What do Sean Strickland, Nate Diaz, Tommy Ferguson, and Tito Ortiz have in common? They were all born and raised in California. The sunshine state is the most populous US state so it’s no surprise that some of the greatest champions in the UFC came from California.
Most people associate California with tech geeks and hippie liberal types, but some of the most brutal fighters came from that state. If you want to know about the best Californian champions to ever hit the Octagon, you came to the right place.
We’re only going to cover fighters who were born and bred in California, and not fighters who merely used to reside in the state. If we go by UFC fighters that resided in California, Jon Bones Jones would top the list.
A lot of big fighters move out to California for the weather (and proximity to Vegas), but we’ll only list fighters born in the state. All of these fighters held championship belts in the UFC and were difficult to beat.
We’ll rank them based on their fight record, impact on the sport, and reputation. With that said, let’s get into the top MMA/UFC champs that originate in California.
Table of Contents
15. Dan Henderson
| Height: | 6’1 |
| Weight: | 185 lbs. |
| W/L Record: | 32-15 |
| Birthplace in CA: | Downey |
Henderson is a middleweight from Downey, CA who had a tremendous impact on MMA. He was the first MMA fighter in history to hold two championship belts from different weight classes. This guy had one of the longest fighting careers spanning from 1997 to 2016, and unlike many, didn’t end his career with a string of losses.
He starred in some of the most gruesome and bloody fights the UFC has ever seen and came out victorious.
Henderson loved to fight and had a total of 47 professional MMA bouts – far surpassing other fighters on this list. He’d take a fight on short notice without a problem and he was always ready to throw punches. His finishes were brutal – often knocking out his opponents with elbows to the face until the ref intervened. One thing is for certain: You wouldn’t want to be knocked out by Henderson.
He was your average Californian boy who grew up to middle class parents on a ranch in California and started wrestling in high school. His passion for wrestling continued through college when he competed for Cal State Fullerton.
His professional MMA debut was in Brazil in 1997. He fought two opponents (Crezio de Souza and Eric Smith) and won both fights. He was immediately signed to the UFC in 1997 and made appearances there until 2014. He held the UFC middleweight championship belt and defended it, and he tried for the light heavyweight belt.
After a 9 fight win streak, he lost to Wanderlei Silva at PRIDE championships by decision. This was his first professional loss. He fought for PRIDE until 2007 when he made his way back to the UFC. His toughest fight was against Anderson Silva and he lost by submission. During the middleweight title fight against Michael Bisping, he won by TKO and won the middleweight championship.
He lost against Jake Shields for the Strikeforce middleweight championship belt, but won it back in the next bout. After successfully regaining his middleweight title, he added some weight and went for a heavyweight title, knocking out Fedor Emelianenko in his category debut.
Henderson has been on testosterone therapy since 2007 when his doctor tested him for low testosterone levels. This caused controversy in the UFC and they banned testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) in 2014. He had to stop cold turkey to stay in the UFC.
He fought until 2016 when he retired. He’s now the owner of a gym in Temecula, California.
14. Chad Mendes
| Height: | 5’6 |
| Weight: | 145 lbs. |
| W/L Record: | 18-5 |
| Birthplace in CA: | Hanford |
Chad Mandes is one of the fastest, most powerful knockout machines to come out of California. He grew up in Hanford, California where he was a cheerleader in high school and then started out wrestling. He spent his whole life fighting, from his wrestling career, to his UFC career, and his recent bare knuckle debut.
You’ll notice his strikes are powerful and they come in fast, taking his opponents by surprise. He was a top 10 wrestler when he performed for Cal Poly and earned NCAA All-American honors twice. His wrestling record was 64-13, and his MMA record is even more impressive at 18-5.
Mendes faced some of the biggest names in the featherweight division and always chose the toughest opponents. His only losses are to UFC greats like Conor McGregor and Alexander Volkanovski – and he put up a great fight with both of them.
He had his professional MMA debut for PFC back in 2008 and racked up a 12-fight win streak. He was then performing for the World Extreme Cage fighting until it merged with the UFC in 2010 and automatically became a UFC fighter. His UFC debut was successful and he won against Michihiro Omigawa in his first fight there. He also won his second fight against Rani Yahya.
His first professional loss was against José Aldo when he took a knee to the face and struggled to get up. Between 2012 and 2014, he was undefeated, knocking out 5 opponents. As he was getting bigger in the sport and gaining a reputation, Dana White paired him with the top champions and that’s when he started to struggle. He lost his big fight against Conor McGregor by TKO.
