The 14 Best Trash Talkers In The UFC

Although MMA is the most brutal sport out there, sometimes it’s hard to distinguish between MMA and WWE. By this, we mean that sometimes the trash talk verges on the surreal. It just so happens that some people are naturally much better at trash talking compared to others as well. In fact, some even made a career out of it and used trash talk to get into highly paid fights.

Others used humor, whilst some used blunt straight facts to strike fear into their opponents. Regardless of the different styles implemented, it’s fair to say that trash talk is a key part of the UFC and isn’t going anywhere soon. Love it or hate it, here are the 14 best trash talkers to ever grace the UFC.

Chael Sonnen

These days, there are a few fighters that call themselves gangsters. However, Chael Sonnen was the first to coin the term in MMA. Here, he said “I don’t know that I’m a ‘self-proclaimed’ gangster. I’m from the mean streets of West Linn, Oregon.”What was brilliant about Sonnen’s trash talk was that it was often ironic but performed in an incredibly serious way – which meant some people could barely tell the difference.

His skills on the mic got him a title shot against Anderson Silva which he very nearly won. It also led to classic feuds with Wanderlei Silva and Tito Ortiz who seemingly couldn’t handle his insults and quick-witted humor. He even went as far as to insult the entirety of Brazil – as an entire country hadn’t been mocked before.

Interestingly, before Sonnen was a fighter – he was a successful realtor which may explain his good people skills and ability to talk smack. Since retirement, he’s had a successful Youtube channel. You guessed it, here he talks nonstop and the viewers love it.

Mike Bisping

You could argue that Michael Bisping’s trash talk was better than Sonnen’s. This is because unlike Sonnen, his words were often done on the fly and weren’t rehearsed. In the earlier days of his career, Bisping was actually hated by a good chunk of UFC fans who saw him as a cocky Brit. By his retirement, he was seen as a UFC legend and a lot of viewers seemed to finally understand his British humor.

Never taking himself too seriously and with a mouth like a sewer, Bisping was at his best before he beat Luke Rockhold for the UFC title. Clearly, Rockhold was out of his depth when dealing with Bisping and lost the battle of the mind games.

Like Sonnen, Bisping would go on to have a successful career after retirement. His natural charisma and honesty didn’t go unnoticed which landed him a commentary and presenting role in the UFC, as well as various acting gigs. As seen, it really does pay to be a good trash talker and Bisping is undoubtedly one of the greatest ever.

Conor McGregor

Moving away from the humorous side of things, Conor McGregor gave his own slant on trash talking which was also backed up by genuine, elite level fighting skills. It’s fair to say that there will only ever be one Conor McGregor and his persona elevated the UFC to new mainstream heights. Whilst McGregor still used comedy to belittle his opponents, it was also combined with a Muhammad Ali level of arrogance and luxurious lifestyle that fans resonated with.

Arguably, his trash talk was also very effective in terms of mind games. Against Jose Aldo, he clearly got under the Brazilians skin which included stealing his UFC belt and locking him in a kitchen. By the time of their fight, McGregor had already taunted his opponent to oblivion and then won within seconds.

That’s not all though, McGregor’s thick Dublin accent combined with the phrase “Who the F is that guy?” was a hilariously iconic moment for UFC press-conference history that literally made everyone in the room laugh. Love him or hate him, McGregor’s talk earned him hundreds of millions and took the UFC to new heights in the process. No wonder Dana White loves him.

Colby Covington

One of the smartest trash talkers of all time is probably Colby Covington. In his earlier days, Covington struggled to strike a chord with fans and was seen as yet another boring wrestler in the cage. Whilst his fighting style was clearly effective, it was undeniably dull to watch. Combined with a fairly plain personality on the mic, Covington wasn’t always seen as a trash talker.

This changed when he adopted the persona of an arrogant all-American, Trump-loving loudmouth who thrived on arrogance. He even entered one fight to the entrance music of WWE’s Kurt Angle where the crowd responded by chanting “You suck!” Whilst bizarre, it certainly worked.

Suddenly, he found himself at the top of the UFC and his controversial statements got him views. There is actually footage of Covington appearing fairly humble in some videos and he even went on record to say that trash talking saved his UFC career. In short, it was a smart and calculated move that probably earned Covington millions of dollars more than had he remained as a regular UFC fighter.

