Born to Fight: Top 5 Pound-for-Pound Men MMA Fighters
After Petr Yan threw a blatantly illegal knee to end a 135-pound contest at UFC 259, Aljamain Sterling became the worthy bantamweight champion. This controversial outcome may lead to a stirrup to this year’s ranking of pound-for-pound greats, but it still depends on the MMA media whether to share the sentiments of the few or not.
Somewhere along with pound-for-pound rankings, after Jan Blachowicz defeated the middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, he immediately went two spots down to No. 5 while the Polish power-puncher moved up his ranking to No. 7. Take a look at this list of the best five pound-for-pound men MMA fighters and see what the current odds to win the ranking field looks like.
Jon “Bones” Jones
Weight Class: UFC Heavyweight
Win/Loss Record: 26-1, 1NC
Last Fight: Defeated Dominick Reyes
Considering the former light heavyweight champion as MMA’s GOAT is an understatement. But this doesn’t mean that his position on the P4P throne isn’t in grave danger. Jones is about to be caught up in the competition. Hence the move up to heavyweight at age 33 is an exciting decision Jones has made throughout his career.
Whether this means a quick shot for becoming the champion or a top contender has yet to rise to the challenge, fans can only anticipate. You may expect Bones to face the winner of the contest between Stipe Miocic and Francis Ngannou II for the title. But before that is concluded, Jones remains at the top of UFC’s list.
Kamaru “Nigerian Nightmare” Usman
Weight Class: UFC Welterweight
Win/Loss Record: 18-1
Last Fight: Defeated Gilbert Burns
It’s high time for everyone to put respect to this man’s name. Kamaru Usman has proved himself worthy of the position and showcased his constantly evolving striking after defeating Gilbert Burns over a dominant title defense. The Nigerian Nightmare now has a 13 consecutive UFC winning streak, the second-best record in its history.
That win against Burns gave Usman yet another big name in his resume, including former champions Rafael Dos Anjos (lightweight) and Tyron Woodley, former interim champion Colby Covington, Leon Edwards, and Demian Maia.
No one can contest Usman for being the world’s best fighter right now, provided his overall growth and immensely dominant wrestling strength. It might be best to expect that everyone who dares to stand in Usman’s way will eventually meet defeat at the end.
Stipe Miocic
Weight Class: UFC Heavyweight
Win/Loss Record: 20-4
Last Fight: Defeated by Francis Ngannou
At the age of 38, Stipe Miocic is currently set to enter yet the arguably most dangerous challenge throughout his entire career. This rematch contest at UFC 260, against the hard-hitting Francis Ngannou II, will add to Miocic’s pair of heavyweight title wins.
Sadly, Francis Ngannou took out Stipe with a solid left and followed up with a hammerfist to seal the deal. Although Stipe was defeated convincingly by Ngannou, he still ranks high in the pound-for-pound rankings because of his past title defenses.
Alexander “The Great” Volkanovski
Weight Class: UFC Featherweight
Win/Loss Record: 22-1
Last Fight: Defeated Max Holloway
Number 19 has been appearing a lot lately on the UFC featherweight champion’s record from Australia, Alexander Volkanovski. He has an amazingly 19 consecutive wins. And his win against the former champion Max Holloway, with a record of 19 of a possible 30 scored rounds.
Although his match with Holloway was clouded with controversy over a disputed split decision, he is expected to fight against the reinvigorated Brian Ortega at UFC 260. Deviating from the number 19, The Great has a 55% striking accuracy, making him deserving of a position at No. 2 in the UFC featherweight history.
Israel “The Last Stylebender” Adesanya
Weight Class: UFC Middleweight
Win/Loss Record: 20-1
Last Fight: Lost to Jan Blachowicz
Still considered one of the world’s best 185-pound fighters, Israel Adesanya was brought back down to Earth after losing a light heavyweight title to Jan Blachowicz. He may have had notable moments in his entire career; the Last Stylebender was still outmaneuvered by more prominent champions, slimming his chances of moving up classes to fight against Jon Jones.
UFC 260 and Final Thoughts
With UFC 260 leaving us all in awe of Francis Ngannou’s power, it’s safe to say that this heavyweight juggernaut is in the pound-for-pound rankings. As talented and dominating Stipe Miocic is, Ngannou cornered the former champion and landed heavy, unanswered shots.
It was in the early minutes of the 2nd round wherein Francis Ngannou landed a short but powerful left that made Miocic fall to the mat. After landing a final hammerfist to the already unconscious Miocic, Referee Herb Dean ran quickly to prevent any more unnecessary damage.
This is a big win for Ngannou who was looking to avenge his defeat from Miocic earlier. He has fought and won against fighters such as Cain Velasquez, Curtis Blades, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, and Junior Dos Santos. Shortly after the fight, Jon Jones sent out a tweet about possibly challenging Ngannou for the Heavyweight title.
This is undoubtedly a mighty matchup, with everyone’s eyes on the Legendary Jon “Bones” Jones and the behemoth Francis Ngannou. Nonetheless, what an excellent year for UFC enthusiasts!
Didn’t know you were a fan of MMA KB. These articles been a regular occurrence will be fun, although they’ll need to be up to date.
I’d say JJ is the pound for pound King even at this point. The man is undefeated and has taken out 3 generations of fighters.
Doesn’t look like he wrote it.
Ah yeah. Makes sense.
This is an ad dude. He didn’t write this.
Cant Justify Stipe being on here he is still in the shadow realm
Even though he has recently retired Khabib most definitely belongs on this list. And when was this wrote cuz Usman just knocked out Masvidal last Saturday