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Tallest Mixed Martial Artists
Mixed martial arts remains a young enough sport that the significance of height for fighting prowess is not yet fully established. In basketball and tennis, volleyball and golf, the advantages of height have all been demonstrated, as larger fulcrums and greater wingspans lead to greater velocities for rackets and clubs and the guarding of more space at a net or in front of a basket. In kickboxing too, if the extraordinary success of 6’11” (211cm) K1 superstar Semmy “Hightower” Schilt is any indication, the taller man is inherently harder to reach with punches and high kicks, and can hide himself behind the fortress of a powerful jab so as to become virtually unbeatable.
In MMA the significance of height is far less clear. Great height and reach can grant a fighter a devastating jab, as it has for Schilt and for former UFC Heavyweight Champion, the 6’8” (204cm) Tim Sylvia. But the addition of level changes to pure standup striking exchanges can also make a fighter more susceptible to takedowns. Extraordinarily long limbs can bless a fighter with wicked triangle chokes and Gogoplatas from the bottom, as they have for the 6’11” (211cm) Stefan “Skyscraper” Struve and the 6’7” (201cm) Brad Imes, respectively – but they can also leave a fighter more susceptible to armbars and leglocks than those with squat, compact builds. And the massive man-giants that stalked the Pride rings of yesteryear, like Ricardo Morais and “Giant” Silva, present an enormous intimidation factor at the start of a match, but are oftentimes exposed as slow and unwieldy once the action begins. Time will tell the import of great height for MMA success; for today’s fighter it is clearly not yet a prerequisite.
The career of 6’6” (199cm) middleweight Kendall Grove is in many ways indicative of the pros and cons of a long, rangy frame. Grove is the tallest fighter competing in a major MMA organization outside of its heavyweight and/or super heavyweight divisions, taller even than any current UFC light heavyweight fighter. His build, coupled with great technique, led him to chokeout wins over Alan Belcher (D’Arce) and Jake Rosholt (triangle) in the Octagon. But his weakness has been the compact wrestlers and grapplers including Ricardo Almeida, Mark Munoz and Demian Maia who were able to take him down and smother him on the ground.
The biggest cheerleaders of the taller fighters may be the MMA promoters, who know that a matchup of gargantuans is a time-tested way to plant patrons in the venue seats. Some of the “giant vs. giant” matchups of years past have been simple exhibitions lacking in consequence for the rankings. But that is not always the case. Tim Sylvia fought 6’10” Gan McGee for the UFC Heavyweight Championship at UFC 44, still the tallest combined title fight of any two combatants in UFC history. Sylvia knocked out McGee in the first round with straight punches down the middle.
Tallest Mixed Martial Artists (6819)
| Fighter | Height | Weight Class | Record | Forum | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paulo Cesar "Giant" Silva | 7'2" (219 cm) | Super Heavyweight | 2-6-0 | View | ||||
| "Techno Goliath" Hong Man Choi | 7'2" (219 cm) | Super Heavyweight | 2-3-0 | View | ||||
| Semmy "Hightower" Schilt | 6'11" (211 cm) | Super Heavyweight | 26-14-1 | View | ||||
| Cory "LA Giant" Peterson | 6'11" (211 cm) | Heavyweight | 2-1-0 | View | ||||
| Stefan "Skyscraper" Struve | 6'11" (211 cm) | Heavyweight | 24-5-0 | View | ||||
