Khabib Nurmagomedov
José Aldo
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
José Aldo leads 2 of 4 categories. Our all-time ranking places Khabib Nurmagomedov at #4 and José Aldo at #8.
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 José Aldo
The greatest featherweight of all time, Aldo went undefeated for roughly a decade — an 18-fight win streak from 2005 to 2015 — while reigning as WEC and then inaugural UFC featherweight champion. His leg kicks were the most feared in the sport, memorably crumpling Urijah Faber and reducing opponents to hobbling targets, and he paired them with sharp boxing and elite takedown defense. He defended the featherweight crown repeatedly against the division's best before Conor McGregor stunned him with a 13-second knockout at UFC 194 in 2015, one of the most shocking moments in MMA history. He rebuilt himself as a top bantamweight contender in his thirties, challenging for that title too, and retired from MMA around 31-8. For pure divisional dominance over a sustained period, few careers rival his prime.