Mendes’s last UFC fight was to Volkanovski in 2018 and he lost. He then decided to retire from the UFC and took a 3-year break. Apparently, the UFC didn’t want to drop him, but he wanted to retire on his own will. He then signed a multi-million dollar contract to fight bare knuckle, and had a successful debut, knocking out his opponent.
He’s known as a relaxed guy and only had one incident when he got in a bar fight back in 2021. He was always fierce and ready to fight to the death. He made McGregor bleed from his face and gave him one of the hardest fights of his life. He’s still active in bare knuckle boxing so we look forward to watching more of his fights.
13. Tito Ortiz
| Height: | 6’2 |
| Weight: | 205 lbs. |
| W/L Record: | 21-12 |
| Birthplace in CA: | Huntington Beach |
Tito Ortiz is one of the UFC OGs from the 90s as well as a household name in MMA fighting. He was born in Huntington Beach, CA where he still resides to this day. He was the mayor of the town back in 2021 and he’s always been one of the most controversial figures in fighting.
Ortiz debuted in the UFC back in 1997, fighting for no money and no contract at the time. He fought Wes Albritton in his first fight and won by knockout. He lost his second fight to Guy Mezger. His most successful period was between 1998 and 2004 when he was practically unbeaten.
Tito Ortiz became a household name in the early and mid-00s. That’s when he had his biggest bouts. In 2006, he was the equivalent of McGregor in his prime in terms of PPV draws for the UFC. His fights against Liddell, Griffin, and Shamrock, netted the UFC tens of millions of dollars. Dana White was also a young man around that time and used to spar with Tito. The two were very competitive and grew to hate each other over the course of that decade.
Dana recently remarked “Tito was always a dumb person. He would step over dollar bills and pick up dimes thinking he was smart”. Tito would practically blackmail Dana that he’d back out of a fight unless he was given an extra $150K (or similar figure) before a fight was supposed to happen, and over time this eroded their relationship. Dana also said he was very happy when he saw him getting knocked out by Chuck Liddell at UFC 47.
Despite his beef with Dana White, Ortiz was actually one of the greatest light heavyweights of all time and held the title for 4 years. He really fell off between 2006 and 2012 when he lost more than 5 fights. Dana said he wanted to cut him off from the UFC, and he briefly retired in 2012 to start his own business.
He went back in the ring in 2014 fighting for Bellator for 4 years and won his last MMA fight in 2019 against Alberto Del Rio. He then tried professional boxing in 2021 but lost to fellow UFC champion Anderson Silva by knockout.
Tito Ortiz is now an aspiring politician. He supports the GOP and Donald Trump. He’s also the owner of Punishment Athletics MMA, an MMA equipment company based in his hometown Huntington Beach.
12. Dominick Cruz
| Height: | 5’8 |
| Weight: | 135 lbs. |
| W/L Record: | 24-4 |
| Birthplace in CA: | San Diego |
If you want to learn footwork, watch Dominick Cruz. He’s known as the “footwork” guy, creating insane patterns that confuse his opponents and give him a striking advantage in the fight. His fights are based on boxing basics, but the way he merges different styles for his performances makes him unique.
Dominick Cruz has one of the most inspiring come up stories in the UFC. He also had one of the best comebacks the sports have ever witnessed. He was born in San Diego, CA to Mexican parents. They were struggling a lot and moved out to Tucson, living out of a trailer park.
He went to high school in Tucson where he started wrestling and was offered a scholarship at the University of Colorado. He was working low-paid jobs in retail and studying to be a firefighter in community college – no one knew he’d become one of UFC’s biggest superstars.
Cruz noticed he had a talent for MMA when he started training at a gym. This guy didn’t just debut in the UFC and become a multi-millionaire overnight, but it took him a decade to get there. He first fought for Rage in the Cage and Total Combat – racking up an undefeated 9-fight win streak. He was then invited to fight for WEC and lost his first fight to Urijah Faber.
After his first professional loss, he kept fighting and won the next 14 fights. Cruz was unbeaten between 2008 and 2016, having one of the longest winning streaks in UFC history. He debuted in the UFC in 2011 as the main event of the evening and won against Urijah Faber. He effectively beat the UFC Bantamweight champion, and this gave him his first title. His title was challenged in the next fight against Demetrious Johnson and he defended it successfully.
He knocked out Takeya Mizugaki in under a minute. One of his toughest fights was against fellow Californian, T.J. Dillashaw, who also competed in the same weight category. The two fought it out hard and went the distance, and Cruz won by decision. He won “Fight of the Night” for his performance. He lost the title to Cody Garbrandt in 2016 and had to leave the UFC due to injuries.