| Jan "The Giant" Nortje | 6'11" (211 cm) | Super Heavyweight | 2-6-0 | View | ||||
| Gan "The Giant" McGee | 6'10" (209 cm) | Heavyweight | 13-5-0 | View | ||||
| Dave Keeley | 6'10" (208 cm) | Heavyweight | 6-4-0 | View | ||||
| Maurice "The Gorilla" Jackson | 6'9" (206 cm) | Heavyweight | 1-1-0 | View | ||||
| Emmanuel Yarborough | 6'8" (204 cm) | Heavyweight | 1-2-0 | View | ||||
| Gerry Harris | 6'8" (204 cm) | 1-4-0 | View | |||||
| Tim "The Maine-iac" Sylvia | 6'8" (204 cm) | Heavyweight | 30-7-0 | View | ||||
| Rafael "Earthquake" Carino | 6'8" (204 cm) | 2-1-1 | View | |||||
| Ricardo "The Mutant" Morais | 6'8" (204 cm) | Super Heavyweight | 10-4-1 | View | ||||
| Dan "The Sandman" Christison | 6'8" (204 cm) | Heavyweight | 20-7-0 | View | ||||
| Wes "A Whole Show" Sims | 6'8" (204 cm) | Heavyweight | 23-13-1 | View | ||||
| Darren "Big Nasty" Appels | 6'8" (204 cm) | 1-3-0 | View | |||||
| Chad "Akebono" Rowan | 6'8" (204 cm) | Super Heavyweight | 0-4-0 | View | ||||
| Ross "The Grizz" Clifton | 6'8" (204 cm) | Super Heavyweight | 6-10-0 | View | ||||
| Paul "The Polar Bear" Varelans | 6'8" (204 cm) | 9-9-0 | View | |||||
| Jack May | 6'8" (203 cm) | Heavyweight | 3-0-0 | View | ||||
| Wes "The Perfect Storm" Shivers | 6'8" (203 cm) | Heavyweight | 8-1-0 | View | ||||
| Vinicius "Spartan" Kappke de Quieroz | 6'7" (201 cm) | Heavyweight | 5-2-0 | View | ||||
| Travis "Hapa" Browne | 6'7" (201 cm) | Heavyweight | 13-0-1 | View | ||||
| Brad "The Hillbilly Heartthrob" Imes | 6'7" (201 cm) | Heavyweight | 13-7-0 | View | ||||
| Adenilson "AC" Clementino | 6'7" (201 cm) | Heavyweight | 1-1-0 | View | ||||
| Brandon Bringewatt | 6'7" (201 cm) | Light Heavyweight | 0-0-0 | View | ||||
| Malik Merad | 6'7" (201 cm) | Light Heavyweight | 11-8-0 | View | ||||
| Chi Lewis-Perry | 6'7" (201 cm) | Heavyweight | 1-0-0 | View | ||||
| Alexander Volkov | 6'7" (201 cm) | Heavyweight | 15-3-0 | View | ||||
| Sean "Big Sexy" McCorkle | 6'7" (201 cm) | Super Heavyweight | 16-3-0 | View | ||||
| Jon "The Giant With Attitude" Hess | 6'7" (201 cm) | 1-1-0 | View | |||||
| James "Chainsaw" Quelle | 6'7" (201 cm) | Heavyweight | 4-4-0 | View | ||||
| Ednaldo "Lula" Oliveira | 6'7" (201 cm) | Heavyweight | 13-1-1 | View | ||||
| Koji "Mitsuharu" Kitao | 6'7" (201 cm) | Super Heavyweight | 1-2-0 | View | ||||
| Mike Ling | 6'6" (199 cm) | Middleweight | 9-3-0 | View | ||||
| "The Viking" John Olav Einemo | 6'6" (199 cm) | Heavyweight | 6-3-0 | View | ||||
| Scott Rosa | 6'6" (199 cm) | Middleweight | 1-0-0 | View | ||||
| Justin McElfresh | 6'6" (199 cm) | Light Heavyweight | 6-4-0 | View | ||||
| Ricky "Ice Cold" Shivers | 6'6" (199 cm) | Light Heavyweight | 11-6-1 | View | ||||
| Neil "Goliath" Grove | 6'6" (199 cm) | Heavyweight | 11-6-1 | View | ||||
| Rick "Have a Nice" Day | 6'6" (199 cm) | Heavyweight | 1-0-0 | View | ||||
| Ron "The Savage" Carter | 6'6" (199 cm) | Light Heavyweight | 3-11-0 | View | ||||
| Sean O'Haire | 6'6" (199 cm) | Super Heavyweight | 4-2-0 | View | ||||
| Alex "Shaved Gorilla" Huddleston | 6'6" (199 cm) | Heavyweight | 1-1-0 | View | ||||
| Chuck "The Reverend" Grigsby | 6'6" (199 cm) | Middleweight | 20-8-0 | View | ||||
| Zane "Nasty" Frazier | 6'6" (199 cm) | 4-11-0 | View | |||||
| Marcus "Big Baby" Jones | 6'6" (199 cm) | Heavyweight | 4-2-0 | View | ||||
| Kendall "Da Spyder" Grove | 6'6" (199 cm) | Middleweight | 14-10-0 | View | ||||
| Luke "The Bigslow " Barnett | 6'6" (199 cm) | Middleweight | 2-0-0 | View | ||||
| Lamont "KO Kid" Stafford | 6'6" (199 cm) | Middleweight | 2-2-0 | View | ||||
