The third in our series going through the categories on our UFC Official Records page, this post deals with the record holders for the highest volume of significant strikes landed.

What: This volume or "counting" stat is one of the higher-profile records in MMA. It simply asks the question "which fighter has dished out the greatest volume of punishment in the history of the sport?" A quick definition: significant strikes refer to all strikes at distance and power strikes in the clinch and on the ground. It does not include small, short strikes in the clinch and on the ground. Those will be included in the Total Strikes category.

Why: This is one of the most fundamental statistics in the game. The fighter at the top of this list is as elemental to MMA as the all-time hits leader is to baseball. The fighters here need to have a lengthy tenure in the UFC and tend to take their time putting away their opponents. Fighters who finish too quickly won't have enough time to land the strikes necessary to make this list.

Who:
Rank Fighter Total
1 Georges St-Pierre 892
2 BJ Penn 734
3 Randy Couture 703
4 Rich Franklin 689
5 Chris Lytle 667
6 Forrest Griffin 658
7 Sam Stout 607
8 Michael Bisping 594
9 Tim Sylvia 585
10 Frank Edgar 572
Who's Next: The fighters at #11 and #13 are both out of the UFC (Chuck Liddell and Keith Jardine). That means the fighters closest to joining the top 10 are Tyson Griffin and Spencer Fisher.

The Breakdown: Not much of a surprise that GSP holds the top spot here by a comfortable margin; it would likely take two lengthy fights for anyone to supplant him and he's still accumulating more. It's entirely probably that St-Pierre will be the first 1,000 significant strike fighter in UFC history. It is even possible that he could do it in his next fight. Though he needs 102 strikes to reach the milestone, he has surpassed that total twice before, including his most recent fight against Josh Koscheck.

The leaderboard is populated with several fighters instrumental in bringing the UFC to prominence, and we see seven of 10 fighters are current or former champions. When it's all said and done, expect most of the guys on this list to make the UFC Hall of Fame. Also expect to see a lot of turnover on this list in the coming years. As the veterans retire, they will most likely be supplanted by newer fighters. The simple truth is that fighters today land more strikes than they did several years ago. A fighter today with a long enough career should have no problem moving the bar upward and pushing down on the champions from earlier eras.

The Takeaway: Note that only two fighters on this list (St-Pierre and Franklin) also appear on the leaders in total knockdowns. While the strikes these fighters land are certainly significant they are not the most damaging and often lack stopping power. Volume strikers abound and for good reason. Knocking out opponents quickly means fewer chances to land more strikes.