The majority of champions in the UFC right now are new to their title. A few have reached this point before, but most have just taken down the previous title winners. This means the MMA betting odds are hard to pin down. Were there wins flukes or can these champions hold their own?
We are going to break down the 7 most dominant fighters in the octagon right now, and how likely they are to keep their title.
- Alexander Volkanovski – Men’s Featherweight Champion
Volkanovski first became the men’s featherweight champion in December 2019. So far he has successfully defended the title 4 times, twice against Max Holloway, the previous title holder.
During the first win, Volkanovski won by unanimous decision. Holloway asked for a rematch, constituting Volkanovski’s first defending title match. He won again, this time by a split decision. It was a controversial decision resulting in tidal waves of MMA news stories.
More people started to appear, thinking the current title holder was weak. First Ortega, and then The Korean Zombie. Against Ortega, he won via unanimous deciduous, but against Zombie he won via a TKO in the fourth round.
This should have been enough to prove to everyone that Volkanovski is no joke, but Holloway was back for more. This was the most recent challenge against Volkanovski. The match happened in July 2022, and again Volkanovski won by unanimous decision.
No one can deny Volkanovski’s talent, and with 4 defending wins, he is the most dominant fighter in the octagon right now.
- Amanda Nunes – Women’s Bantamweight Champion
This next fighter might seem controversial. Technically she has only just become champion and hasn’t had to defend her title yet. Nunes won the Championship in July 2022 after winning her rematch against Julianna Pena. They made it to the 5th round and she won by unanimous decision.
The reason why Nune has pushed to 2nd place is that she has won the Bantamweight Championship before. She first won in July 2016 against Miesha Tate and defended her position 5 times. First against Valentina Shevchenko, then against Raquel Pennington, third against Cris Cyborg, and in 2019 she fought against Holly Holm.
Her last defending win was against Germaine de Randamie, and it broke a record. Nunes was the first fighter in the women’s Championship to win 7 title fights.
The other two wins came from Nunes’ Featherweight Champion titles. Nunes was holding two titles at the same time!
Nunes was the Champions of Champions, and expected to win her 6th Bantamweight title against Juliana Pena too. However Nunes had recently had Covid, and although she tested negative and was allowed to play, she clearly wasn’t ready. Nunes submitted through a rear naked choke and lost her title.
Nunes realized her mistake and asked for a rematch. In the rematch, Nunes dominated the octagon and won the fight through unanimous decision. Many people believe she shouldn’t have lost it in the first place – she went back into the ring too early.
With this second Bantamweight Championship win, Nunes became the first person to become a double Champion twice!
- Amanda Nunes – Women’s Featherweight Champion
Okay, so we have talked about Nunes already, but she is a Champion in more than one category so in our minds she is considered two fighters.
Some might argue that Nunes should be in first place because she has defended the Featherweight Championship twice and the Bantamweight six times (not including the loss). She is dominating in two championships!
But we need to keep the loss in mind. If she hadn’t fought while still recovering from Covid, this might have been a different story. But we cannot deny her greatness.
- Islam Makhachev – Men’s Lightweight Champion
Makhachev first won the men’s Lightweight championship in 2022, when he took down Charles Oliveira. It was an amazing fight where the champion gave up after Makhachev put him into an arm-triangle choke.
In February 2023, Mkhachev was up against Alexander Volkanovski but defended the title by unanimous decision.
- Zhang Weili – Women’s Strawweight Champion
Like Nune, Weili hasn’t had the chance to defend her title, but she was a previous Champion. Unlike Nune, that previous title wasn’t held for long.
Weili originally became Champion in 2019, defended her title against Joanna Jedrzejczyk, and then lost it to Rose Mamajunas (a previous Champion). She lost from a knockout in the first round, so asked for a rematch.
In the rematch, Weili won the title back but only by split decision. It seems like the Strawweight Championship has tight competition, and we might see some back and forth between the fighters.
None of the other Champions have defended their title so we cannot call them dominant. We will have to wait and see if they can hold on to the Championship.
These top champions to look out for are:
- Merab Dvalishvili – Men’s Bantamweight Champion
- Jon Jones – Men’s Heavyweight Champion
Final Thoughts
Not every Champion made it to the list, and only 4 have managed to defend their titles. Time will tell if the current Champions will last long!