A new 155-pound champion will be crowned in the main event of UFC 317 this Saturday.
Undefeated star Ilia Topuria looks to replicate the success he had at featherweight after vacating his belt to move up to the lightweight division.
His opponent, Charles Oliveira, will look to produce another iconic win to become a two-time champion having previously won the belt in 2021.
Some of the biggest names and stars in the history of the sport have held the lightweight gold in the past with many believing it to be the most exciting division in MMA.
Before Topuria or Oliveira are crowned as the new king, here are the top five UFC lightweight champions of all time.
5. Benson Henderson
There’s definitely a case to be made that this spot should belong to Charles Oliveira, who doesn’t appear on this list.
However, while many people still consider it to be a title defense, his win over Justin Gaethje statistically doesn’t count because ‘Do Bronx’ missed weight and was stripped of the belt.
Benson Henderson may not have had the most memorable reign outside of his back-to-back fights with Frankie Edgar, but three title defenses is the key statistic here.
4. Frankie Edgar
It’s hard to even imagine a fighter of Frankie Edgar’s stature having success at lightweight but that’s exactly what he did.
Between beating BJ Penn twice and losing the belt to Benson Henderson, Edgar produced two classic fights to complete his trilogy with Gray Maynard.
For the sheer heart that he displayed at UFC 125, ‘The Answer’ has to go on the line as one of the greatest 155-pound champions.
3. Islam Makhachev
If Arman Tsarukyan hadn’t had to withdraw from UFC 311, this list could look very different with Islam Makhachev potentially having a title defense against the second best lightweight in the division.
The Russian has been incredibly impressive but despite his sheer brilliance, there are some major caveats to the final two defenses of his reign.
His win over Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 284 was huge but beating a short notice Volkanovski for a second time, before making quick work of a short notice Renato Moicano, simply aren’t wins that reflect how good Makhachev truly is.
While you could argue that his run was more impressive because he vacated the title rather than being beaten for it, it still felt like there was more for him to accomplish before he moved to welterweight.
2. BJ Penn
BJ Penn may not have been the inaugural UFC lightweight champion but he’s certainly the fighter that put the division on the map, with respects to UFC Hall of Famer Jens Pulver.
‘The Prodigy’ returned to the Octagon in 2007 where he avenged his loss to Pulver, beat Joe Stevenson to win the win the vacant title, and defended it three times against Sean Sherk, Kenny Florian and Diego Sanchez.
Add to that, he finished all four of those opponents, and attempted to become the first simultaneous two-weight champion when challenging Georges St-Pierre in the middle of that run.
That should be Penn’s legacy, not the disappointing streak which ended his career.
1. Khabib Nurmagomedov
There was always going to be one answer, even if it looked like Islam Makhachev might enter the conversation before he vacated the title.
Khabib Nurmagomedov didn’t just never taste defeat in his career, he barely lost moments of fights let alone rounds.
After an underwhelming start to his long-awaited title reign, ‘The Eagle’ submitted three top names in title defenses, beating Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje in decisive fashion.
The scary part is that if it wasn’t for his father passing away, who knows how long Nurmagomedov could’ve continued his streak after he retired while still being at the peak of his powers.