Demetrious Johnson was born as Demetrious Khrisna Johnson in Madisonville, Kentucky, the United States on August 13, 1986. He was ranked as the No. 6 MMA Fighter of the Year for 2012 and the next year, he was ranked No. 2. In 2014, his rank was down to No.9 and he maintained the same rank in 2015. In 2016, he was the No. 8 MMA Fighter of the Year and he was at No. 3 in 2017. As of February 11, 2019, he is the No. 4 in the Current Best MMA Flyweight Fighter and he stands at No. 9 for the Current Best Pound For Pound MMA Fighter. Johnson is also the No. 5 Greatest MMA Fighter of All Time. He is affiliated with AMC Pankration. He is expected to face Yuya Wakamatsu on March 2019.
MMA Fighter
Chael Sonnen
Chael Sonnen was born on April 3rd, 1977 in Milwaukee, Oregon. A wrestler from an early age, Sonnen was a state-runner up in high school, and began training in mixed martial arts in 1996 with the intent to compete in the UFC upon graduation. He would go on to compete as a wrestler at the University of Oregon, earning a silver medal at 2000 Greco-Roman World University Championships, and winning the Dave Schultz Memorial International Greco-Roman two times.
Sonnen’s MMA career with the UFC began in 2005, earning his first win by defeating Trevor Prangley at UFC Fight Night 4. He would later defeat Tim Credeur in 2006, Paulo Filho in 2008, and Dan Miller and Yushin Okami in 2009. UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva would then defeat him in 2010. A 2012 rematch at UFC 147 would see him lose to Silva once more. He is well known for his trash talk and banter as a fighter, and after a series of victories and defeats in 2013, Sonnen announced his retirement from MMA in June, 2014. He has since made his 2017 debut in Bellator MMA, fighting both Tito Ortiz and Wanderlei Silva and earning a loss and win respectively.
Julianna Pena
Julianna Pena was born in Spokane, Washington, United States on August 19, 1989. She is known as The Venezuelan Vixen. As of February 11, 2019, she was ranked as the No. 13 Current Best Female Bantamweight and No. 22 Current Best Pound For Pound Female MMA Fighter. She is affiliated with Sikjitsu. She has been active since 2009. She was the winner of the Ultimate Fighter 18 Tournament against Jessica Rakoczy and she won by technical knockout. This victory allowed her to be crowned as the TUF 18 bantamweight champion – women’s division. After her debut, she had four consecutive wins. She lost in her latest fight, UFC on FOX 23, against Valentina Shevchenko. Pena was also featured in the 2013 documentary Fight Life directed by James Z. Feng.
Rory MacDonald
Rory MacDonald was born Rory Joseph MacDonald in Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada on July 22, 1989. He was ranked as the No. 13 MMA Fighter of the Year for 2012 and he made it to No. 11 for MMA Fighter of the year in 2014. He sits on the No. 26 spot as the Top Fan Favorite MMA Fighter and As of February 11, 2019, he is the No. 58 Current Best Pound for Pound MMA Fighter. He is known by the nickname Red King and he is affiliated with Tristar Gym. His last fight was in Bellator 206 against Gegard Mousasi where he lost by ground and pound on the second round. Prior to Bellator, MacDonald was signed to UFC where his last fight was against Stephen Thompson in 2016 at the UFC Fight Night 89.
Sergio Pettis
Sergio Pettis was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States on August 18, 1993. He is known as The Phenom, SP, or Baby Pettis. As of February 11, 2019, he is the No. 36 in the Current Best MMA Bantamweight Fighter and No. 87 for Current Best Pound For Pound MMA Fighter. He is affiliated with Roufusport MMA Academy. His older brother, Anthony Pettis, is a UFC lightweight champion. He started his career as a professional fighter in 2011 in a fight against Kyle Vivian. Pettis joined the UFC in 2013 and debuted at the UFC 167 in November of that year in the bout against Vaughan Lee. Pettis has also been fighting in the flyweight division. In his latest fight in 2018, he fought in the bantamweight division against Rob Font and lost by unanimous decision.
Cody Garbrandt
Cody Garbrandt was born in Uhrichsville, Ohio, United States on July 7, 1991. As of February 11, 2019, he is the No. 2 Current Best MMA Lightweight Fighter, and he sits at No. 22 Current Best Pound For Pound MMA Fighter. He was on No. 4 of the MMA Fighter of the Year in 2016. His rank as the Greatest MMA Striker of All Time is at No. 41 and as the Greatest MMA Fighter of All Time at No. 89. He is known by the nickname No Love and he is affiliated with Team Alpha Male. His last bout was against T.J. Dillashaw on August 2018 at UFC 227 where he lost. This was his second consecutive loss to Dillashaw since he also lost the match in November 2017.
