The name 'UFC' is almost interchangeable with MMA, showing how firm the Ultimate Fighting Championship's grip is on mixed martial arts.
Despite this, the UFC and MMA are best described as a mile wide and an inch deep. While casual fans are engrossed in the Conor McGregor and Jon Jones news cycles, you'll be hard-pressed to find anybody who can tell you who the top-five fighters of a particular division are or who the current champions are.
(22/02/2025) This guide will serve as the perfect introduction point for new fans of the UFC. Here's everything you need to know.
UFC stands for Ultimate Fighting Championship. MMA stands for mixed martial arts. The UFC is an MMA promotion that hosts MMA fights.
MMA consists of wrestling, submission fighting, kicking, punching, knees, and elbows. The most common martial arts practiced in MMA and the UFC are Muay Thai, wrestling, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Still, many fighters also practice other art forms like Taekwondo, Sambo, Sanda, and Kyokushin Karate.
TKO Group Holdings owns the UFC and the WWE. It is part of Endeavor Group Holdings, whose CEO is Ari Emanuel.
Dana White is the President and CEO of the UFC. He handles most of the business's public-facing aspects, including press conferences, and is known for his cutthroat attitude.
The UFC uses the Unified Rules of MMA, which cover everything from illegal techniques to minor details like in-cage attire.
Per the Unified Rules, UFC fighters cannot:
The UFC uses 12 weight classes, including nine men's divisions and three women's divisions.
Each division has a champion and 15 ranked fighters. Divisions are separated by weight, typically by 10 lbs, but the gap can be larger in some instances, like the jump from lightweight to welterweight.
UFC has its own rankings system, which can be found on the official UFC website. Rankings are typically updated next Tuesday after an event airs on the weekend.
A panel of media members decides the rankings to avoid insider bias from the UFC. Only active athletes can be considered for the lists.
UFC CEO Dana White wants to replace the rankings panel with AI.
The media panel also votes on their pound-for-pound UFC fighters. Pound-for-pound ranking is a way of ranking fighters to determine the most accomplished relative to their weight. Fighters earn a pound-for-pound spot by being champions or winning plenty of fights.
The current pound-for-pound rankings are as follows:
The greatest UFC fighter is a subjective discussion, but it always comes down to the same fighters.
Jon Jones is widely regarded as the best MMA fighter ever. He is a two-division champion and has defeated the best competition from three generations of fighters. Jones has won 16 championship-level fights. He'd be the consensus greatest of all time if not for a plethora of doping violations and run-ins with the law outside of the cage.
Jones has one defeat on his record, which is a disqualification to Matt Hamill in 2009. Jones was disqualified for using then-illegal 12-6 elbows on Hamill's face. Besides his no-contest in the rematch with Daniel Cormier in 2017, Jones' loss to Hamill remains the only blemish on his record.
Khabib Nurmagomedov is regarded as one of the greatest UFC fighters ever. 'The Eagle' left the sport with an undefeated record in 2020. At 29-0, Nurmagomedov steamrolled his UFC competition and defended his lightweight title thrice.
Nurmagomedov retired after defeating Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 in 2020. Before the fight, his father and coach, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, had passed away, and Nurmagomedov promised his mother that it would be his last performance. He kept that promise.
Nurmagomedov never lost a fight in 29 professional appearances. The closest Nurmagomedov came to losing was against Gleison Tibau in 2012. Islam Makhachev knocked out Tibau in 2018 to avenge that dicey victory.
Georges St-Pierre (GSP) is widely considered to be the greatest welterweight fighter in the UFC. GSP retired in 2018, having beaten every man he faced in the Octagon. His two losses were against Matt Hughes and Matt Serra, and he avenged both.
Demetrious Johnson flies under the radar as one of the best UFC fighters ever. 'Mighty Mouse' held the UFC flyweight championship from 2012 to 2017, defending it 11 times. He has the record for most consecutive title defenses.
Johnson was traded in exchange for Ben Askren to ONE Championship in 2018. There, 'DJ' has become a two-time ONE bantamweight champion, defending the title once. Johnson retired in 2024.
Honorable mentions for the greatest UFC fighters include Anderson Silva, Jose Aldo, Randy Couture, Dominick Cruz, and BJ Penn.
Without argument, Amanda Nunes is the greatest women's UFC fighter. Nunes was the first women's double champion in the UFC and defended both titles numerous times. Nunes retired in 2023 with a record of 23-5, defeating Ronda Rousey, Cris Cyborg, Holly Holm, and Valentina Shevchenko on route to MMA greatness.
The next UFC event is UFC Seattle: Cejudo vs. Song on Saturday, February 22, 2025.
Fight fans can watch UFC on ESPN, TNT Sports, or UFC Fight Pass. Numbered UFC events, like UFC 300, require the viewer to purchase the main card on ESPN+ or TNT Sports Box Office, typically $79.99 in the US, or £19.99 in the UK.