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Contrary to what most would say, MMA is a team sport. Yes, there's one person who enters the cage and fights, but to get there, it takes the full effort of more than one person. The truth is, one doesn't get better in this sport alone. You need all the help you can get to improve your skills and, most importantly, inspire you to be better.
It's no wonder why some fighters find love in professional fighting. It's easy to establish deep connections with people in a sport that's rooted mostly in overcoming obstacles. When you go through insurmountable odds alongside someone, that someone becomes special to you as you develop a special bond.
Valentine's Day is a day celebrated for the sacrifices of a priest named Valentinus who married couples in secret against the decree of the emperor. In celebration of his valiant effort to fight for love, we look into the idea of love in the midst of prize-fighting.
Today, we rank some of the most successful MMA couples in history. Couples who found great success in training together and cornering each other during fights. Couples that prove that you need that one person to be in your corner to simply inspire you to be the best you can be. Someone who believes in you no matter what the odds are. Someone who simply loves you, win or lose.
Today, we take the risk of being overly cheesy but forgive us. It's a day celebrated in the name of fighting for love, after all. With that said, let's get on with the list.
#5. Evangelista Cyborg and Cris Cyborg - MMA's scariest power couple
It takes just one glance to see that the Cyborgs are the scariest couple not just in MMA, but on the entire planet as well. They have the credentials and records to prove it, too.
Originally Evangelista Santos and Cristiane Justino Venancio, the two are now considered pioneers of MMA during the sport's surge in the mid-2000s. The two trained together at the famed Chute Box Academy alongside legends like Wanderlei 'The Axe Murderer' Silva, Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua and Anderson 'The Spider' Silva.
Adopting the same nickname became a kind of calling card for the couple. They're like machines inside the ring. Evangelista has an exciting fighting style that allowed him to score 24 career knockouts.
As for Cris Cyborg, well, she became one of the greatest female MMA athletes in history. The former Strikeforce, UFC and now Bellator MMA champion's marauding and ultra-violent style made her perhaps the first female superstar in the sport.
Though they are separated now, the Cyborgs have a place in MMA history as they were one of the first highly-publicized power couples in the sport.
#4. Rodtang Jitmuangnon and Stamp Fairtex - Muay Thai's most beloved love team
This relationship between world champions is the perfect example of two people building each other up and motivating each other to be great. As far as relationships go, you couldn't ask for a better one than this.
Though the two have already broken up, the brief relationship between ONE flyweight Muay Thai champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon and former ONE atomweight kickboxing and Muay Thai champion Stamp Fairtex was a match made in (MMA) heaven.
After some private conversations on social media, the two first met in Japan when Rodtang was fighting in the lead card of an event. Shortly afterwards, the two became an official couple and the world of Muay Thai collectively lost their minds.
In an interview with ONE Championship, Stamp, who now fights in MMA, had this to say about her former lover:
“At first I wasn’t really interested because he’s like a barbarian [laughs]. But after we started talking, I realized how mature he is. He is also someone who is humble towards adults and seeks their advice. I thought, if he understands this, then he’s okay. He really made an effort to get to know me and my family too. He was a perfect gentleman. It was only a matter of time before I decided to be in a relationship with him.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the two moved in together and trained under the same roof at the renowned Fairtex gym in Pattaya, Thailand.
Needless to say, this decision produced great results in the cage as the two world champions got to focus on improving each other's skillset. Success in the cage followed soon after.
Watch this short video of the two former lovebirds training together:
#3. Amanda Nunes and Nina Nunes - the First Family of Women's MMA
Though she may have lost her UFC bantamweight belt in a stunning upset to Julianna Peña last year, Amanda 'The Lioness' Nunes' legacy is etched in stone.
Considered the greatest female MMA fighter of all time, Nunes' accomplishments in the cage are, for the lack of a better term, crazy. 'The Lioness' defended two divisional belts while holding both titles at the same time. No other MMA champion has ever done that, past or present.
Nunes is not just winning her fights, she's dominating her opponents in the most brutal of ways. Her last five fights before losing to Peña - fought at bantamweight and featherweight - didn't look like fights at all. They were assassinations.
One might credit Nunes' success to her long-standing relationship with her wife, Nina Nunes (Ansaroff). Nina is a UFC strawweight who's had a decent run in the UFC. Both are training under the same team and have been working on each other's careers ever since they got together.
Though Nina's accomplishments are worlds away from Amanda's, she's overcome a different kind of battle most of us wouldn't even dare try: motherhood. The 36-year old fighter sat through the entirety of 2020 to focus on her pregnancy. She's since returned to the cage last year, albeit in a losing effort to Mackenzie Dern.
Always in each other's corner and now with a little girl cheering them on, Amanda and Nina will continue to break new ground for women's MMA and the LGBTQIA+ community.
#2. Angela Lee and Bruno Pucci - fighting for their family
ONE Championship atomweight world champion Angela 'Unstoppable' Lee and Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Bruno 'Puccibull' Pucci are among the most highly-decorated power couples in MMA today.
Pucci is a multi-time Gi and No Gi jiu-jitsu world champion and has a 7-5 MMA record while Lee is the youngest MMA world champion, ever. Lee made history by beating Mei Yamaguchi for ONE's atomweight belt at the age of 19 and has been dominating the division since. She's also a former Pankration world champion and folkstyle wrestling champion.
The two are training with Evolve Fight Team in Singapore and United BJJ in Hawaii and are very hands on with each other's training programs. The couple recently welcomed a healthy little baby girl as the newest member of their family.
Between taking care of their little one and doing everyday things, the couple (together with Lee's family) train constantly in preparation for their fights.
With Lee preparing for her high-profile title defense against Stamp Fairtex at ONE: X in March and now that they have new inspiration in the form of their daughter, expect these two to be kicking things into fifth gear.
#1. Rose Namajunas and Pat Barry - "You're the best!"
Get a boyfriend that can hype you up like Pat Barry screaming at 'Thug' Rose Namajunas, "You're the best ever!" Seriously, you'd have to have a heart of stone if this intense and emotional clip doesn't bring you to tears:
The clip was from Namajunas' historic win over Zhang Weili to become the only two-time UFC strawweight champion in history. In a sport that can easily break you mentally, having someone like Barry is a gift.
Through her her ups and downs, Namajunas never lost Barry by her side. The former UFC heavyweight has an unshakable belief in his fiance, regardless of whether she's winning or losing. Seeing Barry celebrate after every Namajunas win as if he's the one who fought in the Octagon just gives you butterflies.
The current UFC 115-pound champion has a quiet and sweet personality, while Barry is a ball of energy, often animated and wacky. It's the perfect definition of opposites attracting one another. As each other's training partner, cornerman, confidante and life partner, Namajunas and Barry have achieved MMA greatness beyond imagination.
It's simply because they do things together with belief, respect, admiration and, most importantly, love for each other. Now, that's a true MMA power couple.
