My Favorite Photo: Some of MMA’s best photographers dig into their portfolios

Mixed martial arts is beautiful.

We see it almost every weekend. The courage and virtuosity on display. The electricity of the big fight. The way the air thickens when two kindred spirits are locked in a tug of war of the human will, and the overwhelming sense of unpredictability that accompanies a good night.

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At the sport’s best, there is little else that can compare.

Of course, no one is more responsible for documenting these iconic moments than MMA’s photographers. They, above anyone else, are the caretakers of our history. They are the ones we entrust to chronicle the awe-inspiring highs and haunting lows of our little corner of the sports world. And it never stops. From the first fights of the lowliest undercards, all the way to the main events of the biggest blockbusters, photojournalists in MMA must be ready to capture magic on a tireless schedule. So in celebration of those behind the lens — those whose talents we too often seem to overlook — The Athletic spoke with four of the fight game’s most brilliant photographic minds, talking shop about the favorite shots of their careers, the photos from their peers they wished were their own, and the experiences they’ve gained along the way.

Note: Responses were edited for length and clarity.

Esther Lin (Vox Media, Showtime)

Perhaps the sport’s best-known photographer, Lin shot her first MMA event in 2007. Since then, she has amassed a portfolio that includes many of the fight game’s most celebrated shots.

Favorite photo: Cris Cyborg vs. Gina Carano at “Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg” on Aug. 15, 2009. The fight marked the first time two women headlined a major MMA event.

Lin: I like to joke that I peaked early. But also, I think it’s my favorite because it’s the most pure representation of a moment that tells a story without me trying too hard. That night was just so big, and that was the first time I’d had an editor who edited my photos for me. At the time, I was two years into this, and I still had meh equipment. The lighting at Strikeforce was dimmer than UFC — and even then, both MMA promotions had lighting that was not as bright as other big pro sports, and the action was faster, so I constantly found myself feeling like I wasn’t getting the kind of crisp action I had imagined in my head. But for this one, everything about it tells the story in the picture. Because you get the pain, the fear. The domination of Cyborg. Just all of these things rolled into one, and the movement too, the slight motion blur, because they’re actually barreling toward me.

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You see that Gina’s trying to block her face. If you look, you know that Cyborg’s hand is holding her face because of the blue tape on the glove at the bottom, so she’s actually like punching her head into her hand. It’s just much more violent that way. Her wrist is bent — like, the skin is bent from the force. You have Cyborg, who’s in focus, but then everything else is this kind of a violent mess. Then one of the other things that, to me, makes this image so scary or intimidating, actually, is that because they’re so close to me, the lights are pointed toward the center of the cage for the most part — and they’re pointing outward so that there’s no cage shadow coming in, right? — so there’s no light on Cyborg. There’s not very much light on her face, if at all. Typically when you’d take a portrait of someone, you want to take it with an eye light. There’s like a little glint in their eye, and it kind of shows that they’re alive, that they have feelings, whatever. And Cyborg doesn’t have that in this photo because of the angle of the light, and it’s just so much more menacing that way.

It’s kind of one of those photos I like to think that only I could have gotten, or someone short like me, because it’s almost eye level. There’s not a lot of eye-level photos in MMA. It’s a lot more challenging. It’s a lot harder to shoot because people’s heads are always going to be in the way. But when you get the right shot, it’s just a perspective that so few people have, because everything was built for someone way taller than me. But at that moment for the Cyborg-Gina photo, it just worked out perfectly.

The photo I wish I’d taken: Conor McGregor vs. Jose Aldo at UFC 194 on Dec. 12, 2015, by John Locher of the Associated Press. On a historic night, McGregor stopped Aldo in 13 seconds.

Lin: It’s such an iconic moment. A lot of times, I’m not really super into an exact punch-face. I don’t think that’s that important. But the moment that Conor knocked out Aldo kind of changed MMA a lot — in a way that was good and bad, but it just fucking changed it. From that night on, everything was really, really different. And I was there that night, and I didn’t have the right angle. I was actually behind Conor’s back, so if you looked at my photo, all I had was Aldo kind of falling toward me, and then I had the last hammerfist. But angle-wise, there was no way I was going to get that shot. And there’s no way that you can be at a fight or be at a shoot and see other people get the shot and you not get it, and not feel bad, right? You can’t. It’s just part of it.

