January 2021 is almost over, and a few UFC fighters will be making their first calendar fights of the year soon. It is time to discuss up-to-date rankings of the best fighters early in the new year.
Below you will see rankings for men’s UFC and MMA. Whoever leads in that respective division will also lead in their respective promotion, such as UFC or Bellator, so you can see how multiple fighters match up. Take these picks into consideration when making your UFC sports betting picks.
Men’s Top 10 Pound-For-Pound Rankings
10. Petr Yan (UFC, 15-1)
Petr Yan has put together four consecutive victories against some great names like Jose Aldo, Urijah Faber, Jimmie Rivera, John Dodson. This arguably solidifies him at the 10th spot here, and he is also the UFC bantamweight champion.
9. Dustin Poirier (UFC, 26-6, one no contest)
Dustin Poirier’s transformation has been insane. In the most recent three years of fighting, Khabib Nurmagomedov has been the only bad thing that has happened to him.
Everyone that he has faced in that timeline he has taken care of, and they are some excellent fighters. He beat Dan Hooker, Max Holloway, Eddie Alvarez, Justin Gaethje, Anthony Pettis and Conor McGregor just recently.
Three stoppages, two unanimous decisions, and one knockout. Everyone except Hooker was a former UFC champion of some kind, whether it was undisputed or interim.
8. Deiveson Figueiredo (UFC, 21-1)
Deiveson Figueiredo had one of the most impressive resumes for 2020. In fact, he earned Fighter of the Year honors.
He had a short 21-day turnaround between his title fights in a year that included him claiming the UFC flyweight title. Then he defended it in just under two minutes against Alex Perez. He followed that by defending the belt in a five-round draw against Brandon Moreno.
Also in 2020, Figueiredo defeated Joseph Benavidez in a second-round stoppage, but he was not eligible to win the belt because he failed to make weight for the fight.
7. Demetrious Johnson (ONE, 30-3-1)
Demetrious Johnson has not been very active since moving to a different promotion and due to coronavirus issues with fights. Since he has moved from UFC to ONE, Johnson has put together a few wins in three fights.
He has a submission and two unanimous decisions. Johnson’s dominance still holds in the UFC because he has the record for most consecutive UFC title defenses at 11.
6. Alexander Volkanovski (UFC, 22-1)
Alexander Volkanovski currently has 19 consecutive victories in his professional career. His only loss came back in 2013 when he fought in Australian FC.
Looking at UFC action, he has nine victories out of nine fights. This includes two straight wins against Max Holloway. This allows “The Great” to be the current featherweight champion.
5. Kamaru Usman (UFC, 17-1)
Kamaru Usman’s UFC win streak climbed to 12 straight when he took care of Jorge Masvidal in UFC 251. This added yet another big name to Usman’s career of victories, which already includes the likes of former champions Tyron Woodley, Rafael Dos Anjos and Colby Covington, as well as Demian Maia and Leon Edwards.
4. Israel Adesanya (UFC, 20-0)
Fans got to witness Israel Adesanya pick apart the former undefeated Paulo Costa to defend his middleweight belt at UFC 253. At just 31, his victory over Costa was his 100th career victory in combat sports (75 kickboxing, 20 MMA, five boxing), so this was definitely worth celebrating.
Adesanya also has other records being set, as he is the 13th fighter in UFC history to claim a title with an undefeated record. Since he has two title defenses so far, he only needs one more to tie Chris Weidman for the second-longest streak for a UFC middleweight.
3. Stipe Miocic (UFC, 20-3)
Stipe Miocic made history after he was the fourth fighter to win back his UFC heavyweight championship title. This was when he took care of Daniel Cormier at UFC 241.
Back then, it was his first fight in over a year and a rematch against the very man who took his title away.
Miocic is arguably the greatest heavyweight champion of all-time in the UFC. He has successfully defended his title a record three consecutive times.
On top of that, his legacy looks even better after he beat Cormier again by unanimous decision at UFC 252 last year.
2. Khabib Nurmagomedov (UFC, 29-0)
Khabib Nurmagomedov is one of a handful of undefeated, undisputed, and arguably dominant fighters in his reign in the UFC. However, he is not currently active, and you could call him “retired.”
Still, he deserves respect for whatever he decides to choose. He has stated that there is not any reason to come back but has flaunted enough trash talk to flirt with the idea of returning.
1. Jon Jones (UFC, 26-1, one NC)
Jon “Bones” Jones finally vacated his UFC light heavyweight title and now looks to compete at heavyweight. He will have some tough competition in that regard, but you ask everyone who they believe is the best, and they always point to Jones.
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