The Ultimate Fighting Championship is home to some of the best mixed martial artists out there so there is no surprise that fans often debate who stands at the top. The Pound-for-Pound list gives us an idea of who the best is based on a number of factors such as ranking in their own division, overall fight record, recent records, and level of activity.
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At number 10, we have the UFC Flyweight Champion Deiveson Figueiredo. Deus Da Guerra fought Brandon Moreno in his last three fights out of which the latest one was the most valuable as he won his title back after losing it to Moreno earlier. With that victory, he also took his overall MMA record to 21-2-1 and is most likely to take on Moreno for the fourth time in the octagon.
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After beating Jan Blachowicz in October 2021, Glover Teixeira became the second-oldest UFC Champion at the age of 42. As things stand, the Brazilian has a fighting record of 33 wins and 7 losses and is on a six-fight win streak in the light heavyweight division. His most recent fights against Blachowicz, Santos and Anthony Smith ended in stoppage which just proves the fact that the 42-year-old has still got a hunger in him.
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The first Pound-for-Pound non-champion on this list is Dustin ‘The Diamond’ Poirier who has only lost two fights in the last five years of his MMA career. With an MMA record of 28-7, Dustin Poirier only has big names on his resume, winning seven fights against five different former world champions including Conor McGregor, twice! His last outing was against Charles Oliviera for the Lightweight title which he lost via submission in round 3.
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From being in the #1 position last year, Jon Jones has dropped to #7 in the Pound-for-Pound rankings with the main reason being his absence from fighting in the Octagon. Jon ‘Bones’ Jones last fought in February 2020 against Dominick Reyes which he won via unanimous decision and since then we haven’t seen the former Light Heavyweight champion step into the octagon. Some would say he spent more time in jail than in the Octagon in the last couple of years.
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Max ‘Blessed’ Holloway, the former featherweight champion has lost three of his last six fights, with one of the defeats coming in the lightweight division and one being a controversial points loss. But despite the poor run of form, the Hawaiian looks to be in his prime, shining even in defeat and producing a masterclass every time he wins. One example of that is his fight against Calvin Kattar in which he outboxed his opponent and made the sport look soo easy.
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Since making his debut in 2010, Charles ‘Do Bronx’ Oliviera had an inconsistent record but the former featherweight has completely turned his career around with 10 fight wins in a row and emerged as Khabib Nurmagomedov’s successor as the Lightweight Champion. Oliviera also holds the record for most finishes (18) and most submissions (15) in the UFC. Of his long career of 32 victories, a remarkable 29 of them have come via stoppage.
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At #4 we have The Predator, Francis Ngannou who is surely the hardest hitter the sport has ever seen. The UFC Heavyweight champion, in his long career of 17 wins and 3 defeats has only one victory that did not come via stoppage. Last year was Ngannou’s year as he recorded 4 straight first-round KO wins before putting Stipe Miocic to sleep to secure UFC gold. In his most recent fight, he shocked the fans and went against the odds to outwrestle Interim Champion Ciryl Gane in his first successful title defense.
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With back-to-back rematch wins in his last two fights against former Middleweight champion Robert Whittaker and Marvin Vettori, Israel ‘The Last Stylebender’ Adesanya finds himself #3 in the PforP rankings. In his time as the champion, he has proved to be too slick and clever for his opponents and beating almost every title contender in the Middleweight division. His only pro-MMA loss came against Jan Blachowicz in which the Kiwi moved up a weight class to try and become a two-division champion.
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One fighter who has constantly been on charge for the #1 PforP spot is Alexander ‘The Great’ Volkanovski who moves up every time he fights. The Featherweight champion is on a stunning 21 fight win streak out of which 5 of the recent fight wins have been against elite featherweights. In his most recent fight, Volkanovski took on The Korean Xombie and put in an absolute clinic to finish the fight off after four rounds.
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After knocking out Jorge Masvidal last year, Kamaru ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ Usman took #1 spot in the PforP rankings and since then, no fighter has come close to him. The 34-year-old Nigerian is unbeaten in 8 years and is on a 15 fight win streak in the UFC that includes a title win in 2019 and five successful title defenses since then.
Shashank Iyer