During his Joe Rogan interview, he revealed that he was riddled with shoulder and feet injuries and that he couldn’t fight for four years. He started fighting in the UFC again in 2020 and lost two fights and won two. He’s still active in the UFC with no plans on retiring.
11. Luke Rockhold
| Height: | 6’3 |
| Weight: | 185 lbs. |
| W/L Record: | 16-6 |
| Birthplace in CA: | Santa Cruz |
Luke Rockhold is either the top or the second-best middleweight to come out of California – depending on who you ask. He was the middleweight champion of the UFC and he went on one of the most insane winning streaks when he fought at Strikeforce.
He’s from Santa Cruz, and came from a family of athletes. His father was a professional basketball player and his mother was a tennis player. Him and his brother, professional surfer Matt Rockhold, used to surf together. Everything about this guy screams California: He’s chill, cool, and relaxed. The only thing setting him apart from his family is his confidence.
Rockhold didn’t care about college. He went to Soquel High School and wrestled locally. He thought about going to community college, but decided to pursue Jiu-Jitsu full time, seeing how good he was at it. He was then invited to the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose – the MMA champion factory we all know about, and the rest is history.
His professional MMA debut was against Mike Martinez for Melee on the Mountain and he won by knockout. A year later he signed for Strikeforce and debuted against Josh Neal, knocking him out.
He went on an insane win streak when his career took off at Strikeforce. Between 2008-2013, he was undefeated and wiped the floor with every opponent who came across him. He used his Jiu-Jitsu knowledge to knock down his opponents and choke them out Khabib-style. Most of his wins were by submission or knockout.
Everyone was terrified of him and Dana White called him up in 2013 and signed him to the UFC. Ironically, his debut in the UFC was his first loss since the start of his career. He lost to Vitor Belfort who hit him with a spinning heel that he didn’t expect. He then won 5 fights in the UFC and became the middleweight UFC champion in 2015 by beating Chris Weidman. He lost the championship a year later in a fight against Michael Bisping.
Rockhold only had 4 bouts between 2017 and 2022 (mostly due to spinal issues), and he went 1-3 in those. He was supposed to fight Paulo Costa, but Costa canceled the bout. Then, they went at it and Rockhold lost by decision. He announced his retirement with Joe Rogan present on the stage and started crying. He kept it real and said “I’m too old for this, but I gave it everything I had”. He was already in his late 30s and had a 15-year career behind him. He gave bare knuckle a try in 2023 but lost by knockout.
Aside from fighting, he was also a model and he’s signed with NY-based “Soul Artist Management”. In 2018, he became the face of the “Polo Blue” cologne for Ralph Lauren. Aside from that, he’s still living in his hometown in California and hitting the waves.
10. Colby Covington
| Height: | 5’11 |
| Weight: | 170 lbs. |
| W/L Record: | 17-3 |
| Birthplace in CA: | Clovis |
Colby Covington is a Californian superstar and a UFC welterweight champion. He was born in Clovis, a small town in Fresno County and his family moved up to Oregon when he was 8 years old. He was wrestling since high school, and then moved to Iowa to attend Iowa Central Community College where many UFC champions went to wrestle. He was roommates with Jon Jones and they’re still friends.
His wrestling career ended because he was caught with a DUI in 2007, but he was a two-time Pac-10 Conference wrestling champion. It wasn’t until 2011 that he was recruited by the American Top Team training camp where he started preparing for his professional MMA debut. This gym created some of the biggest UFC champions including Antonio Silva and Dustin Poirier.
Covington was explosive in his MMA debut against Chris Ensley and won by knockout. He won every single fight until his signing with the UFC in 2014. He debuted against Wang Anying in the UFC and won by total knockout. He then won two more UFC fights until his first professional defeat by Warlley Alves.
He’s a super powerful fighter who uses more of a wrestling style of fighting. He attempts to take down his opponents before submitting them.
He went on a 6-fight win streak after his defeat, and won his first title belt in the UFC by defeating Rafael dos Anjos for the welterweight title in 2018. His title was stripped due to injury and he had to fight Kamaru Usman for the title in 2019. He lost the bout to KO and then had a rematch with Usman, losing again. Usman was his toughest opponent and he put up a great fight but lost by decision in the rematch. His last fight was against Jorge Masvidal in 2022 and he’s still active with the UFC.
Out of a total of 20 fights in the UFC, he won 17 of them – making him one of the most successful Californian UFC fighters.
Covington is super controversial in the UFC and seems to have beef with most active fighters. He called out Sean Strickland for his statements on women, and called out Islam Makhachev for fighting in the lower weight classes. Kamaru Usman provocatively sat next to him at an airport, but he was friendly with him, and once he realized Kamaru was doing it to provoke him, he didn’t hesitate to call him out.
