15 Short UFC Fighters That Found Massive Success
If you're under 5'9", I hate to break it to you but... You're considered short!
We've made the most extensive online list of 15 short UFC fighters who have had great success in the octagon.
15. Chad Mendes - 5'6"
Chad "Money" Mendes has been one of the strongest and toughest featherweights in the history of the UFC.
Sporting a NCAA Division 1 background as a 2 time All-American, with an overall record of 64-14, and a 30-1 record as a senior, Mendes was known for bringing powerful wrestling to the cage.
He also possessed powerful hands, which along with his wrestling background made him a powerful force in the UFC.
Through his MMA career, he had 3 chances at the title where he unfortunately came up short all 3 times. Two times were to Jose Aldo, and one was for the interim belt vs Conor McGregor (that Mendes took on 2 weeks notice).
Overall record: 18-4
14. Urijah Faber - 5'6"
As one of the smaller fighters who helped bring the lighter weight classes in the world spotlight, Urijah Faber is a MMA Pioneer that helped bring legitimacy to these weight classes.
He rose to prominence in the WEC (World Extreme Cagefighting) and actually won the belt in that promotion. The WEC had tremendous amounts loaded talent and was eventually acquired by the UFC.
His high paced, well rounded style and submissions allowed him to have all of this success.
Faber then competed in the UFC and despite being a very good fighter, he would always come up short to winning the title.
He eventually was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.
Along with being a fighter, he also created the MMA gym, Team Alpha Male where fighters of lighter weight classes would flock to. This gym would eventually create 3 championship fighters.
Overall record: 35-11
13. Rose Namajunas - 5'5"
Rose has had one of the most unique careers in mixed martial arts. Despite only having a total of 14 fights, she has become a Strawweight champion twice.
Her style is based off of crisp footwork, creating angles, using her boxing and kicks to set up knockouts, or if the fight goes to the ground she will use her bjj to overwhelm the opponent to tap.
The first time she pulled a massive upset against Joanna Jedrzejczyk, finishing her opponent in TKO fashion in the first round. She would immediately rematch her and win again, but this time in a unanimous decision.
The second time and most recently was again pulling off the upset and winning with a first round head kick knock out to win the belt.
She would become the first female fighter to lose the belt and then regain it.
Overall record: 10-4
12. Deiveson Figuereido - 5'5"
Although Figuereido has only began his title reign, he has finished almost all of his fights in dominant fashion. 17 out of his 20 wins have all been stoppages.
One of the reasons that he appeared in the spotlight was for coming in overweight to fight for the flyweight title. He was able to win the fight in brutal fashion through a TKO but was ineligible to win the belt.
He would then rematch Benavidez for the belt (and this time he made weight), and would win through a first round submission.
Shortly after he defended his belt vs Alex Perez and submitted him in the first round.
If that wasn't enough, he completed a UFC Champion's fastest turnaround at 21 days and defeated Brandon Moreno in a 5 round contest.
Overall record: 20-1-1
11. Frankie Edgar - 5'6"
Frankie Edgar is one of the MMA pioneers that may not be a household names to casuals, but is a name that every hardcore fans will always have an appreciation for.
Despite being largely undersized his entire career, he was able to win the lightweight championship (155 lbs). To put that into perspective, he did this without cutting any weight.
His high paced volume striking along with chain wrestling style had brought him great success through most of his career as opponents were unable to keep up.
He won a championship belt being undersized and 20 lbs heavier! He now competes in the bantamweight division (135 lbs).
He holds notable wins over current lightweight champion Charles Oliveria, Chad Mendes, Urijah Faber & BJ Penn.
Overall record: 24-9
10. Cody Garbrandt - 5'8"
Garbrandt is similar to Rose Namajunas in the sense that he has only had 15 total fights but has also become a champion.
The unmistakeable neck tat as well as the speed of his hands are something that sticks out every fight that he's in. His crisp boxing along with defensive wrestling gives him the advantage of keeping the fight standing as he looks to finish his opponent with his hands.
He bursted into the UFC scene by delivering some brutal knockouts and eventually would face Dominick Cruz for the bantamweight championship.
He would have the best performance of his career vs Cruz knocking him down multiple times and almost finished him in the 4th round and handing Cruz his second loss in his career.
Eventually he would lose the title to his arch nemesis TJ Dillashaw.
Overall record: 12-3
9. Petr Yan - 5'7"
Yan has had an interesting but dominant career thus far. Despite only having entered in the UFC in 2018, he is only 28 years of age and entering his prime.
His crisp boxing along with his strong wrestling has brought fantastic success vs all of his opponents as he's been able to pick them apart, wear them down, and finish them no matter where the fight goes.
He knocked out a UFC legend, Jose Aldo to win the Bantamweight championship.
His only 2 losses have been through a split decision (that many thought he won including the president of the organization) and a disqualification vs Aljamain Sterling after an untimely but clearly illegal knee, in a fight that Yan was dominating.
Overall record: 15-2
8. TJ Dillashaw - 5'7"
Dillashaw pulled off one of the biggest upsets in UFC history by defeating Renan Barao, as Barao was favored at -800. A rematch took place where once again Dillashaw TKO'd him in the 5th round.
He also holds two knockouts over former title holder Cody Garbrandt under his belt.
His high paced cardio style along with great wrestling and unorthodox striking bring a sense of unpredictability that have given his opponents massive problems over the years.
His only two losses in the last 5 years have come by some of the best light weight fighters in history, Henry Cejudo & Dominick Cruz.
