One day, I’d like to see a series of pie graphs of every pro sport’s athletes by nationality. I know basketball would look pretty good. Soccer would look great. Golf, surprisingly, might look OK. Hockey would look like a Mercedes-Benz hood ornament. American football would look, you know, like a circle, with a tiny sliver carved out for Samoa. Someone a lot less lazy than me should really get on that.
I bet MMA would rank right up there with the most diverse. For evidence, one need look no further than UFC 144, coming to you Saturday night from Saitama Super Arena in Japan and featuring fighters from seven different countries on its 12-fight card.
For further evidence, just take a look at this list, which ticks off the best fighters from 25 of the planet’s most MMA-happy nations.
Now, of course, I realize there are more than 25 countries that can claim pro fighters or an interest in fighting. So please save comments like”BROWHATABOUTSOANDSOFROMNORTHERNBRAMBLEFRAGHESTHETEATSBRO.” If you want to make those sorts of observations, fine. But they must be delivered by carrier pigeon.
But really, how did I narrow it down. I picked countries with more than one fighter currently aligned with a major promotion (UFC, Strikeforce, Bellator, DREAM, BAMMA, ONE FC, Shooto and M-1 Global) or that generally appear to incorporate combat sports and similar pursuits into their sporting cultures. Or both.
Just try to relax and enjoy it. It’s what a true global citizen would do. Fighters appear in alphabetical order by country.