Ilia Topuria Named New No. 1 Fighter in UFC Men's Pound-for-Pound Rankings

Ilia Topuria has surpassed Islam Makhachev as the No. 1-ranked pound-for-pound fighter in UFC, according to ESPN.

Topuria, 28, beat Charles Oliveira by first-round knockout at UFC 317 last weekend to win the vacant UFC lightweight title.

With that victory, Topuria improved to a perfect 17-0 in his professional MMA career with seven wins by knockout and eight wins by submission.

Topuria has now reached the top of two divisions in UFC, as he beat Alexander Volkanovski for the UFC featherweight title at UFC 298 last year and then retained it over Max Holloway at UFC 308.

He vacated the featherweight title earlier this year in order to move up in weight, and the Georgian star won championship gold in only the second lightweight bout of his career.

Makhachev had been UFC's top pound-for-pound fighter for over 600 consecutive days, which was the second-longest run since the rankings were introduced in 2013, behind only Jon Jones.

The 33-year-old veteran is 27-1 in his career, and he has reeled off an impressive 15 wins in a row.

Makhachev beat Oliveira for the vacant UFC lightweight in 2022 and successfully defended it against Volkanovski twice, Dustin Poirier once and Renato Moicano once.

However, Makhachev vacated the title to move up to welterweight, and he is scheduled to challenge Jack Della Maddalena for the UFC welterweight title in the near future.

Depending on Makhachev's performance in that fight, he could have a chance to take back the No. 1 spot once again.

Given how dominant Topuria and Makhachev have been in recent years, it won't be surprising if they trade the No. 1 pound-for-pound ranking quite often moving forward.