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Jon Jones, Dustin Poirier among five best UFC fighters currently without a championship belt

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Unlike boxing where multiple world championships exists across the weight classes, fighters in the UFC who aspire to hold a world title only have one belt to pursue with no easy paths to the top of the mountain. The chase for gold requires a combination of skill, luck and opportunity, leaving some fighters with world champion-level talents without a belt around their waist.

In the wake of Dustin Poirier’s incredible knockout victory over Conor McGregor and the lightweight division lacking an active champion, we sat down to sift through the UFC roster to identify the five best fighters currently without a championship. This broke down into fighters who have an argument that they currently should be champion and those who simply are waiting for the opportunity to fight for the belt.

1. Dustin Poirier

Poirier is the king of kings when it comes to the best fighters in the UFC not currently holding a championship. During his current 7-1 run, he has wins over McGregor, Max Holloway, Eddie Alvarez, Justin Gaethje and Anthony Pettis — all five of whom have held UFC gold and only one (Holloway) lasted to the final bell against Poirier. The lone loss in that time came to Khabib Nurmagomedov. Nurmagomedov retired this past October and doubled down on that decision in January, effectively leaving lightweight without a champion.

In the deep 155-pound division, there’s no reasonable scenario where a championship bout could take place that doesn’t see Poirier as one of the two men in the Octagon. Furthermore, Poirier would be a clear favorite coming into a fight with anyone other than Nurmagomedov at the championship level.

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2. Jon Jones

The only reason Jones doesn’t top the list is because he voluntarily vacated the light heavyweight championship within the process of a long-awaited move to the heavyweight division. That said, Jones does not currently have a title and is arguably the greatest fighter in the history of the sport. There is some question over where Jones currently stands in the sport, however, with many feeling he should have lost the light heavyweight championship in his most recent fight, a controversial February 2020 decision win over Dominick Reyes.

With no idea the success Jones will see at heavyweight after some rare struggles in his final fights at 205 pounds, it’s hard to say he’s a lock to ever hold UFC gold again. He would be a favorite to win his title back should he decide to return to light heavyweight, however, and there’s no discounting his status as an elite pound-for-pound great.

3. Max Holloway

There’s a strong argument to be had that Holloway should be the featherweight champion right now. After losing the title to Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 245, the pair rematched at UFC 251. Holloway lost the rematch after a controversial split decision, but the majority of scores tracked by MMADecisions.com saw Holloway as deserving the victory — and the title.

Holloway would further showcase his elite skills in January, absolutely battering Calvin Kattar and setting nearly every conceivable single-fight striking record imaginable. It’s hard to see a path back to the title in the near future as long as Volkanovski is champion. It’s rare to see a trilogy fight booked when one fighter is up 2-0 and there are other quality contenders available. That said, with more performances like Holloway turned in against Kattar, it will be hard to keep him out of the title picture for long.

4. Brandon Moreno

Just as Deivieson Figueiredo seemed on a path to establishing himself as a pound-for-pound elite and the new face of the flyweight division, he ran into Brandon Moreno. Moreno gave Figueiredo hell in their December battle, resulting in what UFC president Dana White called “the best fight in flyweight history.” Moreno didn’t emerge with the championship as the fight was ruled a draw, but there’s a strong argument he should have left Las Vegas that night as king of the 125-pounders.

Figueiredo was docked a point for a low blow in Round 3, but that was far from his lone foul. It would not have been unjust for Figueiredo to have been disqualified as the fouls piled up. That would have left Moreno as champion after their blood-and-guts brawl. Moreno will have another shot at the belt in 2021 with White saying the pair will rematch, giving Moreno a chance to erase his name from this list.

5. Francis Ngannou

Ngannou may have less of an outright case to hold a championship right now than the other fighters on the list, but being a heavyweight puts him in one of the only divisions where inactivity never seems to create opportunities for interim titles. There have only been four heavyweight title fights since Ngannou lost to Stipe Miocic in January 2018, with the title being largely held up by fights between Miocic and Daniel Cormier.

Ngannou followed up his loss to Miocic with a poor performance against Derrick Lewis, but has since won four consecutive fights with only Junior dos Santos lasting more than one full minute — and dos Santos only made it to the 71-second mark. That kind of work positioned Ngannou for another shot at Miocic and the title on March 27. Ngannou has the opportunity to show that he’s not only the scariest man in the biggest division, but also the best.

Source CBSSports.com Headlines

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