But I like to point out this photo because it was John Locher who is the photographer. He’s an amazing, amazing photographer. He’s based out of Las Vegas, so he’s been doing a lot of these amazing photographs of Vegas under lockdown and stuff like that, and they’re beautiful. He’s just such a good photographer. But it’s so funny to see, for me, his most popular photo is just that he got this moment. Because he always gets the moment. We’ve shot so many fights side by side or he’ll be across the cage from me or something, and I always love going to his Instagram page afterward, or going through articles that use AP (photos) and looking for his work, because he just has such an impeccable sense of timing and just lots of skill.

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One piece of advice that greatly impacted the way I shoot: I think my background in filmmaking instead of just photography has a lot to do with the way that my images look, and my love of cinema and film and art. Like, one of the things that I always do — or did when we used to travel a lot more to different cities — was when we didn’t have crazy packed schedules, I always made time to go to that city’s art museum. I always made time for that because you’ve got to see what art is out there, what art is part of this locale. And I think that has been a huge influence, to just keep absorbing other people’s art and imagery and storytelling. That had a huge impact on the way I shoot.

It actually came from when I was in college and I went to documentary school, and my professor kept insisting to me — because we were all poor college kids — she was just like, “Look, you’ve got to understand that there is a medium for everything. And there is a story for every medium. So if you only have a cheap-ass Handycam, there’s still a story that’s appropriate to tell with that.” And that’s how I kind of got through the first couple of years when I didn’t have good equipment. I just kept telling myself that, like, this is a look. You know? This kind of blurry, grainy look is a thing. Just go with it and just try to tell the stories that you can tell with what you have. And that was good for the beginning, just to kind of get me through the beginning thoughts of the process of becoming a shooter.

Ryan Loco (T-Mobile Arena, PFL)

A former aspiring filmmaker, Loco began his transition to photography on a lark while working with MMA apparel company Jaco Clothing. Twelve years later, he’s become one of the most decorated photographers in the sport.

Favorite photo: Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar 2 for the interim featherweight title at UFC 200 on July 9, 2016. At the time, Conor McGregor was the reigning UFC featherweight champion.

Loco: So shooting for T-Mobile Arena, you’re the house photographer, and most of the time it’s no issue. But sometimes for bigger events, you kind of get squeezed out, and sometimes you don’t really know until the day of. So I got the call to shoot UFC 200. I’m pretty stoked. It’s going to be exciting. You’ve got Brock Lesnar on the card, Anderson Silva is on the card. Then I get there and I find out that there’s no space for me, so I don’t have a spot on the cage to shoot, which is just a huge bummer, because you’ve got the high of thinking you’re going to be right there for the action and you find out you’re not. So the reason I picked this photo is because it was just kind of showing that, despite the fact that I didn’t get what I wanted, the premiere spot, that you still kind of have to make things work. It’s still my job.

So I had to improvise. I was taking photos of walkouts. I got a cool shot of Brock doing his walkout. I got a cool shot of Anderson going into the cage. I’m going to just do whatever I could, and I’m going to take advantage of the fact that I don’t have any rules really. Like, I’m just going to run around. And I’m up on the stairs shooting, just shooting the crowds and stuff, and I see that Conor’s still standing, which is tripping me out. And I’m like, “Oh, he’s going to sit down in a second.” Then he doesn’t sit down. He just keeps standing. So then I’m like, “Oh shit, I’ve got to move!” So I jump even higher up. I’m like, if I can somehow get a photo of everyone in the ring lined up perfectly, and there’s Conor standing, it’ll make it all worth it for me. And I managed to snap this photo. At the time, it’s Frankie versus Jose, and you have Conor right there standing. The entire arena is sitting. I’m sure people behind him are pissed, but it’s Conor, so what are you going to do? And it just was really special. Had I been on the cage, I would not have probably been able to capture the moment in the same way. It just wouldn’t have the same effect as being able to see the two guys in the cage and then Conor standing there all by his lonesome, basically eyes on the prey.