Paige VanZant
Paige VanZant was born in Dundee, Oregon, United States on March 26, 1994. She is better known as 12 Gauge and she fights in the Flyweight division. She used to be affiliated with Team Alpha Male but her current affiliation is with Gracie Barra Portland. She is ranked as the No. 20 Current Best Female Flyweight and No. 51 for the Current Best Pound For Pound Female MMA Fighter. She signed with the UFC and her latest fight was in January 2019 during UFC Fight Night 143 where she went against Rachael Ostovich and won. She initially joined the Starweight division when she first joined UFC. Aside from being part of UFC, she has also made television appearances such as on Chopped and in Dancing with the Stars.
Matt Mitrione
Matt Mitrione was born on July 15th, 1978 in Springfield, Illinois. He attended Purdue University, earning a football scholarship and later receiving an offer with the New York Giants in 2002. After repeated injuries to his foot over multiple years, Mitrione turned his focus to mixed martial arts, moving to Indianapolis, Indiana in 2005 to train with professional fighters.
Since turning to MMA, his most significant fights have occurred in the UFC, highlighted by his 2009 pro exhibition win against Scott Junk, his TKO of Tim Hague in 2011, his KO against Phillip De Fries in 2013, his TKO against Gabriel Gonzaga in 2014, and his recent 2017 win by TKO against the well-known Fedor Emelianenko, who is arguably one of the greatest fighters of all time.
Daniel Cormier
Daniel Cormier was born on March 20th, 1979 in Lafayette, Louisiana. Daniel’s wrestling talent first came to light when he won three Louisiana state championships. He joined Oklahoma State University where he graduated with a degree in Sociology. What followed was a freestyle wrestling career representing the USA in world tournaments and winning first place between 2003 and 2008 at home in national championships.
In 2009, Daniel broke into MMA fighting in Australia. He won two titles in two weeks by using his superior grappling skills in the ring. In 2010, Daniel signed up for eight fights for the Strikeforce organization. In 2013, Daniel made his debut in UFC against Frank Mir and won. He has since won against the likes of Anderson Silva, Alexander Gustafsson, and Anthony Johnson.
Michelle Waterson
Michelle Waterson was born in Aurora, Colorado, United States on January 6, 1986. She belongs to the Woman’s Starweight Division and she is better known as The Karate Hottie. Her most recent wins was in 2018 where she went against Cortney Casey in the UFC Fight Night and against Felice Herrig in UFC 229. She won both tournaments by decision. She used to be the No. 1 in the Women’s Atomweight Fighter rankings in the world. She is currently No. 8 in the Starweight rankings. Waterson won the Invicta FC Atomweight Champion in 2013. She lost the title in 2014 in a fight against Brazilian fighter Hérica Tibúrcio. She decided to sign with the Ultimate Fighting Championship and compete in the Starweight division in 2015.
Dan Henderson
Daniel Jeffery Henderson was born on August 24, 1970 in Downey California. He is also commonly known as Hendo, Hollywood or Dangerous. During his high school years, he won several medals at the California State Wrestling Championships. He also became the University National Champion three times (1991, 1993, 1994), as well as the champion for the senior level at the Nationals three times (1993, 1994, 1997). In 1992 and 1996, he had the chance to represent the United States in the Summer Olympics and he positioned 10th in 1992 and 12th in 1996.
In 1994 and 1997, he was among the competitors at the World Wrestling Championship and he placed 12th and 7th respectively. He won a bronze and gold medal at the 1995 Pan American Games and at the 2000 Pan American Championship. He joined MMA in 1997, and in 1999 he was the Rings: Kings of King’s champion by winning all 5 fights even when he was outweighed by his opponents by 30 pounds and more.
Nate Diaz
Nate Diaz was born on April 16, 1985 in Stockton, California. Nate began training in mixed martial arts as a teenager with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, along with his brother Nick. Progressing to boxing and kickboxing, Nate began fighting professionally at WEC 12 in 2004, and won via triangle choke submission. Diaz would graduate to fight in the UFC, developing his reputation as the winner of The Ultimate Fighter 5.
Diaz is well known for his intensity, mental toughness, and physical stamina within the ring, and his fighting style has translated to many famous MMA victories, often by submission. These include his wins against Donald Cerrone at UFC 141, Marcus Davis at UFC 118, Kurt Pellegrino at UFC Fight Night, Manvel Gamburyan at TUF 5, and most recently his 2016 defeat by rear-naked choke of UFC superstar Conor McGregor.