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For most fighters, it’s nearly impossible to climb to the top of the ladder in the UFC. With that said, it’s easy to imagine how frustrating it must be to almost make it there, only to end up behind a single fighter.
Right now in the UFC, there are a number of fighters who seem to be capable of beating everyone in their weight class – outside of the division’s champion. Sure, it’s great to end up even in second place in an ultra-competitive promotion like the UFC, but that’s probably no consolation for these fighters.
Here are five UFC fighters who are better than everyone in their weight class – except the champion.
#5. Ciryl Gane – UFC heavyweight contender
This past weekend saw Ciryl Gane headline the UFC’s first event in his home country of France. In an ultra-exciting bout, ‘Bon Gamin’ was able to stop the highly ranked Tai Tuivasa via knockout in the second round.
The bout was easily one of Gane’s toughest tests to date, as he was knocked down in the first round and appeared to be on the verge of being out. But after showing remarkable toughness to survive, he eventually turned the tables on ‘Bam Bam’ and finished him with a vicious combination.
The Frenchman’s win proved what a lot of fans already suspected – that ‘Bon Gamin’ is quite comfortably the second-best heavyweight in the promotion right now, behind only Francis Ngannou. 'The Predator' managed to edge the Frenchman out in their title bout earlier this year.
Prior to that defeat, Gane had never lost in MMA and had been able to rack up wins over Junior dos Santos, Alexander Volkov, Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Derrick Lewis, claiming an interim heavyweight title by beating 'The Black Beast'.
Add in his win over Tuivasa, as well as the fact that he’d likely be favored to beat the likes of Curtis Blaydes and Stipe Miocic, and it’s probably fair to say that ‘Bon Gamin’ is better than every other heavyweight not named Ngannou right now.
With this in mind, given that he’s only had one crack at ‘The Predator’, a rematch is the only logical move for him next.
#4. Brandon Moreno – interim UFC flyweight champion
July saw Brandon Moreno pick up one of his most impressive wins inside the octagon to date. He stopped the dangerous Kai Kara-France with a vicious body kick in the third round of their interim flyweight title bout.
However, while ‘The Assassin Baby’ is now ranked as No.15 in the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings and once again has gold around his waist, he remains the promotion’s second-best 125lber. It feels likely that he’ll be in that spot for some time.
That’s because Moreno has fought current flyweight kingpin Deiveson Figueiredo on three occasions. While all three bouts were fantastic, it’s probably fair to say that ‘The God of War’ has proven that he’s the better fighter overall.
Figueiredo would’ve won the first bout, which was declared a majority draw, handily had he not been deducted a point for an accidental foul in the third round. While he did lose their second fight via submission, he blamed a weight cutting issue for his poor showing, and then beat the Mexican to regain his title in their third clash.
It seems highly likely that the promotion will look to book a fourth fight between the Brazilian and Moreno. Assuming Figueiredo wins, ‘The Assassin Baby’ will probably stay in the No.2 spot for a while, as he’s unbeaten against anyone but the Brazilian since 2018.
From there, where his next career move takes him is unknown, but it’s fair to suspect that he must be highly frustrated with his situation.
#3. Colby Covington – UFC welterweight contender
This entry should come with a slight caveat, as the fighter in the UFC’s welterweight division who has proven without a shadow of a doubt that he’s better than Colby Covington no longer holds the title.
That is, of course, because former champion Kamaru Usman suffered one of the biggest upset defeats in MMA history just a couple of weeks ago when he was dethroned by Leon Edwards, who knocked him out with a head kick late in the fifth round.
However, there’s probably still an argument that ‘Chaos’ remains the second-best fighter at 170lbs, primarily because – like Usman will be in a rematch – he’d probably be favored to defeat Edwards were they to fight.
Unbeaten against anyone but Usman since 2015, Covington has whitewashed the likes of Rafael dos Anjos, Tyron Woodley and Robbie Lawler, and prior to Usman’s loss to Edwards, he pushed ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ harder than any other fighter was able to.
Detractors of ‘Chaos’ would perhaps suggest that he hasn’t fought some of the newer, highly-rated contenders in the division, but the fact that he comfortably got past Jorge Masvidal this year suggests that he hasn’t lost any of his skills overall.
Essentially, Covington would be the favorite in a fight against any welterweight not named Kamaru Usman, putting him in somewhat of a tricky spot.
#2. Robert Whittaker – UFC middleweight contender
Few fighters in the UFC are in as frustrating a spot as former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker is right now. Essentially, it’s arguable that ‘The Reaper’ would still be the dominant fighter in his division, were it not for the existence of Israel Adesanya.
Whittaker, who claimed the title vacated by Georges St-Pierre by edging out Yoel Romero in 2017, dropped his crown to Adesanya when they faced off in October 2019 and then came up short in their rematch earlier this year.
Incredibly, though, ‘The Last Stylebender’ is the only man to ever defeat the Australian at 185lbs since he first moved to the weight class way back in late 2014.
Ignoring his two losses to Adesanya, ‘The Reaper’ holds wins over not only former greats like Romero and Jacare Souza, but also Derek Brunson, Darren Till, Jared Cannonier, Kelvin Gastelum and Marvin Vettori – all of whom are currently ranked in the middleweight division’s top 10.
Given how easily he was able to defeat those opponents, it’s definitely safe to label Whittaker as the division’s second-best fighter, and it’s likely that he’ll be hoping that Alex Pereira can defeat Adesanya in their upcoming title bout so he can get another crack at the gold himself.
#1. Max Holloway – UFC featherweight contender
Right now, Max Holloway is in a situation that’s pretty unique, even in the crazy world of the UFC. The former featherweight champion has lost not once, not twice, but three times to current titleholder Alexander Volkanovski. It seems unlikely that he’ll get a fourth crack at the Aussie any time soon.
Remarkably, though, Volkanovski is the only man to have defeated ‘Blessed’ at 145lbs since his 2014 loss to Conor McGregor. Outside of that, Holloway has won an impressive total of 16 featherweight fights inside the octagon.
More to the point, it’s not like the Hawaiian has been beating scrubs. Holloway holds wins over Yair Rodriguez, Calvin Kattar, Brian Ortega, Frankie Edgar and Jose Aldo – essentially a list of the world’s best featherweights of the past few years.
The bottom line? Were it not for the existence of ‘Alexander the Great’, who Holloway seemingly just cannot find a way to beat, ‘Blessed’ would probably be recognized as not just the featherweight champion, but the greatest 145lber of all time.
Essentially, this is a rare case of the best two fighters to ever grace a weight division competing at the same time, something that’s arguably never happened before in UFC history. It’s just unfortunate for Holloway that he’s in second place.
