The Top 13 Most Intelligent MMA Fighters

There is certainly a perception by the general public that MMA fighters are crazy, overly-tattooed, and aggressive. Whilst fans of the sport know where this stigma comes from, they also understand that it’s not true. These people do exist, but they’re somewhat of a minority as the average fighter is fairly similar to a regular guy you would meet in the street.

However, there are a small group of fighters who destroy this stereotype since not only have they been successful in the cage, but also in other areas of life. Some of the achievements on this list are difficult to obtain regardless of whether you were an MMA fighter or not, doing both at the same time is insane.

Whilst MMA fighters do not train 8-12 hours per day due to fatigue, they are still in training technique for at least a couple of hours and also doing conditioning training which adds up. Adding on another profession or studying for a degree at the same time is incredibly time consuming, not to mention mentally challenging, especially when you see some of the fields various fighters have studied in.

It is also somewhat reassuring to know that the names listed below will do well in life regardless of whether their records in the cage are poor or not. Although with that being said, all of them have had great careers.

The Most Intelligent & Highly Qualified MMA Fighters

Joe Lauzon

Joe Lauzon might just be one of the wealthiest fighters never to win a UFC title since he won 7 fight of the night bonuses as well as 5 submission of the night bonuses during his career.

During the time Lauzon was earning these bonuses, he earned a degree in computer science, as well as working part time as a systems network administrator. Lauzon was not a “professional” fighter for a long time into his career since it’s tough to rely on winning a bonus paycheck when you can pick up a guaranteed wage.

Rich Franklin

If you saw this man in everyday life, you would assume he was a high school teacher – and you would be correct. With a BSc in mathematics and a master’s in education.

Whilst Franklin was fighting in the Octagon he was still a high school teacher in Cincinnati. Like many other fighters in the early 2000s, Franklin was a professional fighter, but this didn’t pay the bills, so he still had to work a standard 9-5.

Stipe Miocic

Although Stipe Miocic is one of the toughest men on the planet, he still works part-time as a firefighter. Whilst many fighters did this 20 years ago, in the modern day it is almost unheard of to hold down a job and still compete at the highest level, defeating the likes of Francis Ngannou and Daniel Cormier.

Miocic is certainly overqualified to have won the UFC heavyweight championship being a qualified paramedic in the fire department, as well as holding a degree in marketing and communications.

Jeff Monson

Although Jeff Monson looks like one of the scariest men you could ever meet, he is also a very intelligent man. He is only 5ft 9in tall but weighs well over 100kg of pure muscle. With over 80 professional fights under his belt, Monson is known best for his grappling abilities having been a D1 wrestler, as well as winning ADCC gold.

Fluent in both English and Russian, Monson has a BSc and Masters in Psychology. He applied this degree for his work as a family counselor, as well as a crisis evaluator, showing that you cannot simply judge someone by their muscle mass and how many tattoos they have.

Phillipe Nover

Phillipe Nover is yet another fighter who managed to hold down a 9-5 job as a registered nurse in the A&E department, whilst moonlighting as a professional fighter. You would imagine that the stresses of these jobs would be far too much for an average person, but it seems Nover was able to manage both just fine.

Towards the end of his career, Nover moved into the cardiology and radiology fields, which are likely a lot less stressful than A&E, but also require a lot more brainpower.

Shane Carwin

Shane Carwin has an excellent MMA record of 12-2, only losing to Junior Dos Santos & Brock Lesnar. One other thing to note from this record is that Carwin never won a fight by decision and finished every one of these 12 opponents within the first round.

Throughout his entire UFC career, however, Carwin was never a truly professional fighter since he always kept a day job. This job happened to be as a civil engineer, which makes sense as he has degrees in both mechanical engineering as well as environmental technology. Carwin still works as an engineer to this day, but perhaps the most impressive point is that he managed to do this job whilst being one of the most dangerous men on the planet.

Jake Butler

After graduating from Princeton with a degree in economics, Butler made the career move you would expect and went straight to Wall Street. It was here where he worked for Thor Equities for a number of years, making very good money, but not living a fulfilling life.

Butler said “I know that a big part of life is being happy and chasing a dream“, so that is exactly what he did, moving across the world to Singapore. In Singapore, Butler became the wrestling coach of Evolve MMA and signed for ONE Championship where he currently has a 7-2 record.

Butler is certainly not the best fighter in the world, but more importantly, he is doing what he loves and making money whilst he does it.

Carlos Newton

A 14 year career spanning 30 professional fights, you would be forgiven for thinking that Carlos Newton had one thing on his mind. When he turned 33, Newton decided that he wanted a change in life and began to study medicine, but did not like this path, so instead became an architect.

Newton is a successful businessman but currently works full time as an architect and even designed and built his own gym – Newton MMA, where he is still the head instructor.

Seth Kleinbeck

Both a professional fighter and a medical doctor, it’s very uncertain how Seth Kleinbeck managed to do these two things at the same time. In general you need to dedicate yourself to a single profession, especially considering the time and effort it takes to become a doctor.

Kleinbeck did not have a particularly successful fight career compared to other names on this list, but he also has achieved a lot more outside of the cage. Eventually, he retired from fighting in 2007 to become a full time doctor.

Sharice Davids

Although Sharice Davids only has a 5-1 amateur and 1-1 professional record, she is a politician in the house of representatives. There are other fighters who have become politicians such as Mirko Crocop and Aleksandr Karelin, this is not at all normal for the USA.

Davids has a BSc in business administration as well as an impressive Juris Doctor in law from Cornell. During her time working as a lawyer, Davids was having both amateur and professional fights, which is unusual, to say the least!

Artem Lobov

Now pretty much known as a meme before a fighter, this is just the way the internet pokes fun at Artem Lobov. In reality, he is a multi-talented man who has worked extremely hard to get anywhere near the UFC.

As a young boy, Lobov was a ballroom dancer, so was prohibited from learning any fighting skills such as boxing or grappling. It was only whilst Lobov was completing his BSc in business studies that he began to learn MMA – which is very late for someone to become a professional fighter. Lobov mastered in finance and quit a job at Bank of America in order to become a fighter, with most people having neither of these skillsets still criticizing him.

Lastly, Lobov is fluent in English, Russian, and Spanish.

Rhadi Ferguson

Cousin of the famous brawler Kimbo Slice, Rhadi Ferguson is one of life’s true winners. It seems that this man cannot lose and wins at everything he does. Even though his MMA career was very short, this was own choice, choosing to retire with a 3-0 record.

Whilst studying for a BA in mechanical engineering, Ferguson played NCAA football, as well as being on the wrestling and track team. After this, Ferguson received his master’s in education, as well as making the 2004 Olympic team for USA judo.

Rosi Sexton

Even though all fighters on this list are a lot smarter and more successful than the average person, Rosi Sexton takes this to another level and may well be considered a genius.

A Cambridge University graduate in mathematics with a master’s in mathematical logic, you would have thought that these two qualifications would be more than enough. But it is not, Sexton also has a Ph.D. in theoretical computer science proving she is a cut above everyone else on the list.

Sexton holds black belts in both BJJ and Taekwondo and has an MMA record of 13-5. You can see from her timeline of fights that she was still studying for the aforementioned degrees whilst beating her opponents in the cage.