This past weekend at UFC 238, we got to witness another crowning of a champ champ. Henry Cejudo claimed the vacant bantamweight title. Does that make him the pound for pound champion? If not where does he go on the list? Here are my top five p4p fighters.
5. Jon Jones
This one right off the bat people are going to probably give me crap for. Yes, Jon Jones is a dominant fighter that has amassed a 24-1 record. But the reason I have Jones at five is because he has won only the light heavy weight belt. The other fighters, minus my number four pound for pound fighter, all have won belts in two divisions. Also, he has been stripped of the belt three different times due to positive drug tests or breaking the UFC’s code of conduct. A pound for pound champ to me shouldn’t have any blemishes on their record. If the positive tests didn’t happen or the legal issues outside of the octagon didn’t happen, then without a doubt he would be my number one fighter.
4. Khabib Nurmagomedov
Coming in at number four on my pound for pound fighter rankings is Khabib “The Eagle” Nurmagomedov. This one, I think is justifiable because again, Nurmagomedov only has one belt in one division. He is on this list because of his impressive 27-0 record. Only downfall to that record is he only holds two wins over fighters that have held belts before. Now if he can defend the belt against Dustin Poirier at UFC 242, then I could start thinking about moving him up to number three over…..
3. Henry Cejudo
This past weekend, Henry Cejudo captured the bantamweight title. Cejudo also holds the UFC flyweight title as well. Now it is impressive for any fighter to win UFC belts in two different divisions at the same time. But the big name resume for him isn’t there. At least in my opinion. Cejudo has defeated two champions in TJ Dillashaw and Demetrious Johnson, but everyone else holds close to a .500 record. I will give him credit for the callouts, though this past weekend. If he ends up fighting Cruz, Faber, and company, then it will be tough to keep him at three on my p4p list.
2. Amanda Nunes
This pick, I’ll probably get flack for too, but why not number two on my pound for pound fighter list? Amanda Nunes has belts in the featherweight division and the bantamweight division. Nunes also has huge wins over Cris Cyborg, Ronda Rousey, Valentina Shevchenko to name a few, as well as defeated four fighters that hold a belt now or did at some point. Shevchenko actually lost to Nunes twice. She’s never tested positive for PED’s or missed weight. In her last four of five title fights, she has three stops due to punches and one submission. So its not like her fights are boring. The only thing holding her back from being number one on the list is her 17-4 professional record. It’s still a good record but not as good as…..
1. Daniel Cormier
Now I’ll be honest. I’m not a big fan of Daniel Cormier. So Cormier isn’t my number one pound for pound fighter because I’m not a fan of his by any means. He has held the light heavy weight belt and heavyweight belt at the same time. But Cormier had to give up the light heavy weight belt so Jon Jones and Alexander Gustaffson could fight for it. He has beaten a lot of big name fighters like Anderson Silva, Dan Henderson, Alexander Gustaffson. He defeated Stipe Miocic last year to claim the heavyweight belt. Even though he has big names on his resume like Nunes, he separates himself from the others as the number one fighter because of his record. He has a 22-1 professional record.
Honorable Mention
One fighter I almost put on my list was Max Holloway. He owns the featherweight belt but that’s it. He does have two wins over Jose Aldo, but I think he needs more on his resume to move into the top 5 on my p4p fighter list.
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