Now that the rankings system is complete for UFC 4, EA has published their list of the ten best fighters in the game. Even though the star rating system in-game gives every fighter in the game more than a puncher’s chance of a competitive fight, it’s hard to argue that the top ten are the best fighters in the game to choose from right now.
However, it must be kept in mind these ratings are true at the time of this writing, and EA has always done a fantastic job of keeping the fighters up to date. It's always been one of the series' best features. As with the previous games, it’s very likely that new fighters will get added to the roster and statistics will get updated.
Updated January 13th, 2021 by Michael Llewellyn: Since its launch in August 2020, EA's UFC 4 has been the recipient of several patches and updates to improve gameplay mechanics, add fighters, and update existing fighter's statistics to match their real-life counterparts. As a result, several fighters on this list needed to be adjusted and additional combatants added to reflect their new stats and skillsets.
15 Tony Ferguson
Tony Ferguson is a former interim champion in the Lightweight division and had a 12 fight win streak in the UFC. Despite his recent losses, Ferguson is still one of the best characters to pick in the game.
Even though he lacks the stopping power of a power striker like Jorge Masvidal, Ferguson has fast hands, with an excellent jab and straight right. Both of which can counter and outstrike most fighters in the game simply by beating them to the punch. He is also great at submissions and fighting from his back which makes him the perfect fighter to choose against a good wrestler like Kamaru Usman.
14 Kamaru Usman
At number 10 in the game’s rankings is Kamaru Usman who is the current UFC Welterweight Champion. He’s one of the most powerful fighters in the division and looks more like a middleweight than a welterweight.
He has a strong ground game as shown by his manhandling of Tyron Woodley and has a lot of power in his hands as evidenced by knocking out Colby Covington in their 2019 "fight of the year" contender at UFC 245.
13 Brian Ortega
Since coming back with a dominant victory over Chan Sung Jung, Brian Ortega's vast improvements in his stand-up game have been reflected in a recent UFC 4 update too. Since the update, Ortega's star rating has jumped up to four and a half stars.
Ortega is primarily is a Jiu-Jitsu specialist which makes him perfect against wrestlers and he is also a very dangerous kickboxer too. He can land fast combinations with his hands and has the punching power to match. He also has excellent recovery stats which means he can come back from getting rocked fairly quickly.
12 George St-Pierre
George St-Pierre is a legend in the UFC and easily earns his spot as one of the greatest fighters of all time. GSP won the UFC Welterweight Championship twice and retired as the reigning champion in 2013 after successfully defending the belt 9 times.
He made a one-time come back to challenge the UFC Middleweight champion Michael Bisping and walked away with the win, making him a two-division champion. He’s one of the most well-rounded fighters in the game, has great stand-up, and is deadly on the ground.
11 Stipe Miocic
Stipe Miocic is a two-time and the current UFC Heavyweight Champion of the world. He successfully defended his belt against long-time rival Daniel Cormier in the final bout of their trilogy.
Miocic has excellent knockout power, fast hands, and has good takedown defense. He’s the perfect fighter pick if players like to keep the fight standing and want to learn how to defend against wrestlers. Additionally, Miocic has great stamina and health and is capable of outlasting the rest of the heavyweight division which is reflected in the game too and he's a great choice for players that like to keep the pressure on.
10 Zhang Weili
Zhang Weili is the current Women’s UFC Strawweight Champion, she is officially rated as the number 2 in the women’s pound-for-pound UFC ranking. The Chinese native defeated Jessica Andrade in the first round by TKO to win the title and has a record of 21 wins and only 1 loss.
Weili is an amazingly fast striker with good grappling skills and has the stamina to go the distance without much trouble at all. Even novice players will be able to land fast combos with ease using Weili in UFC 4.
9 Henry Cejudo
Former Olympic Gold Medalist Henry Cejudo is a former UFC Flyweight Champion and UFC Bantamweight Champion and defended both titles simultaneously before retiring as the champion in May 2020.
Cejudo has stated that he’s willing to come out of retirement to fight the current Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski in hopes of becoming the first-ever three-division champion. He’s a great all-rounder with no particular weaknesses in EA’s UFC 4 as his health, striking, and grappling all sit at 4.5 on the star rating.
