Highlights

• Alexander Volkanovski is considered the most dominant featherweight in UFC history, with victories over top contenders and a desire to face anyone in his weight class.
• Khabib Nurmagomedov is regarded as the most dominant lightweight in UFC history, retiring with a perfect record and iconic rivalries, including a highly-publicized fight against Conor McGregor.

Who is the GOAT? In any sport, it is a hotly discussed topic. In the UFC it really is no different, and some of the most high-profile athletes in the modern era have emerged through the ranks of Dana White's promotion. The organisation has transcended the sport of MMA and sent it to new levels in recent years, which is largely down to some of the superstars that have graced the octagon.

Some of the names which command huge profiles due to their achievements in the octagon include Conor McGregor, Jon Jones and Anderson Silva who have picked up some of the biggest win totals in UFC history. In one of the biggest debates which always elicits a different response from either experts or fans who have watched the promotion since its rise.

But Tapology.com have compiled their all-time list for MMA and UFC, so today we thought we'd focus on their top 10 greatest fighters of all time. We take a look at the reasons why they have made the list, and take a glimpse at their achievements which see them take a position in the rankings.

10 Kamaru Usman

Kamaru Usman has been placed in the list due to his dominant spell in the welterweight division, where during his prime he reigned as champion swatting away any challenges from some of the toughest fighters in the weight class. 'The Nigerian Nightmare' has scored multiple wins over the likes of Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington with scalps against current champion Leon Edwards, Sean Strickland who reigns as middleweight champion and Tyron Woodley.

His first UFC defeat only came in August 2022 in an incredible KO defeat against Edwards, but unfortunately it has sparked a poor run of form as he sits on a three-fight losing streak having never lost a bout in the UFC prior to his loss last year. UFC president Dana White has regularly included him in his list, and he will likely feel that his time isn't up despite the current bad form he has run into.

9 Stipe Miocic

Stipe Miocic is considered arguably the greatest natural heavyweight to have ever graced the division, having reigned as a champion twice with longevity and consistency being the key to his overwhelmingly successful spell. The American has some huge scalps to his name from many different eras including Daniel Cormier, Francis Ngannou, Alistair Overeem and Andrei Arlovski all of whom he has formed iconic rivalries with.

His power-punching style and aggressive nature sees him carry an impressive KO ratio of 64% which has certainly helped him entertain the paying fans, and establish his status in the division. It is closing in on the end of the road for the UFC legend who is now 41-years-old, but he will be hoping to go out with a bang as he prepares for his potential final showdown with current champion Jon Jones, who could cement his name in legacy himself as the best in the heavyweight division ever with a win in just his second fight.

8 Daniel Cormier

A former two-weight UFC champion in both the light-heavyweight and heavyweight division, Daniel Cormier is the second fighter in the promotion's history to hold titles in two weight classes simultaneously after Conor McGregor and stands as the first to have successfully gone on to defend them titles. A real trend-setter and record-breaker, 'DC' has formed one of the most aggressive rivalries against Jon Jones, which is often compared to Mike Tyson's with Evander Holyfield in boxing, who he famously fought twice with the latter overturned to a no contest after his rival failed a drugs test.

Cormier retired in 2020 after back-to-back defeats in the heavyweight division against Miocic, but his legacy will not be affected given his prior achievements which has also earned him a slot as a regular pundit on UFC events going forward. His likable personality and skills inside the cage see him regularly up in the debates to be the promotion's 'GOAT', and it is hard to argue with that.

7 Alexander Volkanovski

Now considered the greatest and most dominant featherweight to have ever graced the division, Alexander Volkanovski has become one of the promotion's most legendary fighters given his supreme skills and desire to step in the octagon with absolutely anybody. Having ousted virtually any challenge available at 145lb including Max Holloway, Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes, without losing in his favoured division, he has really shown he has what it takes to leave a legacy which is hard to match with his career still far from over.

Volkanovski has just two defeats to his UFC record which both came in brave steps up to face lightweight champion Islam Makhachev but his desire to take any challenge has never gone unnoticed. This was summed up by taking his second clash with the Russian on a week's notice by making a phenomenal weight transformation, and it is no doubt he must be considered one of the best to ever do it.

6 Khabib Nurmagomedov

'The Eagle', Khabib Nurmagomedov, is arguably the most dominant lightweight of all time in a division where he was the longest-reigning champion in history, holding the title from April 2018 to March 2021. With 29 wins and no losses in UFC, he retired with a perfect record, and one which will likely rarely be matched given his ability to completely take control of fights with his elite wrestling and killer submissions. Nurmagomedov took on some of the best towards the back end of his career, and formed the most iconic rivalry in the promotion's history against bitter enemy Conor McGregor.

