Best UFC Featherweights of All Time: Top 9 145-Pound Legends Ranked

Featherweight (145 lb) is the UFC’s “perfect mix” division: fast enough for technique and volume, powerful enough for one-shot finishes, and deep enough that champions don’t get soft title defenses.

This ranking weighs championship résumé (wins/defenses), quality of opposition, peak dominance, longevity at 145, and overall impact on the division.

Best UFC Featherweights of All Time: Top 9 Ranked

1) José Aldo

The gold-standard featherweight reign. Aldo was the inaugural UFC featherweight champion and set the division’s benchmark with seven successful title defenses, plus an overall body of work that’s still the measuring stick for “long-term dominance.”

2) Alexander Volkanovski

The modern great who keeps stacking chapters. Volkanovski reclaimed the vacant title after Ilia Topuria moved up, then kept proving he’s still a cut above—ESPN notes he earned his sixth win as featherweight champion by outclassing Diego Lopes at UFC 325.

3) Max Holloway

Peak Holloway was pace, pressure, and volume turned into a title run. He’s a former champ with three successful defenses, and his featherweight résumé is loaded with divisional records (wins, streaks, output) that tell you how long he lived at the elite level before eventually shifting his focus to lightweight.

4) Ilia Topuria

A short reign, but a nuclear peak: Topuria won the belt by knocking out Volkanovski at UFC 298, then defended it by stopping Holloway at UFC 308—two wins that immediately place him in the all-time conversation at 145. He later vacated to move up, but the featherweight highlight reel is already historic.

5) Conor McGregor

The most influential featherweight moment ever might still be McGregor’s 13-second knockout of Aldo—and his rise reshaped how the UFC marketed stars. He also won the interim title by stopping Chad Mendes, then became undisputed champ, even if the reign didn’t include defenses. At 145, impact counts.

6) Chad Mendes

One of the division’s best “never undisputed champ” fighters. Mendes pushed Aldo in two title fights and nearly derailed McGregor’s run in their interim-title war. Elite wrestling, real knockout power, and big-fight credibility made him a nightmare matchup in the division’s toughest era.

7) Frankie Edgar

A lightweight champ who stayed elite when he moved up. Edgar earned featherweight title opportunities (including a booked title fight with Holloway) and consistently fought the very best at 145, bringing high-end wrestling, pace, and durability into a weight class full of killers.

8) Brian Ortega

Ortega’s featherweight résumé is built on danger: opportunistic submissions, late-fight surges, and a knack for turning one scramble into a finish. He fought Volkanovski for the title in an all-time classic, and even in losses, he’s been one of the division’s most unique threats.

9) Chan Sung Jung (The Korean Zombie)

A featherweight icon whose best nights felt like a movie. Jung challenged Aldo for the title and remained a must-watch contender for years—culminating in signature wars and a legendary late-career headliner against Holloway. His legacy at 145 is bigger than a belt.

Just missed: Yair Rodriguez (an interim champ who headlined a title unification with Volkanovski) and Cub Swanson (a featherweight lifer with a Hall of Fame fan-favorite résumé and a stack of division bonus records).