This is a list of the top 10 fighters in the UFC who have the most potential to be the greatest MMA fighter of all time (GOAT). In order for them to be the GOAT, they need a decorated legacy of defeating elite opponents and several important awards and accolades.
1. Islam Makhachev
He has already beaten the best 4 people in the Lightweight division, along with the pound-for-pound #1 at the time, Alexander Volkanovski, who was a division below in Featherweight. He holds the record for most title defenses in Lightweight history. He is approaching the longest unbeaten streak in UFC history. He plans to move to Welterweight soon, but a fight with the Featherweight champion, Ilia Topuria, who was the pound-for-pound #2 before Islam put away Renato Moicano. If he beats Topuria, moves up to Welterweight, and beats all of them to become champion maybe with defenses, then he can certainly become the GOAT. He is easily the best wrestler in the UFC and is talented at kickboxing as well which allows him to corner his opponents in his skills.
2. Merab Dvalishvili
He is already arguably the Greatest Bantamweight of all time, and there are great legacy fights in flyweight, but also good rematches in bantamweight. He has so far beaten Jose Aldo, Henry Cejudo, Petr Yan, Sean O’Malley, and Umar Nurmagomedov. 1 champion, 3 former champions, and an elite contender with the training of one of the greatest of all time and until their fight, an undefeated record. No matter who it is, he just keeps the pace going the whole fight and humiliates them to a unanimous decision victory. Should he rematch some of his previous victories, he can move to flyweight and beat the top few in that division to become the GOAT. He has very good wrestling and good striking combos for him to get to his high-pelvic takedown.
3. Ilia Topuria
Ilia is undefeated in professional MMA and is the current Featherweight champion. He doesn’t have that many notable wins besides his last 2, but those 2 are Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway. Both had decent championship reigns and are very skilled. Topuria was originally a BJJ grappler and Greco-Roman wrestler but then his boxing clicked once he began MMA, creating a deadly combination and giving him apelike strength and power. He plans to leave featherweight already for the purpose of fighting Islam Makhachev, then defend that belt against some formidable fighters there, and he’s saying he might try welterweight for triple champion status. If he were to somehow achieve all of this, he would be undeniably the GOAT. He has good enough boxing to outbox Max Holloway and to knock out Alexander Volkanovski. We haven’t seen much yet but his Jiu Jitsu is elite and he has very good Greco-Roman throws.
4. Tom Aspinall
He has only lost once by a knee injury, everyone he has fought besides in that fight so far, he has finished in the first round. He has the shortest average fight time in the UFC. He’s currently the UFC Interim Heavyweight champion with 5 ranked wins and a defense of his interim title(ridiculous). He should be fighting Jon Jones, but he has been being avoided by him. If Tom fights Jon, beats him, and goes on to beat other guys, then he could become the GOAT. If Jon retires and Tom keeps killing it he still can. He moves and reacts extremely fast for a heavyweight, hits hard, and is a black belt in BJJ.
5. Alex Pereira
He has a pre-UFC loss and a loss to Israel Adesanya who he beat twice in kickboxing and once in the UFC for the Middleweight belt, but since then, he has been killing it in Light-Heavyweight. So far, he’s the champion with 3 defenses. Won it off the crafty but strange fighter Jiri Prochazka, defended with ease against Jamahal Hill, provided Jiri a rematch and knocked him out again, and defended against the #7 ranked Khalil Rountree who has decent Muay Thai. He is scheduled to defend against creeping contender Magomed Ankalaev. If he defends the Light-Heavyweight belt against even more people, then either gives a second try at Middleweight or goes for the Heavyweight belt, he can be the GOAT. His striking is everything you’d expect from the Glory kickboxer he was at first and he is constantly getting knockouts, mostly by his iconic left hook.
6. Dricus Du Plessis
He is 8-0 in the UFC with only pre UFC losses, already having victories over Sean Strickland twice, Israel Adesanya, and Robert Whittaker. Israel Adesanya is basically the second best middleweight of all time. He beat Strickland once more in their match and his biggest challenge will be up-and-coming boogeyman Khamzat Chimaev. If he beats Chimaev, Caio Borralho, Nassourdine Imavov, then limits his Light-Heavyweight run to big legacy fights, then he can be the GOAT. He could do Light-Heavyweight early too because Alex Pereira is a huge legacy fight. His extreme tactics-over-technique style and raw physical ability makes for a dangerous force in the UFC already and we’ll see how far he goes.
7. Alexandre Pantoja
He may have some UFC losses but in recent years he has flipped the script. He’s on a 7 fight winning streak as a champion with 3 defenses. It’s to the point where they needed to bring a fighter in from Rizin named Kai Asakura, because there’s nobody in the top of the rankings who he doesn’t have a victory over. If he keeps defending until 4 to 7 defenses, then he’ll have earned a Merab Dvalishvili superfight. If he wins the super fight and defeats some notable bantamweights, he will become the GOAT. He’s good at taking the back from clinches, good at scrambling, and a sufficient striker to back up his grappling.
8. Khamzat Chimaev
He’s not champion yet but he is still undefeated, and he didn’t turn too many heads until he beat Kevin Holland, Kamaru Usman, and Robert Whittaker. His most impressive victory was when he finished Whittaker in the first round by taking his back and using a face-crank which caved his lower teeth. He is currently the #1 contender in middleweight and seen as somewhat of a boogeyman because of how fast he puts people away. His crazy maniac gimmick helps too. If he dethrones Du Plessis, defends some, and goes for double champ, he can become the GOAT depending on how dominantly he does it. His wrestling is almost the best in the UFC because his shots are so fast and he transitions to a bodylock to take their back so quickly and effortlessly. On top of that, his boxing isn’t bad either.
9. Shavkat Rakhmonov
Shavkat has always opened eyes because of being undefeated and having a 100% finish rate until his fight with Ian Garry, where he won by unanimous decision. He hasn’t had the most elite competition, but that changed when he took on Ian Garry, his training partner to be the #1 contender. They were neck and neck and decided to fight, and Shavkat won as his first professional victory by decision. If he beats the Welterweight champion Belal Muhammad, gets some defenses including an Islam Makhachev superfight, and either moves up or continues destroying all the Welterweights, he can be the GOAT. His kicks are particularly deadly, and he has very well-rounded grappling.
10. Umar Nurmagomedov
He may have lost to Merab Dvalishvili recently, but he can definitely come back stronger from this loss. After all, his hand was apparently broken in round 1 and it was still a very close fight. He just needs to work on grappling situations where he needs to use more energy than his opponent so that Merab can’t just drain out all of Umar’s energy if they fight again. However, it is widely doubted that Umar would win a rematch. If he does though, he can probably also run through the rest of bantamweight, find another division, and beat people there to become the GOAT. His wrestling is everything you’d expect from someone being taught by Khabib and he started off with kickboxing which gave him very advanced striking.
That concludes our list of UFC fighters who have the most GOAT potential. I left out Jon Jones because whatever he does after now won’t affect his legacy except maybe beating Aspinall. Let us know your takes in the comments below.
