Ilia Topuria moved to 17-0 after beating Charles Oliveira at UFC 317, capturing the lightweight belt and jumping to the top of the pound-for-pound rankings. He’s now a two-division champion with some of the most brutal finishes the sport has seen. UFC commentator Jon Anik disagrees with the rankings, though. He thinks Islam Makhachev still deserves the number one spot.

In his view, fighters shouldn’t lose their pound-for-pound status by vacating a belt and moving up as a challenger. For him, Makhachev will remain P4P king until someone actually beats him in the octagon. He said, “Islam deserves his flowers, you know as far as I am concerned, you don’t lose your pound for pound number one status outside the octagon so for me, he is still the king until proven otherwise.”

The argument for

See Full Page