Despite not getting many fights as of last year, he’s still ranked the #3 welterweight in the UFC and we’re likely going to see big fights with him in the future.
9. T.J. Dillashaw
| Height: | 5’6 |
| Weight: | 135 lbs. |
| W/L Record: | 17-5 |
| Birthplace in CA: | Sonora |
T.J. Dillashaw is a scumbag, but he was a two times champion (later stripped of his belt!) with a near-perfect record, so he’s one of the best to come out of California. He had 22 total fights, and won 17 of them. If you love drama, you’re going to love watching videos of his beef with Conor McGregor for the Ultimate Fighter.
Before we praise him for his fighting style, here’s why this guy was a scumbag: He always wanted to hurt his sparring partners. He once retired a sparring partner at age 27 (undefeated Chris Holdsworth), after kneeing him on the floor during a sparring match. He also had zero respect for fighters in the Octagon, kicked them as hard as he could while finishing them off, and took illegal substances.
He was born in Sonora and started wrestling in high school where he became the Californian champion. He then studied at Cal State Fullerton and considered doing MMA, but wasn’t sure. He traveled to Ukraine and improved his wrestling skills. He was then invited to train at Team Alpha Male, a famous MMA gym in Sacramento. He decided to turn pro after winning two amateur fights.
His first 4 professional fights were victories, but as soon as he debuted in the UFC he lost to John Dodson. This encouraged him to go harder and he brutalized his next 4 opponents. This guy never had mercy when he got on top of them and finished them off with hard kicks to the face. His knockouts are some of the most brutal in the sport.
Dillashaw was given a shot at the bantamweight UFC title in 2014 by fighting Renan Barão. Barão was a favorite because he went undefeated for 34 fights before facing Dillashaw, so when he got KO’d it shocked the crowd. He held the title for two more years until he lost it to Dominick Cruz. He regained it in 2017 after knocking out Cody Garbrandt.
During a drug test, it was discovered that he took erythropoietin – a substance taken by injection that stimulates red blood cells and gives athletes better performance. This substance is banned in the UFC and he was suspended for 2 years. He then made a comeback and won by decision against Cory Sandhagen. He lost his final fight to Aljamain Sterling by knockout.
Him and McGregor had personal beef and if you watch the Ultimate Fighter season 22 that features both of them, you’ll see Conor calling him a snake to his face. It’s some of the greatest television in UFC history.
8. Henry Cejudo
| Height: | 5’4 |
| Weight: | 135 lbs. |
| W/L Record: | 16-3 |
| Birthplace in CA: | Los Angeles |
Henry Cejudo is the definition of a “short king”. Standing at only 5’4, he was one of the most brutal flyweights you’ll ever see. He’s the only person to ever win an Olympic gold medal (wrestling) and a UFC title (flyweight).
If you love to watch a fast-striking style with surprise punches, you’re going to love watching Cejudo perform because he’s the best at it. He strikes at lightning-fast speed and you need to watch a slow-motion video to see what he did. Out of 19 total fights, he won 16 of them, and he’s definitely the best flyweight to ever come out of California.
Cejudo came from a very tough upbringing. His parents were illegal immigrants from Mexico that moved around the Los Angeles area. His father was captured by immigration and deported to Mexico, and then him and his mother moved to Phoenix. He spent most of his life in California and Arizona.
He and his brother were big on wrestling, and his brother Angel Cejudo became a four-times state champion. They were both invited to Colorado by the United States Olympic Training Center. Cejudo said that the only time he didn’t share a bed in his life was when the Olympic Center bought him one. Back then, he competed for the Junior World Championships and won a bronze medal for the United States.
He won a gold Olympic medal in 2008 during the Summer Olympics. He fought against 5 opponents and beat them all to make it to the finals. In the finals he fought Japanese Tomohiro Matsunaga and defeated him, becoming the only wrestler to ever win Olympic gold at age 21.
MMA came as an afterthought for Cejudo, because he was pretty popular in wrestling and didn’t need to fight MMA. One day in 2013, he made an announcement on Twitter that he was getting into MMA and professional training. He had six bouts and won them all before he was signed with the UFC.
He had his UFC debut in 2014 against Dustin Kimura, one of the best Hawaiian fighters. He won the fight by decision. He then moved up from flyweight to bantamweight (on demands of Dana White who threatened him), and fought Chris Cariaso twice – winning both fights by decision.
