As the scorching sun set on the iconic UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi, the MMA community truly witnessed the arrival of the future! And what better way to have found a leader in the form of the featherweight king, Ilia Topuria? ‘El Matador’ bulldozered his way through the legendary chin of Max Holloway to close out the show and registered his claim as the top dog in the 145lbs division.

With this win, the UFC’s fabled Pound for Pound listings witnessed a shuffle. However, one that didn’t sit right with everyone. The Spanish-Georgian now sits at #4 while his fallen foe, Max Holloway slipped to #12 in its latest iteration. However, this wasn’t the only notable development.

MMA journalist John Morgan shared a screenshot of the updated P4P list on his X account with the caption, “Ilia Topuria stands firm at No. 4 in latest UFC pound-for-pound rankings update following his UFC 308 title defense. Max Holloway drops to No. 12, with Alexandre Pantoja moving up to No. 11. Charles Oliveira departs the list, and Israel Adesanya returns at No. 15″.

Topuria’s dominant outing on Saturday should have catapulted him up the rankings. However, the current top three—Islam Makhachev, Alex Pereira, and Jon Jones—occupy the coveted spots respectively. While Makhachev and Pereira have been active in 2024, Jones’s extended hiatus raises questions about the validity of his top-three position. Given Topuria’s imperious form with him slaying probably the two best to ever do it at 145lbs, a reevaluation of the pound-for-pound rankings seems overdue.

While it’s clear that Topuria deserves a significant bump in the rankings, displacing Jon Jones from his top-three position is a challenging proposition. However, the P4P list is a metric for the stars of the present day and should have nothing to do with what legacy the fighter holds.

The current landscape of MMA, with multiple other active champions, presents a compelling case to make significant changes in how these rankings are forged in the first place. However, this isn’t the first time that the P4P crown has come under scrutiny.

Does Ilia Topuria deserve Jon Jones’ spot on the P4P rankings?

Technically speaking, Ilia Topuria should have climbed up the ranks after knocking out Max Holloway. One could argue that Jones shouldn’t even be in the rankings, considering he’s only fought twice in four years. However, Ilia Topuria has only been in 16 career fights, whereas Jones has been in 16 title fights. Ilia Topuria being neighbors with Jon Jones on the rankings is very similar to when Conor McGregor was right behind Demetrious Johnson on the P4P rankings, back in 2016.

‘The Notorious’ had just captured two world titles and was ranked at #2 – a spot below ‘Mighty Mouse’ who was eight title defenses into his flyweight title reign. There was a clear disparity in their legacies as champions, but ‘Mystic Mac’ still took the top spot after slaying Eddie Alvarez after UFC 205. How could McGregor with no title defenses be a spot apart from Johnson who had eight back then? However, Johnson had an incredible record as champion in comparison to McGregor but didn’t have half the star power back in 2016.

This shows that fighter records aren’t the only metric that goes into determining their spot on the P4P rankings. That being said, making the #4 spot on the P4P list in just four years is no small feat. Ilia Topuria’s career is young and still unfolding, and we are yet to potentially witness more great things from him. The 145-lb champion’s first order of business would be for him to clean out his division, and rack up title defenses. The Spanish-Georgian should ideally beat Volkanovski’s 5-title defenses, if not Jose Aldo’s seven.

If Topuria does manage to clean out his division, he could perhaps chase gold in other divisions. ‘El Matador’ is pretty confident of his chances of stepping up a weight class and challenging Islam Makhachev for the 155-lb title. At the UFC 308 media week, Topuria added that he would be the first to submit the Dagestani, should the UFC allow him a crack at a second title. If Topuria can somehow overcome Islam Makhachev, he will no doubt be the #1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

Does Ilia Topuria have what it takes to become the greatest featherweight in UFC history? Will he make it to the top of the pound-for-pound list? Let us know in the comments below.