Most Late Finishes in UFC History
Wins by knockout or submission that arrived in round three or later
2026 Stats
About Most Late Finishes in UFC History
This leaderboard counts wins by knockout, technical knockout or submission that arrived in round three or later. It is the mirror image of the early-finish boards: instead of measuring one-shot power, it measures the ability to survive the dangerous opening exchanges, wear an opponent down, and still close the show when both fighters are exhausted. Decisions and non-competitive endings such as disqualifications or overturned results are excluded, so every entry here is a genuine late stoppage.
The profile of a late finisher
Fighters who accumulate late finishes almost always share a specific set of traits. Their cardio has to hold past the fifteen-minute mark, which rules out most heavy-handed sprinters. They tend to fight at a pace that compounds damage rather than gambling on a single opening, so the finish arrives as the natural result of two rounds of pressure rather than a lucky counter. And crucially, they have to be durable enough to still be in the fight at all, because a late finish is only available to someone who has already survived the early danger.
That is why this list reads so differently from the fast-finish boards. Instead of heavyweights, it fills with volume strikers, submission hunters and relentless wrestlers, several of whom are among the most respected fighters of their generation. It also produces some of the most dramatic moments in the sport, since a late stoppage often overturns a fight that was already lost on the scorecards. For the opposite profile, look at the shortest average fight time board.
One caveat worth keeping in mind: this is a career total, not a rate, so longevity helps. A fighter with thirty-five bouts has far more opportunities than one with twelve, and a high number here does not by itself mean a fighter finishes a large share of their fights late. Use it as a measure of habit and pattern rather than efficiency, then check where those fighters actually rank in our ELO rankings and across the rest of our UFC stats.