The Absolute Best Fighter Ever in Each Weight Class

[Nobru]

(updated after an amazing 2024 year in MMA)

not the greatest fighter (resume), but best fighter (fighting ability).
assume every fighter in their prime, in that weight category.

----------------------------

Flyweight - 125 lbs:
Demetrious Johnson

Bantamweight - 135 lbs:
Dominick Cruz

Featherweight - 145 lbs:
Ilia Topuria (not Jose Aldo)

Lightweight - 155 lbs:
Khabib Nurmagomedov (not Islam Makhachev)

Welterweight - 170 lbs:
Georges St-Pierre (not Shavkat Rakhmonov)

Middleweight -185 lbs:
Khamzat Chimaev (not Anderson Silva)

Light Heavyweight - 205 lbs:
Jon Jones (not Alex Pereira)

Heavyweight - 265 lbs:
Jon Jones or Tom Aspinall or Francis Ngannou
(Prime Fedor loses to at least one of these three)

so Ilia with 2 wins is better than Aldo? Jones has ONE fight @ HW............Khamzat?
okay.....

 

[FlyingDeathKick]

Rage bait thread...

Of course Jones is the goat at 205.

at 145 Topuria is still a baby, Aldo, Max and Volk all had huge win streaks. Aldo had 7 defenses, Volk had 5 defenses.

Chimaev has 1 rd of cardio and struggled against a 170lber with no knees, Silva is by far the GOAT at 185 and it will take somebody really special to take that from him.

 

[Cameron]

(updated after an amazing 2024 year in MMA)

not the greatest fighter (resume), but best fighter (fighting ability).
assume every fighter in their prime, in that weight category.

----------------------------

Flyweight - 125 lbs:
Demetrious Johnson

Bantamweight - 135 lbs:
Dominick Cruz

Featherweight - 145 lbs:
Ilia Topuria (not Jose Aldo)

Lightweight - 155 lbs:
Khabib Nurmagomedov (not Islam Makhachev)

Welterweight - 170 lbs:
Georges St-Pierre (not Shavkat Rakhmonov)

Middleweight -185 lbs:
Khamzat Chimaev (not Anderson Silva)

Light Heavyweight - 205 lbs:
Jon Jones (not Alex Pereira)

Heavyweight - 265 lbs:
Jon Jones or Tom Aspinall or Francis Ngannou
(Prime Fedor loses to at least one of these three)

Some bang on others I think recency bias.

145 prime Volk I think beats ilia

185- Khamzat hasn’t proven himself so it’s still Anderson. You can’t look at potential you have to look at accomplishment

Hw jones or fedor. Fedor subs Frank and tkos Tom on the ground. Probably loses to Jon.

 

[SportsGuyCorey]

I know GSP is the welterweight goat but not even a mention for Robbie Lawler in a best fighter discussion is rough.

 

[Bubzeh]

And Strawweight please?

 

[aerius]

MW, LHW, and HW

 

[PaddyO'malley]

SHW - Dumpling
HW - James "Seek and Destroy" Siekmann
LHW - Luke "Simple Jack" Simonds or Wolverine "Ron" Bata
MW - Azael "El Perro" Rodriguez
WW - Anthony Blackburn
LW - Tossup between Dakota "Greater" McGregor and Robert Trujillo
Women's - John Dodson's wife

 

[SalvadorAllende]

Bantamweight - 135 lbs:
Dominick Cruz

FUCK NO

I would pick most top 10 BWs today over prime version of Domingo cruz

 

[blaseblase]

never said greatest said best. So i think he means head to head who would lose the least fights. not who is the most accomplished.

generally I agree with all that he said. Khamzat will have likely beaten Anderson silva. despite silva being the goat mw, If cheal can get him down whenever, khamzat tko's or submits him in 2 I still wouldnt pick khamzat in that slot, but I understand where he is coming from. Im not sure khamzat beats dricus.


Cruz is a pick I disagree with most, Yes he's the most accomplished, but He wouldn't beat prime merab.

How could you possibly believe guys with zero or 1 title fights who happen to be champion now are the best fighters to ever exist? How many times have we seen the flavor of the month lose their next fight? It's happened over and over and over again. You've posted for over a decade, you should know better. Going on a Silva/GSP/Aldo like run is very rare. I guarantee you're the same type of goof who was claiming Izzy was the GOAT when he was champion.

 

[RockyLockridge]

How could you possibly believe guys with zero or 1 title fights who happen to be champion now are the best fighters to ever exist? How many times have we seen the flavor of the month lose their next fight? It's happened over and over and over again. You've posted for over a decade, you should know better. Going on a Silva/GSP/Aldo like run is very rare. I guarantee you're the same type of goof who was claiming Izzy was the GOAT when he was champion.

I agree with you.

I never said that khamzat was the best mw to exist, in the post you replied to I even said as much.

 

[Hdfi]

Flyweight - 125 lbs:
Demetrious Johnson

Bantamweight - 135 lbs:
Dominick Cruz

Featherweight - 145 lbs:
Jose Aldo

Lightweight - 155 lbs:
BJ Penn or Khabib Nurmagomedov

Welterweight - 170 lbs:
Georges St-Pierre

Middleweight -185 lbs:
Anderson Silva

Light Heavyweight - 205 lbs:
Jon Jones

Heavyweight - 265 lbs:
Fedor Emelianenko

 

[forsh]

Best ever at heavyweight is Fedor by miles. He has 40 wins at heavyweight and was the number one fighter in the world -- in the number one promotion in the world and went undefeated for a decade in that weight class. Pride was the #1 organization in the world, above the UFC, before they were bought out. https://www.fightmatrix.com/all-time-mma-rankings/all-time-heavyweight/ Fight Matrix has Jones #26 at Heavyweight.

 

[Willek]

HW: Cain when he went 4-1 against JDS and Big Foot over a 3 year period and the UFC told me that was better than Fedor being undefeated for 10 years.

 

[Willek]

No version of Khazmat beats prime Anderson

Weight drained Travis Lutter mounted Anderson.

He was the Michael Jordan of BJJ though.

 

[filthybliss]

FLW=DJ
BW=Cruz
FW=Volk or Aldo
LW=Islam
WW=GSP
MW=Silva
LHW=Jones
HW=Fedor

 

[BarbellzNbacon]

Fw chael
Bw chael
Fw chael
Lw chael
Ww chael
Mw chael
Franklin weight chael
Lhw chael
Hw chael

 

[TheNinja]

As always there are basically 4 unquestioned choices and the rest are debatable.

Fly - Mighty Mouse
WW - GSP
MW - Anderson
LHW - Jones

Others:
HW - I'd say Fedor but fights vs DC, Jones, Cain would be close IMO. - And this coming from a guy who lists Fedor as my all time favorite fighter
LW - maybe Khabib but career was a bit short at the top
FW - Aldo?
BW - don't know

 

[Dana's Moonface]

Cain
Jones
Silva
GSP
Khabib
Topuira
Nobody cares about manlets

 

[-Sideways-]

No version of Illa bests prime Aldo at 145. Only advantage he has on Aldo is maybe power in hands.

No version of Khazmat beats prime Anderson

Agreed on prime Aldo, but Chael showed us the blueprint on how to beat Anderson. No way is he stopping Chimaev taking him down repeatedly.

 

[Dbreiden83080]

HW- Fedor
LHW-Jones
MW- Anderson
WW- GSP
LW- Khabib
FW- Volk
BW- Cruz
Fly- DJ