One of his “easiest” fights was against fellow Californian fighter, T.J. Dillashaw. Cejudo was super-fast with his strikes, punched him to the ground, and knocked him out in a bit over 30 seconds. He was on a 6-fight winning streak until he decided to take a break in 2020. He fought again in 2023 against Aljamain Sterling and lost the fight by decision.
Cejudo is a popular UFC YouTuber and releases commentary/advice for fighters. He’s actually a pretty cool guy.
7. Nick Diaz
| Height: | 6’1 |
| Weight: | 185 lbs. |
| W/L Record: | 26-10 |
| Birthplace in CA: | Stockton |
The Diaz brothers are the most famous from California, and Nick is 2 years older than Nate. They’re both some of the best MMA fighters in the world, and they both have a similar personality. Nick Diaz was known for his banter and trash talking, and he’d make fun of his opponents in the ring while he was fighting them.
Nick Diaz has a similar fighting style to his brother. He can take punches and get up when you think he’s finished, and it takes superhuman strength to knock him out.
He grew up in Stockton and trained in different martial arts. He started out with Aikido and Karate before he was 10 years old, and by the time he was 16 he was participating in wrestling competitions with his brother. A well-known Bulgarian coach, Valeri Ignatov, trained him in Sambo (A Soviet combat sport).
He was motivated to become a professional fighter after his girlfriend’s tragic suicide. She took her own life by walking into ongoing traffic, and he remembered telling her that he was going to become a big fighter. Every day he ran to her grave and told her he was going to become a pro.
This all materialized when he debuted in bare knuckle fighting. His first professional fight in 2001 was a success and he submitted his opponent Mike Wick. He went on a 4-fight win streak until he lost to Jeremy Jackson. He fought at the WEC and won his first belt – he was the welterweight champion.
The UFC noticed him and signed him in 2003. His debut in the UFC was against Jeremy Jackson who he submitted in the first round. He was making a name for himself and then won against fellow Californian legend, Robbie Lawler, by knocking him out. After 3 losses in the UFC, he left in 2006.
Diaz fought for PRIDE and Strikeforce until his return to the UFC in 2011. Dana White announced that it’d be possible for him to fight B.J. Penn, Hawaii’s most famous fighter and the biggest name in the UFC at the time.
His fight against B.J. Penn was his biggest fight and it sold over 3 million PPVs. He put up an excellent fight and won by decision. After his big B.J. Penn fight, Nick Diaz was one of the biggest names in the UFC and got a fight with Georges St-Pierre. He lost to GSP, and then fought Anderson Silva two years later.
After 6 years in retirement, he came back in 2021 for a fight against Robbie Lawler which he lost. Diaz is a Jiu-Jitsu black belt and he loves to wrestle and submit his opponents. He’s also done professional boxing and won his fight against Alfonso Rocha by decision.
6. Chuck Liddell
| Height: | 6’2 |
| Weight: | 205 lbs. |
| W/L Record: | 21-9 |
| Birthplace in CA: | Santa Barbara |
If the name Chuck Lindell doesn’t ring a bell, “The Iceman” probably does. You can recognize him by his unique haircut, and he’s definitely the most “Californian” fighter on our list. He was born and raised in Santa Barbara, CA and frequented Isla Vista, the biggest college party town in California. He got in fights nearly every night and decided to direct his passion for fighting to the Octagon.
During the mid 00s, he was one of the most well-known fighters that popularized the sport and made the UFC blow up, right up there with Tito Ortiz. He’s a kickboxer and an MMA fighter and his kickboxing record is 22-2 while his MMA record is 21-9. He was impossible to knock out during his prime years and most of his losses happened near the end of his career.
The Iceman is a big guy. Standing at 6’2 and 205 lbs. he fought in the light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions his entire career. He resembled the Hawaiian fighters who used kajukenbo, a native Hawaiian fighting style, and he mixed that in with karate.
If you watch his fights, you notice he loves to wrestle and always tries to take down his opponents. In a way, it’s similar to Khamzat’s current style. The main difference between him and other heavyweights is that he moved a lot faster than them. Most big guys are known to be slow, but Liddell struck very fast and accurate punches. This turned him into a knockout machine even when he was fighting bare knuckle.
His first professional fight was in the UFC in 1998. He traveled to Alabama to face Noe Hernandez and won by decision. He then got on a flight to Brazil where he fought Jose Landi-Jons (aka “Pele”) in a bare-knuckle fight. The crowd was on Pele’s side and everyone expected Liddell to lose, but they fought it out to the end and he won by decision.
He returned to the states and fought 10 more fights undefeated. In the year 2000, he won the UFC heavyweight championship belt after knocking out Steve Heath with a head kick. His first loss was to Randy Couture – pretty much everyone was shocked to see him KO’d.