Dominick Cruz

You don’t get the label of ‘The King of trash talk’ for nothing. This is what has been attached to fighter Dominick Cruz for a while, who would be brutal at times with his smack-talking approach. Sometimes, his rants would go on for over ten minutes.

Unlike others, Cruz would adopt an intellectual trash talking approach whereby he would use his intelligence to knock others down. Arguably, this was more of a nuanced, sophisticated approach compared to the usual aggression used by others.

At his peak, Cruz even made Cody Garbandt storm off during an interview as his smack talk clearly got to his opponent. In all the years of the UFC, trash talk has rarely worked as effectively as it did back then. What did Cruz do after retirement? You guessed right. Like many top tier trash talkers before and after him – he went into MMA commentary.

The Diaz Brothers

With combined careers spanning decades across MMA, it’s fair to say that the Diaz brothers are seen as legends in the game. Unlike many fighters, their trash talk seemed legitimately genuine and they had the stylish, fearless cage skills to back it up.

In brief, it wasn’t an act and when they said they wanted violence, they genuinely meant it. What’s interesting about the Diaz brothers is that Nate in particular often had slurred speech and would often mumble his words in a quiet manner. So, even with all of this going on, it shows just how effective their words were.

This attitude even got Nate Diaz a fight against Conor McGregor that earned him millions and drew millions of eyes to the UFC. As mentioned, their antics weren’t just promotional either and sometimes things went too far. Over the years, both Nate and Nick have had their fair share of fights and confrontations outside of the octagon which shows they truly do live the ‘gangster’ lifestyle that is associated with them.

Paddy Pimblett

Like Conor McGregor, Paddy Pimblett was an MMA promoter’s dream. Not only was he exciting to watch – but he also had a likeability factor whilst talking outside of the cage. Like Bisping, this was an example of British wit which many fans quickly warmed to. Combined with his thick scouse accent, this made his words even more iconic.

Pimblett famously twerked on one opponent after winning, called out Mark Zuckerberg for banning his Instagram account, and infamously ate lots of junk food in between fights. With a 70s haircut as well, the very look of Pimblett showed that he didn’t take himself too seriously.

Many brand deals and fans later, Pimblett created a small fortune for himself that wouldn’t have been possible without his linguistic skills. Unlike certain fighters on this list, Pimblett certainly falls into the category of genuine trash talk as well. This was certainly not an act which is possibly why so many people loved him.

Jorge Masvidal

Before his long UFC career, Jorge Masvidal fought bare-knuckle MMA on the streets of Miami, Florida. He then went into the UFC and although he was always wild, his behavior went relatively unnoticed for years. Or, at least it was underappreciated.

This changed when his trash talking antics earned him a fight against Ben Askren who was a known wrestler. Before the fight, there was a lot of build-up between the two, with Askren acting like a cocky school teacher, and Masvidal being hugely aggressive.

Make no doubt about it, Masvidal genuinely hated Askren and called him a crotch sniffer, referring to his grappling style. He then added that it would be “A high price” to get near his crotch and he was right. Masvidal shot a flying knee seconds into the fight and scored the fastest ever knockout in the UFC.

This changed his career and even led to him winning the ‘BMF’ belt, a uniquely-made belt meaning Bad Mother F’r where he fought Nate Diaz. After this, he almost reinvented himself as the UFC’s Tony Montana and had classic lines “A two piece and a soda”, when referring to the punches he landed on Leon Edwards during a backstage scrap. A journeyman with a wild temper, his behavior may have been divisive but it certainly helped his career.

Tito Ortiz

Although most trash talkers are usually quite smart and know what they’re doing, this wasn’t the case for Tito Ortiz. Sadly, his reputation has gone from that of a well-respected fighter to a bit of a meme.

At his peak, Tito Ortiz has a love-hate relationship with Dana White and let the world know this by wearing t-shirts to his press conferences. It started off with ‘Dana White is my B’, to ‘Dana White is my Hero’, to ‘Dana White is my boss’. Although they started off well, things soured and they eventually fought in a boxing match. Since Ortiz’s use of clever slogan t-shirts, they have sporadically appeared in the UFC ever since.

Unfortunately for Ortiz, he’s not much of a talker and often gets his words muddled up. Further, when trying to engage in smack with Chael Sonnen – it didn’t end well for him. Regardless, he is still entertaining in his own way and certainly created publicity during his feud with Dana White. Arguably, no ever fighter before or after has publicly attacked the UFC boss in such an open way.

