UFC fighters, much like all other combat athletes, and by extension, sports entertainers, know that just winning isn’t enough. They may be the best in the world, but athletic acumen alone doesn’t make people put down the remote control and pay attention when the fights start on ESPN+.
Much like in sports entertainment, they’ve got to be able to cut a promo after the fight or give bulletin board material in the press between fights. Throwing verbal jabs can often be as vicious as the physical ones on a given Saturday night.
Throughout the 30-plus years that Dana White’s promotion has been in existence, there have been a number of fighters whose sharp tongues have people wondering just what they’re going to say next. Today, in that spirit, let’s count them down.
UFC313 – Pereira vs Ankalaev LAS VEGAS, NV – MARCH 8: UFC Fighter Colby Covington at UFC313 – Pereira vs Ankalaev at T-Mobile Arena on March 8, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada Photo by Louis Grasse/PxImages Las Vegas, Nevada T-Mobile Arena LAS VEGAS, NV United States Copyright: xLouisxGrassex
Best Mike Skills in the UFC: No. 3: Colby Covington
Both inside the fabled Octagon and out, Colby Covington (17-5 MMA, 12-5 UFC) has been quite the lightning rod for flippant, controversial comments. If we were to list the incendiary remarks “Chaos” has made over the years, we would be here for the better part of the next week and we still wouldn’t come anywhere close to identifying them all.
Political leanings notwithstanding, when Covington gets some airtime after a win, it’s bound to be an explosive minute or so of programming. A textbook example occurred during the immediate aftermath of his September 2020 win vs. Tyron Woodley at the Apex facility.
Upon making pointed remarks about athletes protesting racial and social injustices in the months following the murder of George Floyd, Covington promised a rude awakening for a fighter he had his eyes on.
“Speaking of spineless cowards, Marty Fake Newsman (Kamaru Usman), we’ve got unfinished business”, he said. “There’s nowhere to run, and there’s nowhere to hide! I’m coming for you! You’re next!”
Once Colby Covington’s MMA career ends, there’s one certainty: With microphone skills like his, he’ll have quite the future in sports entertainment.
Best Mike Skills in the UFC: No. 2: Chael Sonnen
In at No. 2 in our countdown, we go to a legend of the sport, “The American Gangster”, Chael Sonnen (30-18-1 MMA, 7-7 UFC.) Sonnen, a former participant of The Jim Rome Show’s annual “SmackOff” competition, wowed audiences by scoring a submission victory over Maurico Rua (27-14-1 MMA, 11-12-1 UFC) in August of 2013 during the promotion’s initial broadcast on FS1.
After the win, Sonnen used his airtime to bust some funky rhymes.
“I’m the man of the hour, Joe. Too sweet to be sour,” Sonnen rapped. “What you see is what you get and what you don’t is better yet. I’m the women’s pick, I’m the men’s regret, and if you bet against Chael Sonnen, you made a bad bet.”
Sonnen has posted videos on MMA headlines to his YouTube channel in the years since his retirement from active competition inside the cage and co-hosts the Good Guy, Bad Guy podcast with Daniel Cormier every week. His microphone skills are still sharp now.
Best Mike Skills in the UFC: No. 1: Conor McGregor
If you didn’t think our No. 1 entry in this countdown wouldn’t be “The Notorious” Conor McGregor, you’d be dead wrong. How couldn’t this be the case?
While McGregor has gone back and forth about whether to make a return to the fabled Octagon for an anticipated July 4, 2026 card on The White House grounds in Washington, DC, this is a man who’s proven to be most explosive when he gets near a microphone.
Take, for example, his now-legendary Octagon interview from UFC 205.
“I’ve ridiculed everyone on the roster,” McGregor said to Joe Rogan and the audience. “I just want to say from the bottom of me heart, I’d like to take this chance to apologize… to absolutely nobody! The double-champ does what the (expletive deleted) he wants!”
If McGregor does appear on the July 4 card at The White House, CBS Sports, the new United States rightsholder of UFC events after the promotion and Paramount Plus came to terms on a stunning media rights deal in mid-August, just might want to have the audio delay at the ready in case he wins.