Subscribe
Follow Us
The featherweight division in the UFC is the most exclusive weight class when it comes to championship success. Only five 145-pounders have ever held the belt. All five of these fighters are all-time legends and either already among the greatest or well on their way to becoming some of the greatest UFC fighters ever, regardless of weight class.
So check out the gallery to see the five best UFC featherweights ever, all of which happen to be the only fighters who have hoisted the championship belt undisputedly in the division.
5. Ilia Topuria
Ilia Topuria's immense talent gave him the potential to become the best flyweight in UFC history. Instead, Topuria vacated the Flyweight Championship that he won at UFC 298 over Alexander Volkanovski and moved up to lightweight. Topuria has often been compared to Conor McGregor, and that decision was McGregor-esque.
While Topuria didn't have the longevity at 145 pounds that his peers on this list had/have, his resume in the division was flawless. Topuria is 16-0 overall, and he has won all eight of his UFC bouts. In fact, he has finished each of his last seven opponents.
El Matador is the total package. He packs a serious punch, but his takedown defense, wrestling, and grappling are all elite as well. Topuria's lone title defense came against Max Holloway, meaning both of his championship bouts ended in victories against some of the greatest featherweights ever.
4. Conor McGregor
By far the most influential figure in UFC history, Conor McGregor spent the vast majority of his career at featherweight before he moved up to lightweight to become the first-ever fighter to hold two championship belts simultaneously.
Once he became a champ-champ, McGregor became bigger than the sport, so he often focused on other endeavors, such as boxing and celebrity status.
McGregor was locked in as a mixed martial artist while at featherweight, though. McGregor won each of his first seven UFC fights en route to becoming the biggest star in the history of the sport. His unprecedented trash talk earned him an audience, but his ability to back it up in the octagon is what made him so special.
McGregor knocked out all but one of his opponents (Holloway) during that early UFC run. He famously said, “Precision beats power, and timing beats speed,” and that was a perfect way to describe his style.
Whether he was unloading his left hook or throwing a spinning back kick, McGregor was always a threat to end fights early in flashy fashion. His 13-second knockout against Jose Aldo to become the undisputed Featherweight Champion will forever be remembered as the biggest knockout in UFC history.
3. Max Holloway
The greatest striker the UFC has ever seen is Holloway. The fighter nicknamed Blessed has landed 3,457 significant strikes. Second place in that regard is only at 2,197. Holloway's combinations are a thing of beauty. He dodges oncoming punches with ease and puts on boxing masterclasses of his own when on the attack.
His boxing prowess was most on display against Calvin Katter when Holloway landed a record 445 strikes. While throwing and landing no-look punches, Holloway showboated and claimed he was the best boxer in the UFC.
Another career highlight came at UFC 300 when Holloway landed a buzzer-beating knockout on Justin Gaethje. The KO was one of the greatest knockouts in UFC history.
Article Continues Below
Not only does Holloway throw punches with so much accuracy and quickness, but he also has an iron chin. Holloway hadn't been knocked out until his most recent fight against Topuria, and he had actually never even been knocked down until that fight.
Holloway's 20 wins are the most in featherweight history, as are his 11 finishes, nine knockouts, and 13 straight wins. The only thing holding him back on this list amongst the greatest UFC featherweights ever is the fact that he went 0-3 against Volkanovski.
2. Jose Aldo
Jose Aldo was a WEC legend at featherweight before that promotion merged with the UFC. The inaugural Featherweight Champion defended his belt seven times in the UFC, but he won 11 championship bouts out of 15 title fights dating back to his time in WEC and continuing with a second title reign.
Aldo's longevity is the stuff of legend. While he now fights at bantamweight, Aldo is still going strong in the UFC. The stain on his resume is the fact that he has lost to so many other fighters at the top of the rankings, such as McGregor, Volkanovski, and Holloway twice, but that is bound to happen over such a long career.
Aldo has a 32-10 record, and the featherweight division might not exist in the UFC without him. It is a shame that Aldo is most known for being on the wrong end of a McGregor punch because he'd won 14 straight WEC/UFC fights before that and is certainly one of the greatest featherweights ever.
1. Alexander Volkanovski
Volkanovski is 27-4. One of those losses came before the UFC, and the other three happened against lightweights or soon-to-be 155ers. Volkanovski lost twice when competing for double-champion status against Islam Makhachev, and he lost his featherweight title to Topuria before he moved up to lightweight.
Featherweights haven't been able to handle Volkanovski, though, and he was the closest fighter in recent memory to dethroning Makhachev.
Volkanovski won each of his first 12 UFC fights. That run included five successful title defenses. Volkanovski also fought for the Featherweight Championship again when Topuria vacated the belt, and he was recrowned the king of the division when he bested Diego Lopes at UFC 314.
Volkanovski is already 36 years old, and he took some serious damage in his recent losses, meaning his best days might be in the rearview. Still, he reminded everybody just how talented he is at UFC 314, and he may add a number of more title defenses to his resume over the coming years before he retires from the UFC.
