MMA Ink

One thing that many MMA fighters, and in fact all current UFC champions have in common is a love of body art. From massive back pieces to small tokenistic memories, a large majority of fighters have tattoos of some sort. For the artist in all of us here is a list of some of the best artwork on human canvases in MMA.

Thiago Silva

UFC light heavyweight wrecking ball Thiago Silva is one of the most heavily tattooed men on the roster. Silva Sports two full Japanese inspired sleeves involving brightly coloured flowers and masks contrasting with black background that stand out from miles away. Along with this Silva has a full back tattoo of a samurai warrior and also a crown tattooed on his throat. Thiago’s tattoos are extremely intimidating and suit his personality and fighting style to a T. Silva is mean and loves to look the part, you can imagine he has many tattoos in his future.

Anthony Pettis

Current UFC lightweight champion Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis has some of the best portrait tattoos in the sport. Keeping with his urban look, Pettis has his nickname across his shoulder blades in bold lettering, a piece of art that instantly stands out to fans of MMA. Pettis also sports a half sleeve tattoo including a portrait of his late father, and two matching chest panels with his mother and new-born daughter alongside their names and birthdates. All of Pettis’ tattoos flow and fit his look extremely well and still discreet enough for anyone who may be offended by tattoo artwork.

Dustin Poirier

Top ten featherweight Dustin Poirier has been getting tattooed from a very early age, and now only being 24, he has a lot of his body covered. Many of Dustin’s current tattoos cover old ones such as his right sleeve including blocks of black and a rose. Dustin has numerous tattoos such as his home state Louisiana on his bicep, a fleu-de-lis on his hand and tribal on his chest. Although Poirier is in the process of having many of his tattoos covered with better designs his body still looks more like a sketchbook than a wok of art, but if his newer tats are anything to go by, he will look much better in a few years.

Scott Jorgensen

Scott Jorgensen is the epitome of colour tattoos. Jorgensen has a rare skin condition which caused his skin to lose all pigment, but this has only helped his tattoos look brighter than ever. Scotts long list of tattoos include a eagle chest piece, a robot on his forearm, a space themed sleeve and his ‘young guns’ logo on his leg, and yes, all this are decked to the hills with colour! Scotts tattoos are a major talking point for fans of MMA and they eagerly await his next tattoo endeavour.

Alessio Sakara

Italian middleweight Sakara is very proud of his heritage and displays it all over his own body. Alessio has a multitude of finely detailed black and grey tattoos including a back piece of the roman coliseum which is one of the best executed tattoos in MMA. Along with this Sakara has some neck tattoos and two full sleeves of Italian inspired artwork. Sakara’s chest piece includes a huge eagle and some very intricate statue heads either side which are as striking as they are elegant.

Chris Leben

Joining the UFC in 2005 with only a small leg tattoo, Leben has to be one of the most tattoo covered fighters in the sport today. Lebens body art is all Japanese inspired, and executed to tattoo perfection. Chris’ tattoos include a full Buddha sleeve, a full phoenix sleeve, two chest panels and an entire samurai back piece. All of Leben’s tattoos are bright and bold and he seemingly has a new one every fight, most recently a full tiger rib tattoo. Chris Leben definitely follows the motto of go big or go home and MMA fans around the world are loving his body art.

Joe Rogan

UFC commentator Joe Rogan has some of the best tattoos in MMA, despite not even being a fighter. Joe’s two full sleeve tattoos are inspired by his drug use, most well-known is his left sleeve inspired by his use of drug DMT. This sleeve includes a golden Buddha, the chemical symbol for DMT, a dragon and a marijuana leaf. Yes this tattoo sounds insane but it all flows together beautifully and intricately using contrasting colours to make it stand out. his other sleeve is unfinished but it includes a tiger and is yet again very bright. Many fans cannot wait to see where Rogan goes next with his tattoo collection