Top 5 Best Boxers in The UFC [2025 Updated Rankings]

A slick standup to charge or counter attacks is one of the basic tools when starting martial arts. It helps if one has a prominent boxing foundation. Here are the top 5 boxers in the UFC who reached great heights due to their standup.

Each of the combatants on this list has participated in title bouts, with a select few attaining championship status. This shows how important boxing is. It is a skill that can help fighters grow exponentially.

UFC CEO Dana White, execs and matchmakers like Mick Maynard often say that chasing that illustrious finish is what catches on attention; well, sweet science done right helps.

ALSO READ: Top 10 Best UFC Wrestlers of All Time [2025 Updated Rankings]

Honorable mentions

Some fighters deserve recognition for their standup excellence, even if they didn’t make the top 5:

• Cody Garbrandt – Former Golden Gloves champ, known for prime-level footwork and deadly counters. His TKO victory over Dominick Cruz showcased his boxing prowess.
• Brandon Moreno – Exceptional precision in tight striking pockets, earning him the nickname “Assassin Baby.”
• Junior dos Santos – Agile, powerful striker with lethal KO capability.
• Tom Aspinall – Multiple first-round TKOs, one of the fastest heavyweights in cage time.
• Holly Holm – Former boxing champion, 18 successful defenses, and Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year twice.
• Sean Strickland, Alexa Grasso, Alex Pereira, Francis Ngannou – All demonstrate elite boxing skills in UFC.

5. Conor McGregor

Style: Range-check boxer/Southpaw striker

Striking Accuracy (per UFC): 49%

Conor McGregor is a contentious topic like an MMA moth to a controversy flame, but in his heyday, he was a force. The Crumlin Boxing Club and Team SBG Ireland standout boxer probably has the sweetest of left-hands and swift, slipping footwork.

His victory against Jose Aldo, which came after a 13-second counter-left knockout, solidified his status as the UFC featherweight king. The Irishman was also the only one to cross over to exhibition boxing, against 50-0 legend Floyd Mayweather of all people.

4. Petr Yan

Style: Switch-stance striker

Striking Accuracy (per UFC): 53%

McGregor’s era-defining range check and slipping might have inspired the masses and roster fighters like Sean O’Malley and Mauricio Ruffy. But when it comes to merciless standup, all-around boxing, and chain-up combos and trips for a beatdown, Petr ‘No Mercy’ Yan is quite the name.

Yan is Tapology’s No.1-ranked boxer and is known for his standup, which more than merits a spot as a top 5 UFC boxer. His skills were recently on full display vs. Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC Fight Night 248, live at Galaxy Arena in Macau SAR.

The Team BK Arkhangel Mikhail switch-striker is known for hard hands. Yan is renowned for his formidable punching power and adaptability, effortlessly transitioning between different stances and prioritizing honing his technical standup, footwork, closelines, and trips.

3. Max Holloway

Style: Orthodox, wide range, volume swing-striker

Striking Accuracy (per UFC): 48%

Max Holloway isn’t just some top 5 boxer; the Team Gracie Technics striker will mouth off that he is ‘the best boxer’ in the UFC and then back it up. Holloway’s 11 stoppage victories in the UFC 145-pound weight class were the most in company history, and he touted 100 or more significant strikes in 17 separate competition bouts.

Holloway is a volume striker and only such boxer to log more than 3,655 significant strikes in the UFC. He TKO’d Aldo, gave a tough run to Yair Rodríguez and Frankie Edgar, and punctuated a buzzer-beater round 5 KO over Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 PPV. All this even though Holloway has never boxed pro; his prowess was last seen at the UFC 318: Holloway vs. Poirier 3 PPV event.

2. Dustin Poirier

Style: Southpaw, burst-and-range striker

Striking Accuracy (per UFC): 51%

Ex-UFC lightweight Dustin Poirier is widely considered the best boxer. 14-6 (with one no contest) since he moved to 155, he was the only lightweight to land 150 or more significant strikes in three separate bouts. Poirier was a swing-striker who closed in range and went for the hunt like no other.

Tied for fourth place with 11 victories by KO in UFC competition, Poirier is one of the most successful fighters in the company’s history. ‘Diamond’ and Dan Hooker accentuated a combo of 390 total strikes landed at UFC on ESPN 12, the single-fight record.; it’s widely considered on of the best house shows.

Poirier was prone to his ‘war’ and it showed, and that’s how he lived out his UFC tenure. He more than deserved his spot as the top of top 5 boxers.

1. Ilia Topuria

Style: Orthodox crisp boxer

Striking Accuracy (per UFC): 47%

Then there was Ilia Topuria, best boxer Poirier’s choice of best boxer. The promotion’s current #1 Pound-for-pound fighter (as of writing this) started his title campaign on the back of a triple-KO threat, starting with a second-round KO – a right hook at 3:32 mark over Alexander Volkanovski. In his lone maiden defense of the featherweight gold, he became the only fighter to knock out Holloway.

Even Poirier, as post-fight ESPN analyst on desk duty, veered to the UFC 308 KO as one of the best when it came to crisp boxing. ‘El Matador’ makes himself a small target with perfect slipping, short overhands, crisp counters, and body shots. He has even found success with it as a lightweight.

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