| Aleksander "The Grim Reaper" Emelianenko | 6'6" (199 cm) | Heavyweight | 19-5-0 | View | ||||
| Jeff Karriman | 6'6" (198 cm) | Heavyweight | 0-1-0 | View | ||||
| Rob Mitchell | 6'6" (198 cm) | Heavyweight | 2-3-0 | View | ||||
| Garrett Moldoff | 6'6" (198 cm) | Heavyweight | 0-0-0 | View | ||||
| Thomas Duncan | 6'6" (198 cm) | Heavyweight | 0-0-0 | View | ||||
| Charles Wolff | 6'6" (198 cm) | Heavyweight | 0-0-0 | View | ||||
| Zach Hughes | 6'6" (198 cm) | Light Heavyweight | 0-0-0 | View | ||||
| Jake Parsley | 6'6" (198 cm) | 0-1-0 | View | |||||
| Christian Morecraft | 6'6" (198 cm) | Heavyweight | 7-3-0 | View | ||||
| Chris Sutton | 6'6" (198 cm) | Heavyweight | 1-0-0 | View | ||||
| Daniel Parkin | 6'6" (198 cm) | 0-0-0 | View | |||||
| Cyrille "The Snake" Diabate | 6'6" (198 cm) | Light Heavyweight | 18-8-1 | View | ||||
| Doug Craswell | 6'6" (198 cm) | Heavyweight | 0-0-0 | View | ||||
| Zak Jensen | 6'5" (196 cm) | Heavyweight | 10-9-0 | View | ||||
| Chris "The Killing" Fields | 6'5" (196 cm) | Middleweight | 9-3-0 | View | ||||
| Chad Corvin | 6'5" (196 cm) | 6-0-0 | View | |||||
| Alistair "The Reem" Overeem | 6'5" (196 cm) | Heavyweight | 36-11-0 | View | ||||
| Marques Worrell | 6'5" (196 cm) | 5-1-0 | View | |||||
| Tyler King | 6'5" (196 cm) | Heavyweight | 5-1-0 | View | ||||
| George "The Tower of Power" Ashauer | 6'5" (196 cm) | 2-1-0 | View | |||||
| Osamu "Tachihikari" Tachihikari | 6'5" (196 cm) | Heavyweight | 0-4-0 | View | ||||
| Dave "Pee-Wee" Herman | 6'5" (196 cm) | Heavyweight | 21-4-0 | View | ||||
| Guram Gugenishvili | 6'5" (196 cm) | Heavyweight | 11-0-0 | View | ||||
| Tony "Kryptonite" Lopez | 6'5" (196 cm) | Heavyweight | 32-8-0 | View | ||||
| Cameron Befort | 6'5" (196 cm) | Heavyweight | 6-6-0 | View | ||||
| Eric "American Soldier" Prindle | 6'5" (196 cm) | Heavyweight | 9-1-0 | View | ||||
| Jared "J-Rod" Kilkenny | 6'5" (196 cm) | Light Heavyweight | 9-9-0 | View | ||||
| Phil "F-11" De Fries | 6'5" (196 cm) | Heavyweight | 8-1-0 | View | ||||
| Matt Thompson | 6'5" (196 cm) | Light Heavyweight | 16-9-0 | View | ||||
| Ralph Johnson | 6'5" (196 cm) | Middleweight | 5-4-0 | View | ||||
| Dennis Smoldarev | 6'5" (196 cm) | Heavyweight | 1-0-0 | View | ||||
| Jeremy Osheim | 6'5" (196 cm) | Light Heavyweight | 1-0-0 | View | ||||
| John Vernon | 6'5" (196 cm) | 0-0-0 | View | |||||
| Jason "The Juggernaut" Riley | 6'5" (196 cm) | Heavyweight | 9-6-0 | View | ||||
| Cole "The Polar Bear" Konrad | 6'5" (196 cm) | Heavyweight | 8-0-0 | View | ||||
| Eli Bice | 6'5" (196 cm) | Light Heavyweight | 7-2-0 | View | ||||
| Tamdan "The Barn Cat" McCrory | 6'5" (196 cm) | Welterweight | 11-3-0 | View | ||||
| Rex Richards | 6'5" (196 cm) | Super Heavyweight | 7-2-0 | View | ||||
| Brett "The Grim" Rogers | 6'5" (196 cm) | Heavyweight | 11-4-0 | View | ||||
| Ryan "Superman" Spann | 6'5" (196 cm) | Middleweight | 0-0-0 | View | ||||
| "Dirty" Harry Moskowitz | 6'5" (196 cm) | Heavyweight | 6-12-0 | View | ||||
| Brian "The Human Cockfighter" Imes | 6'5" (196 cm) | Light Heavyweight | 6-6-0 | View | ||||
| Yoshihiro Takayama | 6'5" (196 cm) | Heavyweight | 0-4-0 | View | ||||
| Tyler "The Beast" East | 6'5" (196 cm) | Heavyweight | 11-3-0 | View | ||||
| Imani Lee | 6'5" (196 cm) | Super Heavyweight | 2-4-0 | View | ||||
| Bob "The Beast" Sapp | 6'5" (196 cm) | Super Heavyweight | 11-12-1 | View | ||||
| Taylor Bull | 6'5" (196 cm) | Middleweight | 1-4-0 | View | ||||
| Steven "The Panda" Banks | 6'5" (196 cm) | Heavyweight | 6-7-0 | View | ||||
| Travis McCullough | 6'5" (196 cm) | Middleweight | 1-13-0 | View |