His biggest fight was against Tito Ortiz, a fellow Californian who was equally as popular as him. In one of the biggest fights of the 00’s, Liddell came up victorious and knocked out Tito Ortiz. He then went on a 7-fight win streak, rematched Ortiz, and beat him again.
The Iceman was struggling between 2007 and 2010 and got knocked out 4 times, then decided to retire from the UFC. Suddenly, he had a rematch with Tito Ortiz in 2018 and lost by KO. He was the first fighter featured on ESPN’s magazine cover and he had a best-selling book.
5. Tony Ferguson
| Height: | 6’0 |
| Weight: | 155 lbs. |
| W/L Record: | 25-9 |
| Birthplace in CA: | Oxnard |
Tony Ferguson is possibly the most famous Californian UFC fighter of the 2010s and he’s one of those names that’s recognizable for UFC casuals. Did you know he comes from Oxnard, California? He’s of Mexican heritage but had a Scottish stepfather so his last name is Ferguson. This is one of the most eccentric, dedicated, and powerful fighters in the UFC.
His family moved from California to Michigan where he stayed up until college, and then decided to move back to California. While back in California, he was working at a low-paid job and a coworker noticed his cauliflower ear (typical for fighters), and asked him where it came from. He said it was from wrestling and his colleague told him he should come to the local MMA gym. He did and that was the start of his MMA career.
Ferguson was called an insane fighter by everyone in the UFC for his workout style. This guy would punch literal metal poles with his hands and elbows to build strength in his hands. If you watch those videos for a few minutes, you’ll cringe imagining the pain he’s going through. He also used baseballs to boost his punching power.
He said “When you’re hurt, you do what – you take your vitamins and feel bad, right? When I’m hurt, I love it. Pain is the realist feeling you could ever have. Happiness can be fake, crying can be fake, but pain can’t be fake”.
He debuted at California Extreme Fighting in 2008 and knocked out Steve Avalos in his first fight. He then knocked out Bellator middleweight champion Joe Schilling. He lost to Karen Darabedyan by decision for the first time in 2009 and debuted in the UFC for “The Ultimate Fighter: Team Lesnar vs. Team dos Santos Finale” back in 2011.
Tony Ferguson was in his prime between 2008-2019. He went 26-3 during those years. He submitted pretty much every fighter he went against in the lightweight and welterweight division and won “The Ultimate Fighter” by submitting 3 UFC fighters. He also won the lightweight championship belt of the UFC by beating Kevin Lee. That’s the kind of monster he was.
Khabib wanted to challenge his lightweight title when they were both in their prime, but this fight never materialized. Khabib actually seemed most excited to fight Ferguson out of any fighter. Everyone in the UFC wanted a piece of him, and his career was mostly marked by wins, until the very end when he faced some mental troubles.
His mental health started deteriorating in 2019 when his wife Cristina filed a restraining order against him and their children. This affected him and in 2020 he lost his big fight against Justin Gaethje by TKO. That fight sold over 700K PPVs. He then strung a series of 6 losses in some of the biggest UFC nights, including against champs like Charles Oliviera and Nate Diaz.
Despite racking up a losing streak at the end of his career, we’ll never forget the kind of monster Tony Ferguson really is. He’s definitely one of the top 5 biggest to ever do it out of California.
4. Ronda Rousey
| Height: | 5’7 |
| Weight: | 135 lbs. |
| W/L Record: | 12-2 |
| Birthplace in CA: | Riverside |
Ronda Rousey is the greatest female MMA fighter of all time – she’s to the female division what Jon Jones is to the male division, and she’s from California. When people think of female MMA, she’s the first name that comes up. Her fights are some of the most-watched in UFC history, she sold over 5M PPVs altogether, and single-handedly brought up the popularity of female MMA.
Rousey is from Riverdale, California and she’s the daughter of the first female World Judo champion – AnnMaria De Mars. She grew up learning judo from her mother and she was wrestling all throughout middle school and high school. She was an Olympic medal winner at age 21, when she took a bronze medal in judo at the 2008 Summer Olympics. It wasn’t until 2011 that she debuted in MMA professionally, and she had 3 amateur fights before that (winning all 3!).
Her childhood wasn’t all that great, and she faced social isolation due to her masculine nature. Even when she was 16 years old, she had cauliflower ears from all the fighting and wrestling she did, and she said the kids were looking at her like she was a dork.
In 2011, she had her professional debut against Ediane Gomes in King of the Cage and won by submission. She then fought at Strikeforce and won her first MMA championship belt by beating the bantamweight women’s champion a year later.
