Every fan has his or her own favorite fighter. But there are a group of fighters who stand out from the rest by consistently putting on the most exciting fights each time out.

The most exciting fights to me are those in which there are sustained periods of combat, in which the athletes use all of the tools at their disposal. Yes, a great standup war is exciting, but a truly great mixed martial arts bout includes kicks, punches, elbows, knees, wrestling, scrambles, throws and jiu-jitsu.

That said, these are my picks as the 20 most exciting UFC fighters to watch. I'm picking active fighters only, so that leaves out the great Chris Lytle. In honor of the former UFC welterweight star, who consistently earned post-fight performance bonuses from the UFC for his exciting fights, I've dubbed my inaugural list of the UFC's most exciting fighters as "The Lytle List."

1. Chan Sung Jung -- If I was going to take a person to a fight and turn them into a mixed martial arts fan, I'd bring them to see the man known as "The Korean Zombie." If you want to see a fast knockout, check out the Zombie. His KO of Mark Hominick is, at seven seconds, tied for fastest in UFC history. If you love submissions, you'll love Jung. He became the first fighter in competition to pull off the Twister when he submitted Leonard Garcia in Seattle last year at Ultimate Fight Night 24. And if you like flat out brawls, who can forget his epic battle with Garcia at WEC 48? For my money, Jung is the most exciting fighter in the UFC, and that's saying a lot.

2. Joe Lauzon -- Lauzon has won 11 fight night bonuses from the UFC in his career, which puts him second between middleweight champion Anderson Silva's 12 bonuses. Lauzon has won six Submission of the Night awards, four Fight of the Night awards and one Knockout of the Night. But sometimes, bonus totals can be misleading. A guy may be the only one on a particular card to get a knockout or a submission and, thus, he wins the award by default. That doesn't mean the fight was exciting. That's not the case, though, with Lauzon, whose fights are regularly the most action-packed on the cards he's on.

3. Diego Sanchez -- Whether he's going by 'The Nightmare,' or 'The Dream,' Sanchez is money when it comes to putting on exciting fights. His 2006 bout with Karo Parisyan remains one of the best bouts in UFC history. His 2009 match with Clay Guida was picked by many as the Fight of the Year. The only downside to being a Sanchez fan is that he is hurt so much because of his fierce style, he doesn't compete as often as we'd like.

4. Donald Cerrone -- He's a veteran of the fight night bonus awards. He landed Fight of the Night five times while in the WEC and twice in the UFC. He's also had a Knockout of the Night and a Submission of the Night. He uses all aspects of the game and fights at a frenzied pace.

5. Leonard Garcia -- Cerrone's best friend, Garcia was a largely unknown when he debuted in the UFC at UFC 69 on April 7, 2007, against Roger Huerta. That was a breathtakingly brutal fight and it set the tone for the kind of fight he'd put on. His first fight with Jung might be the greatest in WEC history.

6. Nate Diaz -- Diaz has won five Fight of the Night and five Submission of the Night honors. His bouts are consistently high-paced and technical, and getting more exciting all the time. Diaz is willing to take risks in order to finish and that increases the enjoyment level of his bouts.

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