So the reason I picked this is because I was given a shitty situation — and then we have to make it work. As photographers, we can’t go back to the people who hire us and go, “Well, you don’t really understand. There’s a pole in the way.” Or, “Oh, you don’t really understand. I didn’t get the seat that I wanted.” Like, it doesn’t matter. You have to get the shot.

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The photo I wish I’d taken: Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort at UFC 126 on Feb. 5, 2011, by James Law. It was this fight — and this finish — that propelled Silva into superstardom.

Loco: At the time this was taken, James was just really starting to get his feet solidified as far as shooting sports and stuff like that. I wasn’t taking photos at the time, but I just remember how crazy it was when this happened. How crazy it was when this shot came out. How it was used everywhere. I think it was used at the UFC Expo — the UFC used it, put it on a giant banner. I think it was the cover of a video game as well. It was in all of the magazines. And to me, it was when I finally realized how one singular moment can be so important and how it can go everywhere. Photography, it’s so strong and so powerful and can mean so much. The whole single moment, and the fact that you can look at it and really capture everything just in that one frame — I mean, this photo just is everything. It’s Anderson Silva being peak Anderson Silva with the foot hitting the face, and it’s just the absolute perfect time, right before Vitor’s reaction of kicking his head back and falling. And you just see the skin crumpling. You can feel this moment just by looking at this photo, you know? I can see the whole thing happening in front of my eyes again.

The beautiful dark background, you can’t see the crowd or anything like that. When you shoot low — along the cage — that’s one of the benefits. You can get that darkness to really kind of isolate the fighters. And referee Mario Yamasaki is off to the side. If he was in the middle of this, it’d still be a great photo nonetheless, but if Mario Yamasaki was anywhere else, he would probably distract from it. You have this Xyience logo, which I have no problem with because it’s separated from everyone. It sort of breaks up the scene right in the middle. Luckily, Anderson’s leg is going above the cage, so nothing is being distracted. It’s just beautiful. It’s perfect the way it worked out.

One memory that sticks with me: One of the most difficult was UFC 156. Rashad Evans lost to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in Las Vegas, and I’d been with Rashad forever, for years. I consider him a close friend, and I probably would not be where I am if it wasn’t for Rashad Evans. So I’m backstage. I’ve been with him the whole camp, many camps before, and he’s ready to go, and I know that he’s ready to go. And he loses that fight. He comes back, and I can see that he is just distraught. The moment fully hit him that he lost, and it was bad — and he left. He leaves the arena, and I followed him. He takes the back way to get back to the hotel, and I take a photo of him walking on the path, and it’s just illuminated by some street lights basically in the back of Mandalay Bay.

I felt bad taking the photo. But I knew I had to, because it was my responsibility. I’ll always take the photo. And then if someone gets mad, I’ll delete it. But I’ll kick myself if I don’t take the photo. So I take a photo and then go back to his room.

I just sat there with him, I didn’t really say anything, but it was more a matter of just being there for him, to let him know that he’s not alone, and that the road after this fight is not going to be done alone. So that definitely sticks with me. That was one of the hardest things ever, seeing someone that you care about so much just not happy, heartbroken after a loss.

Jeff Bottari (UFC, Getty Images)

After getting his start with the NBA’s Los Angeles franchises — the Lakers and the Clippers — Bottari found his way to the UFC in 2013, where he’s been a cageside staple ever since.

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Favorite photo: Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz 2 at UFC 202 on Aug. 20, 2016. In one of the biggest events in MMA history, McGregor narrowly evened the score against Diaz with a majority-decision victory.