His fight with McGregor went down as the UFC's leading selling-pay-per-view in the top ten, and he fought just twice more after his win in 2018 before deciding to retire following his win over Justin Gaethje. Many suggest he could have been further up the list if his career continued, but he acted on the wishes of his late father and mother by deciding to take a step back earlier on. He has since gone on to mentor current champion Islam Makhachev who is certainly following in his footsteps.

5 Jose Aldo

Jose Aldo retired from the UFC as a true legend having dominated the sport since its merger with the WEC, following some of the biggest fights in the promotions' history. He first became the final featherweight champion before earning his status as the first UFC featherweight champion following the UFC/WEC merger. The Brazilian is widely considered as one of the top-ten best mixed martial artists of all-time including by Chat GPT and as the greatest featherweight ever.

During his career he had some epic fights which ended in both wins and losses, but he always delivered entertaining displays and beat the likes of Frankie Edgar and Chad Mendes. His career threatened to go out on a huge flourish as he put together a three-fight win streak, but it was halted by a final defeat to Merab Dvalishvilli before he decided to hang up his gloves as a true trailblazer and icon of the sport.

4 Demetrious Johnson

Now competing in ONE Championship after his departure from the UFC, Demetrious Johnson reigned as the inaugural and former UFC flyweight champion setting the pace for one of the most dominant spells in any of the UFC weight classes that the MMA promotion has ever seen. Largely notorious for his lightning strikes and elusive movement, Johnson holds the record for the most takedowns in UFC flyweight history.

He is also incredibly the joint record-holder for the latest finish in UFC history with a submission win coming just one second before the end of the fifth round against Kyoji Hriguchi. He is the only UFC fighter to record over 10 takedowns in three different fights, and his remarkable record-breaking feats will see him in etched in the history books forever as one of the greatest to ever grace the octagon, and certainly the best at flyweight.

3 Anderson Silva

The former UFC middleweight champion, Anderson Silva, comes in third on this list but is unlucky to not be higher given his incredible success in the weight class where he took on and defeated some of his fellow greats at ease. He still holds the record for the longest title reign in UFC history at 2,457 days spanning from 2006 until 2013, which is an incredible feat given the challengers that tried to dethrone him during his stint with the belt.

This spell included an incredible 16 consecutive victories featuring some huge names including Vitor Belfort and Chael Sonnen among many before things did eventually take a downward spiral. Despite suffering a real wave of losses towards the end of his career, this was due to his insistence to meet the best in the octagon, and it will be extremely hard for anyone to match the dominance he held as arguably the best middleweight in UFC history.

2 Jon Jones

Jon Jones is an incredibly talented superstar who has won titles in two weight classes, and is considered by a large majority including Dana White as the greatest to have ever set foot in the cage. 'Bones' has reigned as a former two-time UFC light heavyweight champion during a run which he hardly ever put a foot wrong, holding the title from March 2011 to April 2015 and from December 2018 to August 2020. His first title saw him becom the youngest champion in UFC history with his title victory over Maurício Rua at age 23, which many that age could scarcely dream of.

He holds many UFC records in the light heavyweight division, including the most title defences, most wins and longest win streak, but has also made a remarkable impact after bulking up to incredible shape to win the heavyweight title earlier this year. This was after a two-year hiatus, but we could be about to see the end of Jones' career at the end of 2023, as he prepares to take on Stipe Miocic, in what he believes could be his final bow.

1 Georges St-Pierre

The Canadian is widely regarded as one of the greatest fighters in mixed martial arts history and is ranked here as the greatest of all time. Georges St-Pierre reigned as a two-division champion in the UFC, having won titles in the welterweight and middleweight divisions. He won the UFC welterweight crown on three occasions, having won the title twice alongside the interim belt. Data site, Fight Matrix, even goes as far as listing him as the top MMA welterweight of all time and most accomplished fighter in MMA history.

He retired as the reigning welterweight champion in December 2013, having held the record for most wins in title bouts and the second-longest combined title streak in UFC history (2,204 days) while defending his title nine consecutive times. He returned to the Octagon in November 2017 at UFC 217, when he defeated Michael Bisping by submission to win the middleweight title, becoming the fourth fighter in the history of the UFC to be a multi-division champion.