The UFC is home to the best mixed martial artists in the world, but when weight classes are ignored, who comes out as king?
Debates over the pound-for-pound rankings within the UFC have been a fierce as ever in recent months, as fans argue over who the best fighter in the organisation is.
UFC CEO Dana White is adamant that heavyweight champion Jon Jones is the clear P4P number one, but others have named several other fighters at the top of their list.
But as we head into the latter half of 2024, SPORTbible have ranked the top 10 pound-for-pound fighters in the UFC.
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Using notable wins, overall records and recent fight activity, the best fighters in the organisation right now have been decided.
10 - Alexander Volkanovski
18 months ago, Volkanovski would have comfortably been in the top three pound-for-pound fighters, but three losses in his last four fights sees the Australian fall to the bottom of the list.
He dared to be great and chase double champ status but now will need to build himself back up to try and claim his featherweight belt back after losing it earlier this year.
9 - Belal Muhammad
Muhammad silenced a lot of doubters in July, defeating Leon Edwards to claim the welterweight title and extend his impressive win streak to ten.
With wins over several other top ten fighters in his weight class, Muhammad is just a few wins away from really pushing himself higher up this list.
8 - Alexandre Pantoja
A six-fight win streak and wins over four of the top ten in the division comfortably puts Pantoja into the top 10 list.
The Brazilian has looked so dominant since becoming champion, that it remains uncertain who next will step up to take a shot at his flyweight belt.
7 - Ilia Topuria
The only champion with a perfect record has to make it onto any list compiling the best fighters in the organisation.
With 15 wins, including a second round knockout over long-reigning champ Volkanovski, and zero losses, few look better than the featherweight champion right now.
However, with only three wins over ranked opponents, Topuria is still a few wins away from the top of this list, something that a statement performance over former champion Max Holloway next time out would certainly do.
6 - Sean O’Malley
O'Malley faces the toughest test of his career against Merab Dvalishvili in the Las Vegas sphere later this month, but his record leading up to it makes his presence on the top 10 list obvious.
With 18 wins and just the one loss caused by a freak injury, O'Malley has been a nearly unstoppable force in the bantamweight division since joining the UFC seven years ago.
5 - Tom Aspinall
What a crazy 12 months it has been for Aspinall, stepping up on short notice to beat the scariest guy in the UFC and claim the interim heavyweight belt and then avenging his only UFC 'loss' in front of a home crowd in Manchester.
Aspinall has shown that he is clearly one of the best heavyweights of all time and hopefully he gets the chance to prove it and fight for the undisputed heavyweight belt next year.
4 - Dricus Du Plessis
Du Plessis' has had possibly the most impressive run of victories in the UFC lately with wins over Robert Whittaker, Sean Strickland and Israel Adesanya all within the last 14 months.
Beating the top three ranked fighters in the division when many would have him as the underdog in all three fights just makes the wins even more impressive.
3 - Jon Jones
Dana White isn't going to be happy with this one. To be clear, if Jones had more activity recently, he would almost certainly be on top of the list, but the fact remains, he has fought just once in nearly five years.
Yes, he is one of the greatest fighters of all time, but activity matters and with his only heavyweight win being a favourable matchup against Ciryl Gane, we need to see more of Jones at heavyweight.
But all he needs is one win over a top contender like Aspinall and he will absolutely assert himself as both the pound-for-pound number one and the greatest of all time.
2 - Alex Pereira
I don't think anyone could have predicted the impact Pereira would have on the UFC when he joined the organisation three years ago.
In just nine fights, Poatan has claimed both the middleweight and light heavyweight belts and boasts six wins over former champions, with all but one of them coming by knockout.
Plus, with rumours that he may go up to heavyweight to try become the first-ever three weight champion, or go back down to try to reclaim his middleweight title, Pereira is clearly displaying how, no matter the weight, he is one of the best in the world.
1 - Islam Makhachev
Khabib Nurmagomedov's student has become the master. Makhachev has looked unbeatable since claiming the lightweight belt two years ago.
He is currently on a 14 fight win streak with all four of his most recent fights being over former champions or interim champions, three of them being finishes.
It's hard to imagine anyone in the lightweight division beating Makhachev right now and with rumours of a move to welterweight soon, we could soon have an active double champ in the UFC.
Topics: UFC, MMA, Dana White, Jon Jones, Tom Aspinall, Alexander Volkanoski, Sean O'Malley
Ben McCrum