Bottari: The lead-up to this fight was so just much bad blood. The mind games at the weigh-ins. At the presser, they’re throwing bottles at each other, just being ridiculous. And then to them just giving an all-out battle for as long as they did. I think it was just a poignant moment for the fight game. A majority of the media like Esther or Loco or whoever is down there, we’re not all getting the same angle, right? So it’s luck of the draw. It’s the luck of them turning toward you. It’s the luck of moments that happened within seconds. And luckily they both embraced each other and turned toward our side, which was to the left, and I was able to get their facial expressions and them embracing each other. And it was just a crazy moment. I know right after the event, this photo went crazy on social media. I think it just summed up the entire fight and the entire fight week. Just, they battled it out and then just let it all hang out at the end.

It’s one of those things where you try not to get caught up in the moment for certain fights, but between these guys, it’s just like, you can’t pull your eye out of the eyepiece. You have to stay focused and right in the moment with them, so you’re actually experiencing it just as much as they’re experiencing it to a degree. And then once you capture it, it’s that visceral feeling of, “Holy shit, this just happened, and I have the frame.” And a lot of us feel that way. It’s an adrenaline rush. But until you see it after the fact, you don’t know if you captured it. So you almost get to experience it twice, right? In the moment, and then you go back like a few minutes later after it happens and look at it, and you’re like, “Holy shit. This is real, and this is forever.” It’s pretty cool.

The photo I wish I’d taken: Mark Hunt vs. Stefan Struve at UFC on Fuel TV 8 on March 3, 2013, by Josh Hedges of the UFC. Hunt defeated Struve via brutal third-round knockout.

Bottari: I was always jealous of these photos, because it was just super iconic. This is Mark Hunt in his heyday, in his prime. He’d had so many fights obviously, it was just insane what he had been through. And this photo against Stefan Struve is so iconic for me just because, not only the timing of the punch, but the blood splatter, the facial expression of Struve — it was just technically perfect. As perfect as you can get in terms of the angle. Because a lot of people don’t know, these guys are probably coming — Mark Hunt was rushing Stefan Struve, pushing him toward Josh. So the fact that Josh was even able to get Struve’s face in focus, and then frame it the way it was, is a very fast process that happens within milliseconds. It’s not something that you have a lot of time to anticipate and practice and be ready for. So for him, it was just perfect timing. It was perfect framing. The expression. The blood. The splatter. The face movement. It was all there.

Technically, like we talked about before, the cleaner background, this was one of the times where shooting above the octagon, you’ve kind of gotten a nicer framing background, where you’re not getting a lot of sponsorship signage and whatnot. So the blood, the red blood stands out against the dark background. You still see Mark’s fist with the UFC logo, which is always a plus. And just in terms of Josh, he’s probably shooting with a 7200. So he probably had it at 70, which is the widest, because they’re coming right at him. So the auto-focus is spot-on on Struve. Whereas for me, I may have had the auto-focus try to be on more of Mark Hunt’s face because he’s coming at me — but at the same time, it was perfect because the moment is more about Struve’s face, which is in focus completely. And that’s what tells the story, is the face of Struve just getting blasted.

That’s why I love it, and that’s why I look up to Josh — because he photographed so many wars like this.

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What was it like shooting in UFC 249’s empty arena: It was definitely different. You try to maintain a sense of normalcy in terms of what the fighters are going to do, but since there were no fans there, I actually had more access to get different angles from the arena seating. You could move around a little bit more freely, which I felt was nice because most of the time I’m fighting my way through cornermen, I’m fighting my way through the commission, I’m fighting my way through all these doctors and people that are always standing in the way, because it’s their job. So I think in that sense, it kind of helped us capture these moments a little bit more freely.

The other thing I really noticed too was, when I’m in there on the top of the octagon or below, either way, you hear the cornermen already. But since it’s so quiet, you can actually hear both sets of cornermen, right? And also you could hear the broadcasters as clear as day too. So it was kind of funny just to be able to hear all those details — you could actually pick up and you could adjust your coverage based on what they were talking about. Either, you know, “Oh, Sam Alvey needs to throw a kick,” or, “Tony Ferguson needs to go to his ground game,” or whatever the case was. You try to anticipate what the other people were talking about, so that kind of helped your coverage in a sense of what to expect for what they were going to do.

