Dana White announces Zuffa Boxing will have its own belt and will NOT recognize the other bodies

There are definitely caveats but I do think that the "best fight the best" narrative is like 90% true. Yeah there are guys here and there scattered around other promotions that could probably be in the mix at the top end of their divisions in the UFC, but the UFC has by far the biggest concentration of elite talent in every division at this point, so success there is the best measuring stick.

I was rooting for the PFL to up their game and establish themselves as a solid competitor but they have shat the bed in monumental fashion unfortunately. Say what you will about Dana but Donn Davis is such a moron he makes Dana seem not so bad. Bellator ultimately amounted to nothing too, when Coker took over he put too much focus on making novelty fights between badly washed up ex-UFC and Pride names. Its weird because Coker did a great job with Strikeforce before that.

I think Nemkov would be top 5 for sure. Its sad how dead HW MMA is, and has been for years now. It was better than HW boxing from the mid 00s through the first half of the 2010s imo, now theres absolutely zero comparison.