8 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
Joanna Jedrzejczyk is a former women's Flyweight champion in the UFC. She is considered to be one of the most dangerous kickboxers in the world and has a really polished stand-up game with very few flaws.
Her skills in life are matched by her videogame incarnation with almost perfect punching, speed, footwork, head movement, and accuracy. She does lack the power of Valentina Shevchenko but she has great reach can land very fast combinations.
7 Valentina Shevchenko
Current Women’s Flyweight Champion Valentina Shevchenko is one of the most technically gifted fighters in the UFC and her striking game is in a league of its own. In addition, she has superb grappling and submission skills making her a problem for all fighters in any position.
Shevchenko, like Cejudo above, is an excellent character to select in the game if the player wants to select a balanced fighter that is proficient at everything.
6 Jon Jones
The second highest-rated fighter in the game has to go to none other than Jon Jones. He is undefeated with a No Contest and Disqualification as the only blemishes on his record. UFC President Dana White has gone on record several times to say he thinks that Jones is the GOAT (greatest of all time).
Jones has recently vacated the Light Heavyweight title and plans to move up to the heavyweight division and challenge for the title there. Jones is an incredible striker with excellent takedown skills and is capable of going the distance with anyone in the game. He does lack some of the power that the high-level kickboxers have in the game and he's probably slower than he was in UFC 3.
5 Max Holloway
Max Holloway is a former Featherweight champion in the UFC and has some of the best wars in the division. He has incredible hand speed and is capable of landing flurries of punches and combinations to knock his opponents out even though he lacks the power of Conor McGregor.
In the game, Holloway has amazing hand speed, footwork, head movement, and accuracy. This is why so many players will pick him when playing online even his lightweight version which has lower stats is a force to be reckoned with simply because of his hand speed.
4 Demetrious Johnson
Demetrious Johnson is often regarded as one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters of all time. He is the former UFC Flyweight champion and current ONE Flyweight Champion holding an undefeated streak in that organization.
Even for a Flyweight, Johnson is a small fighter but he more than makes up for this in speed and skill. He is one of the faster punchers in the game with a 99 rating and his footwork is rated at 98 and he also has great takedown defense, offense, submissions, and clinch control. It really is like selecting a fighter on fast-forward when playing as him in the game.
3 Amanda Nunes
Amanda Nunes is the reigning and defending champion of two divisions in the UFC. She is the current holder of the UFC Featherweight Championship and the UFC Bantamweight Championship. Nunes has defeated everyone put in front of her even the seemingly invincible Chris Cyborg whom defeated by KO.
She has excellent power in her hands and is strong on the mat too with an overall star rating of 5 in the game she’s a great choice for players that are confident striking and wrestling.
2 Khabib Nurmagomedov
Current Welterweight UFC Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov is one of the most dangerous fighters in the world right now. His wrestling and takedown skills are unmatched in the Octagon and even has decent power in his hands.
Khabib is capable of absolutely mauling his opponents on the ground as evidenced by his destruction of fighters like Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier, Michael Johnson, Edson Barbosa, and more. Khabib isn’t the best character in the game to pick if players want to stand and bang because he's not as polished as some of the kickboxers in the game but he’s a destroyer for fighters that like to take the fight to the ground. His stats have also benefitted from a boost since the game's launch after defeating Justin Gaethjhe giving him better stand up and improved submissions on the ground.
1 Israel Adesanya
Israel Adesanya is this year's cover star and is one of the fastest rising stars in combat sports. He is the current UFC Middleweight Champion and has made short work of some of the most dangerous fighters in the division. His striking skills are unmatched in the Octagon and has had tremendous “Fight of the Night” performances against Anderson Silva and Kelvin Gastelum.
His striking in the game has a perfect star rating and he is great at keeping the distance and counter-punching. Since the game's release, Adesanya has defeated Middleweight powerhouse, Paulo Costa, with ease. To reflect this, his stats have been updated in the game which means his character hits harder and he has increased to a perfect 5-star rating. However, he can be vulnerable on his back in the game so players will really need to learn how to defend the takedown going up against powerful wrestlers.