Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Punchers

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2. Chuck Liddell

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Liddell’s influence on the sport and the development of the promotion is hard to overstate. He was the right fighter in the right place at the right time with the right style, and both he and the promotion capitalized in a huge way. His rematch with Tito Ortiz headlined the first Ultimate Fighting Championship event to crack a million pay-per-view buys, and Liddell launched both himself and the promotion to the ragged fringes of mainstream awareness.

The right style consisted of brick-fisted punching combined with the takedown defense necessary to keep the fight standing. There had been sprawl-and-brawlers before Liddell, but he perfected the genre with his experience as a Division I wrestler at Cal Poly and a deep base in Kenpo karate and kickboxing. His game looked a bit janky, with wide, looping shots that came at odd angles and a distinct willingness to trade in the pocket, but his mechanics were sound and his punches carried tremendous force.

Liddell excelled on the counter, moving forward to draw out a reaction from his opponents and then teeing off when they attempted to respond in kind. He could put potent leather on target even moving backwards, and when he had an opponent hurt, few could match the ferocity or relentlessness of his finishing flurries.

“The Iceman” has been surpassed today as a technician. The rough 1-5 stretch that ended his career has tarnished him in the eyes of some fans, but there is no denying his facility as a puncher in his prime nor his impact on the sport as a whole as owner of some of its most famous knockouts.

Number 1 » The Team Quest product’s right hand is the cleanest in the history of the sport, not because of its technical perfection -- he often finds himself off-balance or unable to follow up after throwing it -- but because he is so freakishly good at putting all of his weight behind the shot. He also has an incredibly underrated ability to steer his opponents into that right hand.