BEST UFC FIGHTERS OF ALL TIME – FEATHERWEIGHTS

UFC featherweight division is one of the most active divisions in History. It is also one of the most stacked and has always had many superstars come out of this weight class. On 28 October 2010, World Extreme Cagefighting merged with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. As part of the merger, all WEC fighters were transferred to the UFC. Aldo became the inaugural Featherweight Champion, receiving the first-ever featherweight title belt on Saturday, 20 November 2010 at UFC 123. UFC’s featherweight title has been through the very least amount of champions as still now there have been only 4 featherweight champions in the promotions since the beginning of the division.

TOP 10 UFC FEATHERWEIGHTS

10 JEREMY STEPHENS

Stephens was defeated via second-round armbar submission in his UFC debut against veteran Din Thomas at UFC 71 on May 26, 2007. His first win in the UFC was against Diego Saraiva at UFC 76 via unanimous decision. In his last fight, Stephens faced Mateusz Gamrot on July 17, 2021, at UFC on ESPN: Makhachev vs. Moises. He lost the fight via submission in round one.

9 CHAN SUNG JUNG 

He debuted in a rematch with Garcia was scheduled for March 26, 2011, at UFC Fight Night 24, after Jung stepped in to replace an injured Nam Phan. Jung was able to avenge the original loss after submitting Garcia with a twister in the final second of the second round. Lastly, Jung faced Dan Ige on June 19, 2021, at UFC on ESPN 25. He won the fight via unanimous decision.

8 BRIAN ORTEGA

Ortega was expected to make his promotional debut against Diego Brandão on May 31, 2014, at The Ultimate Fighter Brazil 3 Finale. However, Brandao pulled out of the bout in the days leading up to the event citing an injury. Ortega faced Alexander Volkanovski on September 25, 2021, at UFC 266 for the Featherweight Championship. He lost the fight via unanimous decision. this was the second title fight which he lost.

7 CUB SWANSON

 Swanson debuted to face Ricardo Lamas on November 12 oat n Fox 1. Swanson was the last WEC fighter imported from the WEC/UFC merger to debut in the class. He lost the fight via submission (arm-triangle choke) in the second round. Swanson was briefly linked to a bout against Gavin Tucker on May 1, 2021, at ESPN. However, Tucker was tabbed as a short-notice replacement to face Dan Ige at UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs. Muhammad instead. Swanson instead faced Giga Chikadze. He lost the fight via technical knockout in the first round.

6 FRANKIE EDGAR

On August 21, 2012, edition of UFC Tonight, it was revealed that Edgar had announced his intentions to move to the featherweight division. The fight with Aldo was rescheduled for UFC 156, where Edgar lost to Aldo via a unanimous decision. Edgar was scheduled to face Cory Sandhagen in a bantamweight bout on January 25, 2020, at Fight Night 166. Edgar lost the fight via technical knockout in the first round.

5 CHAD MENDES

On October 28, 2010, World Extreme Cagefighting merged with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. As part of the merger, all WEC fighters were transferred to the UFC. Mendes made his debut against returning veteran and judo black belt Michihiro Omigawa on February 5, 2011, at UFC 126. He won the fight via unanimous decision. He is now part of the BKFC roster.

4 CONOR MCGREGOR

In February 2013, the UFC announced that they had signed McGregor to a multi-fight contract. In joining, he became only the second fighter from Ireland to compete for the company, following team member Tom Egan. On 6 April 2013, McGregor made his debut against Marcus Brimage at Fuel TV. He won the fight by knockout in round one. It was announced that McGregor would face Jose Aldo for the Featherweight Championship. McGregor knocked out Aldo thirteen seconds into the first round with a left hook, snapping his seven-year-long WEC and UFC title reign and eighteen-fight win streak to claim the title.

3 ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI

Volkanovski returned to Featherweight and faced Mizuto Hirota on 11 June 2017 at Fight Night 110. He won the fight by unanimous decision. Volkanovski faced Max Holloway on 14 December 2019 for the UFC Featherweight Championship at UFC 245. He won the fight via unanimous decision. Volkanovski made his first title defense in a rematch against Max Holloway on 11 July 2020 at UFC 251. He won the fight via split decision.

2 JOSE ALDO

Aldo made his first title defense against Mark Hominick on 30 April 2011 by defeating the Canadian by a unanimous decision. Jose faced Frankie Edgar in a rematch on 9 July 2016, at UFC 200 for the interim Featherweight Championship. Jose won the fight by unanimous decision. 

1 MAX HOLLOWAY

Holloway was the youngest fighter on the roster when he made his promotional debut as an injury replacement for Ricardo Lamas at UFC 143 on February 4, 2012, against Dustin Poirier. He lost the fight via submission in the first round. Holloway faced the featherweight champion Jose Aldo in a title unification bout on June 3, 2017, at UFC 212. After facing some early adversity, Holloway defeated Aldo via TKO in the third round. Holloway faced Calvin Kattar on January 16, 2021, headlining at ABC 1. Holloway dominated Kattar for all 5 rounds and won by unanimous decision, with two judges scoring the fight 50–43 and one judge scoring it 50–42 in his favor. Considering his resume he is definitely the greatest featherweight of all time.