Rousey is the GOAT of wrestling-style fighting. One way to judge the effectiveness of a fighter is their total KO/submission rate. She won 100% of her fights by submission or KO. Her fights never came down to a decision. In 2013, she had her UFC championship bout against Liz Carmouche and won by submission in the first round.
Her championship belt was challenged and she defended it successfully five times. She submitted UFC champions like Sarah Kaufman, Liz Carmouche, and Miesha Tate. She then knocked out Alexis Davis, Cat Zingano, and Bethe Correia. She was undefeated between 2010 and 2015.
She had her first professional loss to Holly Holm and lost the bantamweight title to TKO. Her fight against Holm was the most-watched fight in female UFC history, selling over 1.1M PPVs. A year later she tried for the bantamweight championship against Amanda Nunes and lost that fight too. That fight was equally popular. Rousey decided to retire from MMA and started staring at WWE.
Rousey became one of the most popular women in America and Hollywood took notice. She starred in major Hollywood movies like The Expendables 3, Furious 7, Entourage, Mile 22, Charlie’s Angels, any even TV shows. She’s now an actor and married to 6’8 Hawaiian UFC champion Travis Browne. She’s also one of the richest people to star in the UFC and WWE.
3. Cain Velasquez
| Height: | 6’1 |
| Weight: | 241 lbs. |
| W/L Record: | 14-3 |
| Birthplace in CA: | Salinas |
During the Khabib-McGregor fight, when Khabib got on top of McGregor and started knocking him out, someone from his corner screamed: “Finish him, Cain Valasquez style!”. That’s all you need to know about Valesquez’s power level.
Velasquez really stood out from UFC fighters for one reason: He finished off his opponents with punches. He didn’t like wrestling them/choking them out, but he fought like a boxer and beat them down brutally. He was known as a vicious fighter.
When you watch his fights, you notice the way he takes position in the center of the Octagon and “swarms” his opponents with punches. He doesn’t run around the cage, but he attacks head-on. When he overpowers them, he finishes them off as hard as possible. His fights are terrifying to watch because he’s also 241 lbs. and fights other big heavyweights.
He grew up in Salinas, California. His father was an illegal immigrant from Mexico and his mother was American. He had a brother and a sister, spending most of his childhood around the Bay Area and Arizona. He moved to Iowa for college because he wanted to train wrestling at Iowa Central Community College. After college, he returned to California where he trained at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose.
Out of a total 17 fights, Velasquez knocked out 12 of them, so he practically knocked out 70% of his opponents. His professional debut was in 2006 when he knocked out Jesse Fujarczyk. He actually knocked out his first 5 opponents. The UFC immediately noticed him and signed him in 2008 when he debuted against Brad Morris and won by TKO.
Here’s why Velasquez is not a joke: He knocked out Brock Lesner. Islam Mackachiev once joking said “Dana, give me Mayweather, give me Brock Lesner” referring to how tough these guys are, but Velasquez actually knocked them out. He also knocked out Antônio Silva, Junior dos Santos, and even 6’8 Travis Browne.
In his last professional fight in 2019 he was knocked out by Francis Ngannou and retired to live a peaceful life.
Velasquez is the subject of controversy over the past two years because he attempted to murder the man who molested his 4-year-old son. The entirety of the UFC including Khabib have made public statements supporting Cain Velasquez for hunting down that man and stood on his side. His court case is still ongoing.
2. Sean Strickland
| Height: | 6’1 |
| Weight: | 185 lbs. |
| W/L Record: | 28-5 |
| Birthplace in CA: | Anaheim |
Sean Strickland is ranked #7 pound for pound in the UFC, making him the best-ranked fighter out of California currently. Many people assume Strickland is from one of the southern states because of his wild right-wing rhetoric, but he’s actually from the blue state of California. He loves his home state and spent most of his life in California.
He’s one of the most outspoken and popular fighters in the UFC. This is because of his unfiltered trash-talking style. Dana White is practically afraid to give this guy the mic because of the things that can come out of his mouth. He’s a showman and knows how to hype a fight similar to Conor McGregor.
He had a very rough childhood growing up in Corona, CA to an abusive father. When his father was beating his mother one day, he took a guitar and stuck him in the face until he beat him down. His father was then arrested and his mother posted bail for him, while Strickland ran away from home. Throughout his adolescence, he grew close to his grandfather, and he was expelled from school for a hate crime. His mother actually directed him to an MMA gym and told him to take out his fighting energy there.
Strickland is an American patriot and spoke about how Americans are less likely to fight in the UFC due to the low pay in the promotion. He said “You give the Dagis and Brazilians $20K, they go back home happy. What can I do with $20K in America once I pay my rent, bills, gym, coaches? If there was NBA money in the UFC, say every fighter got at least a million, there wouldn’t be one f**king foreign champion in the UFC. We’d dominate the sport completely”.