Dolly Clew (Cage Warriors)

The woman behind the lens of Cage Warriors, Clew has been a mainstay for one of Europe’s biggest promotions since 2010, shooting up-and-coming fighters such as Conor McGregor years before they made it big.

Favorite photo: Nathan Greyson vs. Sam Creasey at Cage Warriors 92 on March 24, 2018. Greyson shocked Creasy with a comeback win to capture the Cage Warriors flyweight title.

Clew: When you’re shooting through the cage, you’re shooting basically three people in there. You’re obviously trying to get a shot of what’s happening. So there’s so much that can get in the way, like a light, and of course the fighters protecting themselves, the ref’s there, the cage is there. Everything’s there. And that was just a situation where, when I watch it on TV, it happened so fast. It just all came together for a split second. Sam Creasey, he was winning, and then suddenly it just turned and Nathan just got it. He’s got that face on him, and you’ve got referee Rich Mitchell diving in, and I was at the right angle. Just the whole thing. I remember obviously shooting it and then looking and just being like, “Whoa!” It doesn’t happen that often. But sometimes you just think, yeah, that’s a really good shot. So it just all came together.

And I just remember actually Brad Pickett was there, and I was like, “Brad! Brad! Look!” Because I think Nathan came out of his gym. And I was like, “Look at this! Look at this!” I was just very happy with it, and that doesn’t happen that often.

The photo I wish I’d taken: Georges St-Pierre post-fight at UFC 154 on Nov. 17, 2012, by Esther Lin. St-Pierre survived a third-round knockdown from Carlos Condit to defend his UFC title.

Clew: I just honestly really love Esther. I love her photographic eye. I love the way she looks at stuff. And I know, of course, all the fans and everybody’s always looking for the action shots and the fight shots, but sometimes from just a photographic point of view, a more powerful shot is something totally different. You look at that, and if you didn’t know anything about MMA — you didn’t know anything about it — you’d look at that, and you’d think, “Whoa.” It’s a very simple shot, but it’s just got absolutely everything going on in it. Because it’s just saying everything. A) How much he must be hurting, because he’s got an ice pack on his head. B) Just the scars, the way he’s just looking. Obviously he would know her, he’s probably looking at her, but you can see his head’s in a different place. He’s got this really smart suit on, but he’s got a bashed-up face. It’s got the hint of the belt. It’s just a complete portrait. And it’s GSP, right? So it’s just such a good portrait. I love it. I mean, you could blow that up to the biggest, biggest picture ever, and it would just be so strong, or you could make it a thumbnail and it would still be a really strong shot.

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Also, she’s in a press conference. I can only imagine how busy those press conferences are actually, and she’s got it perfect. Because she’s little, however she’s got herself in a perfect kind of angle to shoot him, just the whole thing, it’s such a strong portrait. I just love it. I love loads of her stuff, I think she’s fantastic. But that, in particular, I wish I’d taken that. I think it’s a great shot.

What’s it like shooting future stars before they make it big: Obviously you try not to have favorites, but you end up having favorites. So somebody like Nicolas Dalby — he was with us, and he was a big part of Cage Warriors. Went to the UFC, got dropped by the UFC. Came back to Cage Warriors, did that bonkers fight on Cage Warriors 106. There was so much blood they had to stop the fight. And then he got signed to the UFC again — which, that’s the UFC. They don’t re-sign that many people. So it’s just an amazing story for him. That’s incredible. I was so happy for him.

Conor, it was such a long time ago. He was always a really exciting fighter. And then people like Nathaniel Wood — he’s a lovely, lovely character, and you just end up being really fond of them and their teams, and you just want them well. Molly McCann and Jack Hermansson, Darren Stewart.

So when you’ve got those guys, and then you suddenly see them and they’re in the UFC, you just feel really happy for them. Obviously, UFC will be on, let’s say, 3 in the morning or whatever, and I’ll either be watching it or I’ll just get up and the first thing I’m doing is watching the UFC — and I just want them to win, because it’s just such a special thing. It’s just so great when you see them and Bruce Buffer’s introducing them. You’re just like, “Yeah, come on!”

(Top photo of Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor: Jeff Bottari / Zuffa)