The best UFC fighters of all time ranked

Heavyweight

Stipe Miocic (20-4; 15 knockouts/TKOs, 5 decisions)

Former two-time champion Miocic holds the record for the most consecutive successful defences of the UFC heavyweight title, in a division where the belt is frequently passed around. The American won the title by knocking out Brazil’s Fabrico Werdum in hostile territory in 2016, going on to record stoppage victories over Alistair Overeem and Junior dos Santos before outpointing current champion Francis Ngannou with a wrestling masterclass.

Miocic then dropped the belt to Daniel Cormier with a knockout loss later in 2018, but the part-time firefighter regained the gold with his own stoppage of his compatriot one year later. The pair rounded out their trilogy in the summer of 2020, when Miocic beat Cormier on points to retain the title.

In his most recent bout, in March 2021, Miocic was knocked out by old foe Ngannou to lose the belt for the second time, though that result said more about Ngannou’s improvements than any waning of Miocic’s skills. Although the versatile American turns 40 in August, heavyweights tend to fight later into their lives than most mixed martial artists.

Light heavyweight

Jon Jones (26-1, 1 No Contest; 10 KO/TKOs, 6 submissions, 10 decisions)

This passage is written with great reluctance, on account of Jones having tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs numerous times – as well as having been charged with and found guilty of numerous offences outside of the Octagon. The problem is, if the greatest light heavyweight of all time is not Jones, you have to start making cases for fighters whose resumes just don’t come anywhere close to the American’s. Jones became the youngest champion in UFC history at 23 years old (a record yet