Top 5 reigning UFC champions (List post)



For this list I want to go over who I believe are the best champions currently reigning in the UFC and rank them. Because there are more than 5 weight classes, not every champion will make this list, only the 5 I believe are the best. I am defining best based on skill displayed, and dominance over high level competition.


5. Ilia Topuria
At only 27 years old and holding a record of 16 wins with no losses, Ilia Topuria is looking like he could become one of the greatest champions the sport has ever seen. His past two wins were over Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski, two of the greatest fighters the 145-pound weight class has ever seen. Topuira only ranks five on this list because despite his dominance and past two wins, he has not faced nearly the same level of competition before winning the belt, and he only has a single title defense.


4. Merab Dvalishvili
In my opinion, Merab is the least skilled hand to hand striker on this list. He is also not the best wrestler on this list. However, the one thing that he has over every athlete, let alone fighter, is his cardio ability. No fighter in history has displayed cardio at Merab’s level and it is a sight to behold watching Merab fight at a high pace, set takedown attempt records and not seem tired after 25 minutes while his opponent is exhausted. While he only has one title defense, the names he has beaten on his way to winning the belt, including 4 former champions, cannot be understated, placing him at 4 on this list.


3. Alex Pereira
Alex Pereira has only had 10 fights in the UFC and has only been with the promotion since late 2021, and yet he has already had a historical run in the sport. He has won championships in two different weight classes, something very few fighters have ever achieved. Only suffering one loss, he is currently the light heavyweight champion and is looking to make his fourth title defense in March against Magomed Ankalaev, who is likely to be his toughest opponent yet. His biggest flaw is his lack of grappling, as he has a kickboxing background which is what he uses to win all his fights.


2. Alexandre Pantoja
Likely the most underappreciated champion in sport today, Alexandre Pantoja is one of the most dominant champions in the sport. He has recorded 3 title defenses, all over top competition in the 125-pound weight class. No other champion has dominated their division like he has, having beaten seven of the top 15 ranked fighters in his weight class, some of which multiple times. He has cemented himself as the second greatest fighter to fight in the 125-pound division, only second to who I would consider the greatest fighter of all time Demetrious Johnson.


1. Islam Makhachev
Islam is the definition of elite when it comes to mixed martial arts. Incredibly dominant wrestling and grappling ability, alongside very solid striking and good cardio. Competing in the historically toughest division of 155 pounds, Islam has just recently set the record for the most title defenses in the division's history with four. Now as arguably the greatest 155-pound fighter of all time with wins over divisional greats, Islam looks to etch is name in the history books once again by trying to become a 2-division champion within the next few years.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PFL vs ONE Championship: Who is number 2? (Comparison Post)

The Professional Fighters League and ONE Championship are considered the two promotions in the running for being the second biggest MMA promotions in the world. While I personally think that KSW or Oktagon being excluded from this conversation does not make sense, I want to compare the PFL and ONE on the basis of their presentation and where they stand today as companies. PFL The PFL is different from most promotions, as they heavily use a tournament format for their shows. Recently they dropped their original season format, which I think was for the better as it limited matchmaking and took forever to play out. Now they are doing regular fights alongside tournaments in each weight division with the winners becoming champion and receiving 500 thousand dollars. This is down from the previous prize of a million dollars that was awarded for winning their Season. As for their roster, since buying Bellator the PFL has a much stronger roster than ever. They do not have many huge names, but t...
Read more

Conor McGregor career profile (Profile post)

  The inarguable biggest star in the history of the UFC and mixed martial arts as a whole, Conor McGregor’s career serves as a great illustration of how quickly things can change in a fighter’s career, for better and for worse. Getting his start outside of the UFC in regional promotions across Ireland, he eventually made his way to the U.K based promotion Cage Warriors, where he became a two-weight division champion, a trend that would eventually follow him to the UFC. He made his debut in the UFC in 2013 with a first-round finish against Marcus Brimage, which set him up to go on a five-fight winning streak after. Personality wise, he was incredibly confident, yet still somewhat humble and clearly focused completely on becoming the best. This led to him becoming incredibly popular, eventually leading to his first championship opportunity, where he knocked out one of the greatest fighters in the history of mixed martial arts Jose Aldo, in 13 seconds with a single punch. His popular...
Read more

My problems with the GFL (Problem Post)

Out of nowhere in 2024, the Global Fight League appeared in the MMA space with huge promises and another unique format that had not been seen since the IFL years ago. While some of the things that they are promising such as a 50/50 revenue split, guaranteed fights, and more open contracts are great things that I wish every promotion had. But as of now the GFL has not run an event, and with some of the controversy regarding their launch and draft, it remains to be seen how this plays out. I wanted to talk about two of the problems that I have noticed, that being their formatting and their roster.  The first thing I want to mention is their roster. They have plenty of names and former world champions under their banner, but many of these fighters are well past their primes. Names like Frank Mir, Mauricio Rua and Andrei Arlovski are definitely names, but they are all over 40 years old and were past their best years ago. I actually don't mind a promotion where older fighters can fight ...
Read more