He went pro at age 17 for King of The Cage, winning his professional debut against Tyler Pottett by submission. He was undefeated between 2008 and 2014, going on a 15-fight win streak and winning the KOTC middleweight championship. He also defended his KOTC middleweight belt successfully.
The UFC noticed him and signed him in 2014. His UFC debut was also successful and he submitted Bubba McDaniel in the first round. He had his first professional loss in the UFC to Santiago Ponzinibbio by decision. He won most of his UFC bouts until he was given a shot at the middleweight title in 2023.
In one of the biggest UFC nights in history, Sean Strickland faced Israel Adesanya for the middleweight championship title. Everyone favored Adesanya and expected him to win, but Strickland dominated the fight thoroughly and made the champ struggle. He was pounding on Adesanya and it looked like he was bullying him throughout the fight. He won by decision and won the UFC middleweight championship.
Strickland overcame some tough challenges throughout his career. In 2018 he got in a motorcycle accident and injured his knees, then had operations and came back stronger. He’s arguably the best MMA fighter out of the United States fighting at the UFC currently.
1. Nate Diaz
| Height: | 6’0 |
| Weight: | 170 lbs. |
| W/L Record: | 21-13 |
| Birthplace in CA: | Stockton |
Nate Diaz is the most famous fighter out of California. The first thing UFC fans think about when they imagine “California + MMA” is Nate Diaz. Nate is an absolute legend of the sport and he’s one of the most respected, feared, and enduring fighters to star in the Octagon.
He might be the most famous American UFC fighter of all time, despite not having a perfect fight record. One thing you’ll notice when you watch a Diaz fight is a passion for fighting that is unseen in other fighters. He could be bloodied up, bleeding from his eyeballs and getting punched down, and he’ll still keep fighting like he doesn’t notice it. He’s been in 34 fights, won 21 of them, and had 13 losses – 10 of which by decision. That means that over 17 years of fighting he was only knocked out out twice.
Nate Diaz is from mixed Mexican and English heritage and he grew up in Stockton, CA with his brother Nick Diaz. They both started fighting at a young age and became some of the most popular MMA fighters of all time. His very first MMA fight was at age 17 when he fought bare knuckle against Robert Limon and won.
He debuted for WEC in 2004 as a lightweight at age 19 and won against Alejandro Garcia. His next fight against Koji Oishi was a loss by decision, and he went to fight at Strikeforce. He then won 4 fights, 2 by knockout and 2 by decision.
Nate made a name for himself in MMA fighting when he debuted at the UFC in 2007. He was featured on “The Ultimate Fighter: Team Pulver vs. Team Penn Finale” and won. He won 3 fights against Rob Emerson, Corey Hill, and Gray Maynard – all by submission. Stringing 3 submissions against professional UFC fighters in the span of a week gave him a reputation as an absolute beast in the Octagon.
He kept fighting in the UFC all the way until 2022 and had some of the biggest PPV fights in the history of the sport – also making him one of the highest net-worth fighters in the UFC. His fight against fellow Californian Tony Ferguson had over 1M PPV buys (and he won by submission).
The biggest fight of Nate Diaz’s career was against Conor McGregor who was then invincible. Diaz won against McGregor by choking him out in the second round. The fight had 1.3M PPV buys. The two ran it back and had a rematch a year later, and it was one of the top 3 most-watched fights in UFC history, netting 1.6M PPV buys. Diaz lost the fight by decision. They were both bloodied up and put up an insane fight.
He tried his shot at professional boxing by fighting Jake Paul and lost by decision. Despite being 38 years old, he went the distance with prime Jake Paul who was motivated to win against him. Cesar Gracie awarded him a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu which is one of the hardest belts to obtain and can take over a decade of training.
Aside from fighting in the UFC, Diaz runs several personal businesses. The largest is a CBD company “Game Up Nutrition”, a joint venture between him and his brother. He also announced he’s starting a UFC competitor promotion called Real Fight Inc. Diaz is not retired, and he’s still actively looking for fights.
Conclusion
California is the birthplace of some of the most influential and powerful MMA fighters to hit the Octagon. Despite having a reputation as a soft liberal state, California produced top-tier champions like the Diaz brothers, Velasquez, Rousey, Strickland, Ferguson, Ortiz, and countless others.
Most of these champions went on to become successful businessmen after their retirement and were introduced to the UFC Hall of Fame. Their impact on the sport is immense and they produced dominant fighters in all weight classes.