He's a three-time Bellator welterweight champion, has highlight-reel performances on his record, and was due to challenge Gegard Mousasi for Bellator's vacant middleweight title until the coronavirus pandemic nixed the show.

Why he's ranked : Demetrious Johnson was one of the most dominant athletes in all sports through the s. He's already beaten Leon Edwards, Rafael dos Anjos, and Tyron Woodley; a bout which saw him get crowned middleweight champion.

But it was his first UFC title defense against the MAGA hat-wearing Colby Covington that edged him further into the consciousness of wider combat sports fans, as he beat Covington so bad he left his jaw hanging off its bloody hinges.

Usman had been linked with a title defense against Jorge Masvidal, but a marquee match against Conor McGregor has also been mooted.

Why he's ranked : There was a time when Jon Jones was on a killer run. That Jones was awesome.

Forget about the controversies, the out-of-Octagon misdemeanors , and the failed drug tests , Jones hasn't looked like the old Jones for a very long time.

Though his standards appear to have slipped, Jones remains a light heavyweight champion with the UFC and continues to collect wins.

But for how long? His next move may be to heavyweight, where a match against the hulking Ngannou could await him. He went up a weight class and won the UFC bantamweight title by finishing Marlon Moraes in three rounds last year, then defended the belt in style against Dominic Cruz behind-closed-doors, in the middle of a pandemic, in May.

Cejudo retired after the win but the recency of the win is good enough reason to stay on this list … for now. Kelvin Gastelum. Uriah Hall.

Chris Weidman. Edmen Shahbazyan. Omari Akhmedov. Brad Tavares. Ian Heinisch. Kevin Holland. Light Heavyweight Jan Blachowicz.

Glover Teixeira. Thiago Santos. Dominick Reyes. Aleksandar Rakic. Jiri Prochazka. Anthony Smith. Volkan Oezdemir. Nikita Krylov. Johnny Walker. Misha Cirkunov.

Magomed Ankalaev. Ryan Spann. Jim Crute. Paul Craig. Jamahal Hill. Heavyweight Stipe Miocic. Curtis Blaydes. Jairzinho Rozenstruik. Derrick Lewis.

Alistair Overeem. Alexander Volkov. Junior Dos Santos. Shamil Abdurakhimov. Augusto Sakai. Aleksei Oleinik. Walt Harris. Sergei Pavlovich.

Blagoy Ivanov. Ciryl Gane. Andrei Arlovski. Valentina Shevchenko. Weili Zhang. Rose Namajunas. Jessica Andrade. Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Germaine de Randamie.

Well, start with beating an icon of the sport in Anderson Silva. Then engage in the Fight of the Year with Kelvin Gastelum, putting a stamp on the victory with an epic fifth-round surge.

Finally, how about upgrading that interim middleweight title to undisputed with a one-sided stoppage of Robert Whittaker?

Sounds like a year well-spent. Triple C may only be Double C after relinquishing his flyweight title, but Henry Cejudo, the man still holding the bantamweight belt, did have a year to remember in , first stunning the MMA world with a second knockout of TJ Dillashaw in defense of his pound crown, then coming back from some serious adversity to halt Marlon Moraes and take the pound title.

After a couple hard-fought and punishing losses to Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier, Justin Gaethje needed to make some tactical changes if he was going to stay on track to one day challenge for the UFC lightweight title.

That was a scary proposition for those of us used to his take no prisoners style. How did year-old Demian Maia make it on this list?

Carlos Newton UFC Penn vs. Sean Sherk UFC Amanda Nunes vs. Ronda Rousey UFC Dan Henderson vs. Hector Lombard UFC Frankie Edgar vs. Penn UFC Israel Adesanya vs.

Kelvin Gastelum UFC Eddie Alvarez vs. Justin Gaethje UFC Justin Gaethje vs. Anderson Silva UFC Mauricio Rua UFC Michael Bisping vs.

Luke Rockhold UFC Brian Stann vs. Daniel Cormier vs. Stipe Miocic 1 UFC Stipe Miocic 2 UFC Stipe Miocic vs.

Francis Ngannou UFC Cain Velasquez vs. Brock Lesnar UFC Tim Sylvia UFC Phil Davis vs. Tim Boetsch UFC Lyoto Machida vs.

Chris Weidman vs. Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington UFC Demetrious Johnson vs. Henry Cejudo UFC Scheduled for Feb Khabib "The Eagle" Nurmagomedov Scheduled for Dec Stipe Miocic Randy "The Natural" Couture Matt Hughes Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell Amanda "The Lioness" Nunes Dan "Hendo" Henderson Dominick "The Dominator" Cruz