Dan Hardy

Dan Hardy was always known for being a bit different during his UFC days and even trained with Shaolin monks in China to improve himself as a martial artist. Like many Brits, he spoke from the heart and had a pretty careless attitude when it came to keeping up appearances. You don’t earn the nickname ‘The Outlaw’ for nothing.

It was UFC 99 where Hardy really made a name for himself as a top trash talker though. He was facing Marcus Davis, a US-born fighter who identified as Irish. Here, Hardy went to town on the claims made by Davis and mocked his supposedly Irish roots, questioning whether Davis had identity issues.

This really got to Davis who was visibly annoyed and was furious with Hardy. In fact, Hardy would later go on to reveal that he got hate mail for the trash talk as it wasn’t just Davis who took it seriously. Hardy would have the last laugh though, as he went on to win by way of split decision.

Henry Cejudo

Like Covington, Henry Cejudo reinvented himself and used the WWE playbook to do so. Before, he was seen as a very successful fighter and martial artist – whilst still lacking the charisma outside of the cage. He then embraced the funnier side of acting on the mic and adopted an ‘angry Cejudo’ persona whereby he’d fake anger during interviews.

This meant lots of disgruntled looks as well as shouting and generally looking annoyed. Overall, it was clearly an act by Cejudo and wasn’t authentic. Nonetheless, this gave him a new angle and a lot of fight fans bought into it. For instance, sometimes, he would randomly scream and played into the tropes of a cliched meathead MMA fighter. The reason for his newfound aggression may have been to shine more light on his Flyweight division. Typically, this wasn’t much of a draw with fans.

Interestingly, this led to many viewing Cejudo as cringy, rather than scary which may have been his desired effect. As a result, he was named ‘The King of Cringe’ by UFC fans. It certainly didn’t harm his appeal and it didn’t hurt his fights either as Cejudo would retire as one of the best UFC champions in history.

Frank Shamrock

Although trash talk has become more developed in recent years, you could make a case that Frank Shamrock was one of the early pioneers in talking smack. Remember, as time has gone on the publicity stunts in MMA have generally gotten wilder, so by today’s standards Shamrock may not be as well remembered as he perhaps should be.

During his time in MMA, he had a lot of trash talk with Nick Diaz (unsurprisingly) in the build up to their fight and even talked to Bas Rutten mid-fight during a Pancrase match. Here, he goaded the Dutchman to punch him on the floor to get a point deducted. Overall, it was a smart move and also proved that Shamrock’s trash talk wasn’t just exclusive to the press room either – he even did it whilst fighting!

It should be stated that these two instances were technically outside of the UFC in different promotions. Nonetheless, he still brought it to the UFC and was clearly open to speaking his mind…often to the annoyance of his opponents.

Khamzat Chimaev

If you combine Khabib Nurgamedov and Nate Diaz, you get Khamzat Chimaev. Often, Chimaev would talk smack before his bouts but scarily had the skills to back it up in the cage. It’s one thing saying that you’ll smash your opponent in the face but to go ahead and actually do it is something completely different.

Because of this, Chimaev quickly earned the reputation as the UFC’s boogeyman and would often call out fighters on a regular basis. Unlike Khabib though, he also seemed less humble and wasn’t as friendly towards some of his opponents.

When it comes to trash talk, there is definitely something unnerving when it comes to someone that is so blunt and matter of fact, compared to putting on a show or using wit. Although not particularly humorous, Khamzat Chimaev is definitely worth of his trash-talking status.

Frank Mir

Unlike some MMA trash talkers, Frank Mir was often unscripted and at times pretty relentless. He was also pretty consistent too and it didn’t matter who you were, you would definitely get talked about when facing Mir.

Perhaps his most infamous trash talking was aimed at Brock Lesnar who Mir seemed to have a personal beef with. This may have been because Lesnar was fast-tracked to a UFC title shot which seemed unfair at the time.

In their first fight, Mir would submit Lesnar with a knee bar but then lost to a brutal ground and pound in their rematch. This would serve as an example that trash talk can sometimes have a nasty way of coming back around and slapping you in the face. Literally.

Regardless, you could say that Frank Mir is somewhat under-rated in the trash talking world but always put in a consistent effort. Like many, he would eventually go on to be a commentator which isn’t surprising considering his skills on the mic.