Does the UFC Currently Have Its Strongest Ever Top 5 Pound-For-Pound Rankings?
The UFC doesn’t have the household names that it once did. Of that, there is no doubt. Brock Lesnar is back doing his thing with Vince McMahon and WWE. Conor McGregor will return to action this year and while his star shines as brightly as ever outside of the Octagon, there can be no denying that his talent has diminished in recent years. But despite that, the UFC has received a valuation recently higher than ever before.
The company’s owners announced recently that they value the company at over $12bn. And that could be somewhat down to the current stacked pound-for-pound list that the company may have ever had.
The Glory Days
Just over a decade or so ago, the Ultimate Fighting Championship had the greatest lineup of fighters on its pound-for-pound list perhaps ever. In the heavyweight division, there was the aforementioned Lesnar. He was then replaced by the equally frightening Cain Velasquez. At light heavyweight, there was Jon Jones, while at middleweight there was the sensational Anderson Silva. The welterweight division boasted Canadian technician Georges St. Pierre and in the lower weight classes there were the likes of Jose Aldo and Demetrious Johnson.
Of those legendary fighters, only the aforementioned light heavyweight king remains and he has since stepped up in weight. The rest have either surrendered their crown or retired on top. But is this list better than the one of today?
The Current List
At the top of the current pound-for-pound list, just as he was in the lists created back in the hay day, is Jon Jones. He returned to the summit of the mythical rankings last month after dismantling Cyril Gane in his heavyweight debut and securing his spot at the top of the division as champion.
Coming in second place is Alexander Volkanovski. The Australian featherweight was the previous number one prior to Jones’ return, and he even managed to hang on to the top spot in the list despite losing to lightweight champion Islam Makhachev in Perth at UFC 284 back in February. The aforementioned Russian lightweight king takes bronze in the current standings.
Then comes Britain’s Leon Edwards. While he is fourth on the current pound-for-pound list, he is the greatest fighter to ever fly the Union Jack, and his back-to-back victories over former Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman have cemented his status as one of the finest fighters on the planet today.
