Khabib Nurmagomedov
Daniel Cormier
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Khabib Nurmagomedov leads 3 of 4 categories. Our all-time ranking places Khabib Nurmagomedov at #4 and Daniel Cormier at #10.
The case for Khabib Nurmagomedov
The most dominant grappler the sport has known, Khabib retired flawless at 29-0, having barely lost a round across his entire career. A multiple-time combat sambo world champion from Dagestan, he built a smothering, cage-crushing wrestling style — 'send them off,' as his father put it — that no opponent solved. He won the vacant lightweight title against Al Iaquinta at UFC 223 in 2018, then defended it in the biggest fight in company history, submitting Conor McGregor by neck crank in the fourth round at UFC 229 before roughly 2.4 million pay-per-view buyers. He followed with submissions of Dustin Poirier and, in his final bout, a third-round triangle choke of Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 in 2020. He retired immediately afterward, honoring a promise to his mother following his father's death, walking away perfect.
The case for Daniel Cormier
A two-time Olympic wrestler and 2008 U.S. team captain, 'DC' translated elite grappling into a two-division championship career, holding both the light heavyweight and heavyweight belts. He captured the vacant light heavyweight title against Anthony Johnson at UFC 187 in 2015, defended it against Johnson again and Alexander Gustafsson, then moved up and knocked out the great Stipe Miocic to take the heavyweight crown at UFC 226 in 2018. His stellar record of 22-3 carries an asterisk that defines his career: every one of his losses came against Jon Jones, and one of those was overturned to a no-contest after Jones failed a drug test. Endlessly durable, technical and cerebral, Cormier would likely be remembered as an all-time great champion in any era that did not also contain his one impossible rival.