In mixed martial arts, and even the broader context of combat sports, we have mythical fighters. These are fighters who on a particular night, under a certain set of circumstances, become a different fighter altogether. Think ‘Prime’ Mike Tyson. MMA is rife with these joke mythical fighters.

Here’s a comprehensive list of mythical fighters in MMA (in no particular order)

Mythical Fighters UFC & MMA – Full List

‘Motivated’ BJ Penn

BJ Penn, but motivated

TRT Vitor Belfort

Vitor Belfort when he was on testosterone replacement therapy

Alistair Ubereem / Horse Meat Overeem

Alistair Overeem when he was clearly on steroids

Chuck with that look in his eye (Chuck Liddell)

Chuck Liddell when he had ‘that look in his eye’

‘Healthy’ Mauricio Hua (Shogun)

Mauricio Hua when he didn’t have bad knees during fights

‘PRIDE era’ Fedor Emilianenko

Fedor Emilianenko when he was on his insane winning streak in PRIDE Fighting Championships

‘Sea Level’ Cain Velasquez

Cain Velasquez when he fought at sea level

‘Salon Quality Hair’ Dustin Poirier

Dustin Poirier with salon quality hair, since he lost more often with a buzz cut

‘Mentally Undefeated’ Sean O’Malley

Sean O’Malley when he maintains the undefeated mentality (he isn’t undefeated)

‘Bleeding’ Nate Diaz

It’s only a Nate Diaz fight when he starts to bleed

‘Patient’ Ngannou (Francis Ngannou)

Francis Ngannou when he shows patience in a fight

‘Full Camp’ Mendes (Chad Mendes)

Chad Mendes when he had a full training camp

‘Dark Place’ GSP (Georges Saint-Pierre)

Georges Saint Pierre when he was going through it

‘5th Round’ Robbie Lawler

Robbie Lawler when he gets to the 5th round of a fight

‘Zoom’ Max Holloway

Max Holloway whooped Calvin Kattar after admitting to training on zoom calls (COVID)

‘Blonde’ Brunson (Derek Brunson)

Derek Brunson looked more impressive after dying his hair blonde

‘Blonde’ Charles Oliveira

Charles Oliveira shot to championship stardom after dying his hair blonde

‘Pictogram’ Jones

That version of Jon Jones who appeared to be untouchable before he popped for ‘pictograms’ in his system

‘Hurt’ Charles Oliveira

Charles Oliveira is notorious for finishing opponents after they hurt him

‘Old Man’ Glover (Glover Teixeira)

Glover Teixeira defies age by beating young prospects after they hurt him

‘30%’ Kamaru Usman

Kamaru Usman when he admitted to being at 30% during a dominant performance

‘PRIDE Era’ Wanderlei Silva

Wanderlei Silva had a noticeable decline after leaving PRIDE Fighting Championships

‘3rd Round’ Yoel Romero

Yoel Romero when he enters the third round

‘Under the right circumstance’ Ronda Rousey

When Ronda Rousey claimed she’d beat the then HW champ Cain Velasquez ‘under the right circumstance’

‘Serious’ Anderson Silva

Anderson Silva when he takes the fight seriously

‘Dad’ Donald Cerrone

Donald Cerrone after he became a dad

‘2nd phase’ Tony Ferguson

Tony Ferguson after he gets hurt in a fight for the first time

Micro Cro Cop in rematches

Cro Cop never lost a rematch

JDS with hair (Junior Dos Santos)

Junior Dos Santos when he had hair

‘Patient’ Justin Gaethje

The cold and calculated Justin Gaethje that picked his shots instead of leading with his head

K1 Demian Maia

Demian Maia when he decided to strike

Pre USADA Anderson Silva

Anderson Silva before USADA was introduced

‘One Eye’ Bisping

Michael Bisping went on a legendary UFC run, including winning a title. He did all this whilst lying to the commission about the fact he couldn’t see out of one eye (a result of a head-kick from TRT Vitor).

‘Motivated’ McGregor

That motivated Conor McGregor who seemed unbeatable before winning the featherweight and lightweight belts.

‘Gyno’ Adesanya / ‘The Last Gyno-Bender’

Israel Adesanya with Gynecomastia

‘Rope’ Blachowicz

Jan Blachowicz claims to touch the noose of a hung man he came across in the woods, before major fights. “when you find a hung man, you take part of his rope for good luck” “that’s what they said in the old days”. Apparently Jan has had a 90% success rate with this morbid ritual.

‘Mid Fight Adjustment’ Stipe Miocic

Stipe Miocic when he adjusts his strategy mid-fight, like in his second fight with Daniel Cormier.

‘Bald’ Volkanovski

Alexander Volkanovski stomped his opposition even harder after shaving his head.

‘Left Hook Larry’ Michael Bisping

Michael Bisping called himself ‘left hook Larry’ after KO’ing Luke Rockhold for the middleweight title with a left hook.

Can you think of any more mythical fighters? Feel free to Drop a comment below or consider supporting me on Patreon.