One of the keys to being a successful striker in a place like the UFC is to be as creative as possible. Being able to utilize a wide arsenal of punches, kicks, elbows, and expertly placed knees in perfect combination is what separates a good fighter from the best of all time. The case could be made that superior grappling is more important, but it’s hard to argue that a bout featuring some beautiful striking is generally far more exciting to watch.

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There have been hundreds of expert strikers throughout the history of the UFC, but many of the best have been a part of the modern era of MMA. The longer a company stays in business and the higher and higher the competition level becomes, the more advanced fighters fans will be treated to see. UFC’s wide array of strikers are no different.

10 TJ Dillashaw

There are a lot of MMA fans that believe TJ Dillashaw doesn’t get the credit he deserves when it comes to the conversation around modern greats. Fans that focus on Dillashaw’s strikes during his bouts that morph into slugfests are sure to be impressed by what they see.

One of the most important aspects of striking is the ability to aim strikes and connect exactly where a fighter intends each and every time. Seeing Dillashaw launch measured strikes at an opponent that has no option aside from covering up shows how knowledgeable of a striker he truly is.

9 Anthony Pettis

Few fighters blend precision, speed, and strength in the same way that Pettis does. While the man can slug it out with the best strikers around, it’s his ability to chain in some frighteningly fast kicks that make him one of the most creative strikers out there.

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Every punch he launches almost seems as if he’s just trying to nudge his opponent into the right position for a devastating head kick. Fighting at a top level is already hard enough, but being able to maneuver his opponent into doing what he wants is incredible.

8 Cung Le

While many fighters earn their title as creative strikers from unique punch combinations, it could be said that Cung Le earned his with his arsenal of powerful kicks. Le tends to keep his striking relatively simple, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t effective.

An excellent strategy that Cung Le seemed to use quite a bit would be to strike at his opponent’s head to force a cover-up, before launching a serious kick toward his opponent’s mid-section. Once his opponent was rattled his beautiful combinations became hard to handle.

7 Luke Rockhold

One of Luke Rockhold’s biggest strengths is his ability to launch a seemingly never-ending series of strikes toward an unprepared opponent. Any MMA fan who’s watched Rockhold in the closing moments of a KO/TKO victory knows that his path to victory is always a creative one.

It’s nearly impossible for a stunned opponent to cover up from a barrage that comes courtesy of Rockhold thanks to the way he changes levels and swaps his heavy, sweeping strikes. One second he’ll use clubbing strikes, and in the next, his opponent is out of air thanks to some heavy knees to the body.

6 Max Holloway

Max Holloway has been impressing pretty much any person who even glances at one of his bouts as of late. While MMA fans who tend to focus more on the grappling aspect may not see anything all that special in Holloway’s seemingly simplistic striking, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

For someone who focuses primarily on keeping his fights stood-up, Max Holloway has some impressive combinations. His creative striking sequences manage to throw his opponents off, and he ends up landing a lot of significant strikes in a short amount of time.

5 Demetrious Johnson

The man that dominated the UFCs flyweight division for years managed to do so with what is arguably some of the most effective striking combinations of all time. The thing that made him so dangerous wasn’t necessarily his power, but instead, the speed with which he could hit his opponent with a mixture of heavy kicks and quick punches.

One of the most effective and creative combinations he’d throw featured a wide overhand right to get his opponent guarding high before he would then launch a quick, but a stiff kick to his opponent’s body. Sometimes he’d even catch the chin of his opponent with the follow-up kick.

4 Israel Adesanya

There’s a reason that Adesanya has finished more than half of his fights by knockout. Not only is he one of the most creative strikers in UFC history, but he only seems to be getting better every time he steps inside of the octagon.

Adesanya’s ability to perfectly combine jabs, feints, and heavy hooks with some of the scariest kicks and knees in the UFC makes him a tough fighter to beat. The thing that adds to his creativity is that every strike has a purpose. Adesanya almost never throws wild strikes.

3 Jon Jones

Not many fighters are able to consistently land effective spinning elbows, but it seems like every time Jones throws one at his opponent, a knockout isn’t far behind. The man is always willing to throw out plenty of flashy strikes, but unlike many other fighters, he seems to land them more than he misses.

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An example of some beautiful and creative striking was his use of an incredibly quick superman punch against Machida. It’s possible that with the range he was at, most fighters wouldn’t have thought about trying the risky strike, but Jones nailed it.

2 Lyoto Machida

Of all the creative strikers in UFC history, it feels like Machida is the one that best utilizes the momentum he creates during strikes. Machida often uses his strikes to close in on his opponents rather than staying squared up and trading at a distance.

It’s this mastery of momentum that allows him to land significant combinations of punches and kicks while simultaneously dodging the strikes of his opponents. Seeing Machida swap from a series of knee strikes into a beautifully placed roundhouse kick is always a treat for UFC fans.

1 Anderson Silva

There is a reason why many MMA fans point to Anderson Silva as their favorite fighter to ever grace the octagon. With as many styles as there is to choose from in MMA, the fact that Silva looks as if he’s mastered every style he’s ever touched while striking is mesmerizing to many.

One of the reasons that Silva is such a hard opponent for many to handle is the fact that he manages to blend strikes from multiple disciplines together in the same combinations, making it hard to predict what will be thrown next.