It takes hard work, dedication, and a whole lot of skill to become a top professional MMA fighter. The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is considered the creme da la creme of the MMA world, and it has fewer than 580 fighters contracted.

Not many of those UFC stars will ever make it to the top of their field, but some elite fighters make the UFC their own. They are legends of sports and are already written into MMA’s rich history books. These are the current top five pound-for-pound UFC athletes.

“Jon Jones” by Michael Wyke/AP is licensed under CC BY 3.0 

Jon Jones

Jon Jones is the UFCs number one pound-for-pound fighter. Jones is nothing short of incredible and most certainly worthy of his lofty rankings. He made his UFC debut in August 2008 and has fought on 22 occasions. Twenty of those fights ended with Jones as the victor. Only his disqualification against Matt Hamill and his No Contest against Daniel Cormier spoil an otherwise perfect record. It is no wonder Jones is always a short-priced favorite whenever his name features in the latest UFC betting odds. Why would you bet against a Jones victory?

Jones draws in crowds like there is no tomorrow. His 13 pay-per-view bouts have seen more than 7.12 million people purchase the fights.

Controversies have blighted Jones’ career, but he comes alive in the octagon, and it is difficult to see anyone in the Light Heavyweight division toppling him right now.  

Kamaru Usman

Kamaru Usman is known as “The Nigerian Nightmare,” and it is easy to see why he has such a nickname. The 34-year-old Welterweight has a remarkable 19-1 record in his professional career, his only loss coming in his second-ever fight.

Usman has since gone on to win 18 consecutive fights, including 13 straight UFC battles, and successfully defending his UFC Welterweight Championship in his last four bouts. Many consider Usman to be one of the best grapplers the sport has ever seen, but he has ferocious power, too, as is evident by nine of his victories coming the way of knockout.

Alexander Volkanovski

Alexander “The Great” Volkanovski ranks third in the UFC pound-for-pound standings. He is an Australian who has enjoyed success in three weight divisions. Volkanovski started his professional career as a Welterweight, has fought at lightweight in 2014 and 2016, but is now the best featherweight UFC fighter on the circuit.

Volkanovski has won 22 of his 23 professional fights, including all nine of his UFC clashes. He had not lost a fight since May 2013 when he was knocked out by Corey Nelson in the Australian Fighting Championship 5, a string of 19 fights, including back-to-back wins over Max Holloway.

“Alexander Volkanovski” by Esther Lin/MMA Fighting is licensed under CC BY 3.0 

Israel Adesanya

Israel “The Last Stylebender” Adesanya was bullied during his high school years. We are willing to bet our net worth that those bullies would not dare even look at Adesanya these days!

Adesanya won his first 20 competitive fights, including nine consecutive UFC bouts, and dominated the middleweight division. Adesanya stepped up to the Light Heavyweight division on March 6 and took on Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259. That fight went all five rounds in Las Vegas, Nevada, and saw Blachowicz inflict a first defeat on Adesanya, doing so by unanimous decision.

Francis Ngannou

Francis “The Predator” Ngannou is a French-Cameroon MMA fighter who comes in at number five in the pound-for-pound rankings. The 6ft 4in, 263lbs Goliath, has an eagle-like reach of 83 inches!

Ngannou made his UFC debut in December 2015 and won his first six fights, including two Performance of the Night gongs. He lost back-to-back fights against Stipe Miocic and Derrick Lewis, the former for the Heavyweight Championship, but got back to winning ways in his next fight fights, winning them all by KO or TKO.

March 27, 2021, saw Ngannou crowned UFC Heavyweight champion. He knocked out Miocic in the second round at UFC 260, and we do not see anyone except Miocic of Lewis getting anywhere near that title in the foreseeable future.