys that are just slightly below there b tier a lot of solid kickers the people that would have been higher back in the day Aldo would have been an S tier fighter now he’s a little bit more boxing heavy so I have M tier Jones honestly I would have had a mess here but because he’s been inactive and he’s like fat Jones fighting at heavyweight we don’t know how good his kicking game is these days and in his last couple of fights at light heavyweight against Santos and against Reyes his kicking game did not look that impressive so I would have had a s tier back in the day gagei I probably would have had a m tier way back in the day but probably not now he just doesn’t throw enough of them but let me know what you guys think in the comments until next time