One loss changed Ilia Topuria's career. On one ranking list, it erased him completely. On every other list checked here, it did no such thing — and that contrast is exactly why the erasure was harsh.
Start with the list that did it. USA TODAY Sports' inaugural UFC pound-for-pound rankings, dated September 18, 2026, read like this: 1 Justin Gaethje, 2 Islam Makhachev, 3 Petr Yan, 4 Merab Dvalishvili, 5 Ciryl Gane, 6 Alexander Volkanovski, 7 Joshua Van, 8 Alex Pereira, 9 Tom Aspinall, 10 Sean Strickland. Ilia Topuria is not there. Not ninth, not tenth. Gone.
That list followed the only loss of Topuria's career. He was 17-0 when he walked into UFC Freedom 250 on June 14, on the South Lawn of the White House, regarded by many — in Sherdog's words — as the sport's top pound-for-pound fighter. Justin Gaethje beat him in the fourth round after four brutal rounds, took the lightweight title, and left Topuria at 17-1, the UFC's No. 1 lightweight contender but no longer a champion. That part is not in dispute, and it is not small: losing the crown when someone takes it from you in the cage is the sport, and Gaethje earned it.
But erasing a fighter from the top 10 entirely on one loss is a different claim — and three other lists, all dated and checked on October 28, 2026, refuse to make it. The official UFC list, as quoted by SPORTbible (published October 22, updated October 27), has Topuria at No. 5, behind Makhachev, Volkanovski, Gaethje and Yan. Sherdog's post-UFC 333 list, published October 26, has him at No. 4, behind Makhachev, Yan and Gaethje. Combat Press's October 2026 list, published October 3, has him at No. 3, behind only Makhachev and Gaethje. One list leaves him out entirely; three others have him in the top five. That is the case, proved by the contrast itself: a ranking that measures a whole resume does not erase a 17-1 two-division champion on one bad night.
The lists do not agree with each other below the top, and that disagreement is worth stating plainly, because it is the reason pound-for-pound arguments never really end. Makhachev is No. 1 on all three contrast lists. Below that, they diverge: Gaethje is No. 3 on the official list as quoted and on Sherdog's, but No. 2 for Combat Press — and No. 1 on USA TODAY's list. Volkanovski is No. 2 officially, No. 5 for Sherdog, No. 4 for Combat Press, No. 6 for USA TODAY. Yan is No. 2 for Sherdog and No. 4 officially, does not appear in Combat Press's top 10 at all, and sits third on USA TODAY's list. Nobody holding these four lists side by side could call them a consensus. What three of them do agree on is the only question this column set out to answer: Topuria is still there, near the top, after one defeat.
That is the honest middle of the argument. A fighter's resume does not get rewritten by one bad night, and Topuria's resume is the reason he is still ranked this high. Sherdog's entry on him puts it plainly: championships in two divisions, with finishes over Charles Oliveira, Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski. Those wins happened. Gaethje's win over Topuria happened too, and it is the bigger, more recent fact — it is why Gaethje holds the belt and sits above Topuria on every contrast list. Both things are true at once. The contrast lists reflect that: Topuria fell, but he fell to third, fourth and fifth, not out of the conversation.
So where does that leave him? Exactly where the lists leave him: a former two-division champion, 17-1, the No. 1 lightweight contender, erased from one inaugural top 10 and ranked third, fourth or fifth everywhere else checked here, with no next fight established in any source used here. "Best ever" talk is on hold after a first defeat — that much the loss did earn. But a rematch with Gaethje would reset the whole conversation overnight, and until such a fight is actually made, the conversation rests on what the lists say. What they say, taken together, is that one loss cost Topuria a title and the top spot, not his place among the sport's best. Erasing him from the top 10 was harsh. The other lists prove it.