Something to note - Although Dillashaw has had a dominant last 7 years, he did pop for the use of EPO where he was suspended for 2 years.
Overall record: 16-4
7. Alexander Volkanovski - 5'6"
The only man to have been able to beat Max Holloway twice as well as Jose Aldo, "Volk" has had an interesting career.
He originally had played Rugby and his playing weight at that time was 214 lbs. For context, he now competes in the 145 lbs division in the UFC.
His wrestling style along with having great striking allows him to choose where the fight takes place, and at times just 'go with the flow' no matter where the fight goes, he'll have success.
Some of his notable wins include a knockout of Chad Mendes and a victory vs Jose Aldo.
He was able to win a unanimous decision vs Holloway to win the belt and then edge out a split decision during the rematch.
Overall record: 22-1
6. Joanna Jedrzejczyk - 5'6"
One of the most dominant women's champions of all time, Joanna has successfully defended her title on 5 separate occasions.
She holds the most title fights in women's divisions and the most wins in women's strawweight history.
Her muay thai and kickboxing style while creating a high paced fight, created fatigue for her opponents as she was able to wear them down and pick them apart prior to knocking them out.
She went an astonishing 14-0 before suffering her first loss to Rose Namajunas, despite entering the UFC at 7-0. That is an accomplishment that very few, if any will ever be able to match.
Overall record: 16-4
5. Jose Aldo - 5'7"
Known as the greatest Featherweight of all time, Aldo had a span of 10 years where he did not lose a fight.
He became a WEC champion and the inaugural featherweight UFC champion. Although father time catches up to everyone, he sported a 25-1 record prior to his recent losses.
His muay thai style of ruthless leg kicks along with defensive wrestling was a style that gave almost all opponents problems.
He holds notable wins vs Chad Mendes, Frankie Edgar, Cub Swanson, and Marlon Moraes.
Overall record: 29-7
4. Dominick Cruz - 5'8"
For a long time, Cruz was known as the greatest Bantamweight of all time.
His footwork was second to none and his unorthodox style of using a massive amount of feints was something that almost no fighter was able to figure out.
Along with that he had a strong wrestling base and was known for picking his opponents apart as well as not being able to be hit.
This is why despite having a number of major surgeries, he was able to come back and have success vs different generations of MMA talent.
Notable victories include over Demetrius Johnson and TJ Dillashaw.
Overall record: 23-3
3. Valentina Schevchenko - 5'5"
The Flyweight champion of the UFC, Schevchenko has been nothing but dominant in her UFC run.
Her style is uses Muay Thai, Kickboxing and Boxing to counter strike vs her opponents. With that being said, she has no problem taking the fight to the ground.
One of her unique aspects is she doesn't really possess a weakness, and due to this she doesn't have a strict gameplan going into fights. The gameplan is more of "I'll be ready wherever the fight goes and we'll fight from there"
The only times that she has had some struggles were facing Amanda Nunes at Bantamweight (prior to the flyweight division being opened) where she lost two decisions, and one of them many fans thought that Schevchenko had won.
When you take into consideration how dominant Nunes has been with everyone else, absolutely mauling her competition in 2 different weight classes, you realize it's those two, and then the rest of the competition. It's not even close.
She also has a 57-2 kickboxing record.
Overall record: 21-3
2. Demetrius Johnson - 5'3"
Known as the greatest Flyweight of all time, Demetrius "Might Mouse" Johnson is one of the most dominant UFC champions of all time and constantly referred to as one of the greatest of all time.
His style used quick striking, elusive movement along with great wrestling to consistently neutralize opponents.
Johnson was actually so dominant that the UFC ran out of opponents for him as he cleaned out the division. The UFC actually created a flyweight tournament where the winner would face him just to have an opponent.
Johnson cleared out the division so heavily that the UFC thought about closing out the flyweight division as there was a lack of interest from fans, due to Johnson being expected to continue beating everyone.
Due to his domination, there was a perception that the flyweight division didn't have much high level talent.
The UFC ended up trading Johnson to ONE Championship (for Ben Askren), and it was a move made to possibly close the flyweight division in the UFC, or to grow the homegrown talent that kept getting demolished by Johnson.
Notable wins include Henry Cejudo & Joseph Benavidez.
Overall record: 30-4-1
1. Henry Cejudo - 5'4"
The king of cringe! The self proclaimed greatest combat athlete of all time, "Triple C" has won an olympic gold medal, a UFC flyweight championship, and a UFC Bantamweight championship.
Each one of those championships make up a C in "Triple C", triple champ.
Using dominant wrestling as well as a newly incorporated karate stance, Cejudo was able to go on a dominant run prior to retiring in his prime.
His win vs Demetrius Johnson opened the door for him to be traded to ONE as the UFC was finallly able to have a second champion in that weightclass.
Not only that, but Cejudo saved the Flyweight division.
By winning the title and then defeating TJ Dillashaw (there was a strong sentiment if Dillashaw won that the flyweight division would be closed), he was able to save the division, the fighters in it from being cut, and then move up and challenge for the Bantamweight belt.
He moved up and won the second belt as well, to become one of the few who have ever become double champions in UFC history. Ask him though and he'll tell you he's the first triple champ. Did you know he won a gold medal btw?
Cejudo had 2 losses in his career and he was able to avenge one of them vs Demetrius Johnson.
His notable wins include Sergio Pettis, Jose Aldo, Dominick Cruz, TJ Dillashaw, Demetrius Johnson and Marlon Moraes
Overall record: 16-2