Back in 2004, renowned welterweight champion, Matt Hughes, said it was a shame he lost in a “fistfight” to a Canadian. He wasn’t wrong. At that time, Canada hadn’t produced many successful UFC fighters, but in the past 10 or so years, that has changed significantly.
Now, you’ll find some of the best UFC fighters in the world heil from Canada, with much success attributed to one of the big training camps in the country, Firas Zahbi’s Tri-Star team. The team comes from Montreal in Quebec, but that’s a team.
Who exactly are the best Canadian UFC fighters?
Here are our top 5.
1. Carlos Newton
Carlos Newton is a former UFC welterweight champion and a serious threat to the division, at that. He won his title back in 2001 against Pat Miletich, a UFC hall of fame inductee. The only reason Newton lost his title was that well-known incident around the knockout in his fight against Matt Hughes. After both men fell hard, Newton was declared unconscious, automatically securing a win for Hughes (despite much confusion). While Newton’s career continued, it just wasn’t the same after that, but he still makes our top list of famous Canadian UFC fighters.
2. Nick Ring
While Nick Ring’s hasn’t been the longest career within UFC terms, he did make quite an impact in a very short time. After his fight against Tito Ortiz, Ring continued his time on a hit show called The Ultimate Fighter. While injuries kept him out for the finale, Ring did enjoy a short-lived yet successful career.
In fact, he faced several serious illness issues, leading to him being pulled out of the match. While his record with the company wasn’t the best, fans do look back on his UFC performance in awe.
It’s a reminder, though, that injuries happen to the best of us, and it’s something you want to keep in mind when looking at betting odds for the UFC and deciding which wagers to place on a fight.
3. Mark Bocek
Dana White put a lot of trust and faith in fighter, Mark Bocek, believing he had the potential to do great things in the Canadian UFC realm. While Bocek’s run endured many ups and downs, he did put in some seriously memorable performances.
It’s his stumble against Frankie Edgar that we think kept him from gaining momentum within the organization, but it didn’t stop him from competing at his best. While his career spanned over 10 years, it’s his sporadic appearances that probably were his greatest downfall.
4. Mark Hominick
While Hominick might not boast the best MMA record, he is another Canadian fighter that earned a list of honors for the wars that played out between him and his opponents within the UFC. His debut came in a fight against Yves Edwards, and he won in a bout via submission.
After a decent amount of time spent with World Extreme Cagefighting, Hominick came back to the UFC but battled to pick up his momentum amongst the best of the best in the MMA world at that time. Even so, he did walk away with the fight of the night several times.
5. T.J. Grant
Interestingly, Grant is a fighter that spent a chunk of his career outside of the UFC, but he still managed to score 21 wins out of 26 fights during his time in the cage. While most of his UFC bouts went the distance, Grant became way too submissive in the latter part of his career.
While he earned a knockout of the night twice along with a fight of the night honor against Evan Dunham, he didn’t put on the most exciting shows, but T.J. Grant always did his best to put on a performance for the fans.
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