Brazilian born Amanda Nunes, the two-division UFC champion, is my pick for the greatest mixed martial artist of all time. On December 14, at UFC 245, Nunes will face former 145-pound champion Jermaine de Randamie.

Prior to going on this great title run, Nunes had already bested the talented striker JDR back in 2016. Yet, whether Amanda wins or loses on this coming Saturday night, she’s already cemented her legacy as one of the best to ever enter the octagon.

Now the semantics of what quantifies somebody the best of their craft is highly debatable and subjective to a number of different factors. Amongst the combat world, the UFC is the premier organization, most observers would easily be in agreement there. Despite my love for Pride, WEC, Strikeforce, Bellator, OneFC, and defunct promotions like BodogFIGHT, Affliction, and EliteXC, the UFC does still reign supreme. So the best fighters have to come from the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Consideration for such an ultimate distinction requires examination of the best of the divisions. There are 12 weight classes in the UFC, eight for men and four for women, giving us roughly 12 to immediately take into deliberation; albeit distinctions between the many-faced differences across the divisions makes it tough to compare at times.

From the original creator of ground-and-pound himself Mark Coleman to two-division champ Randy Couture to Antonio Nogueira, Brock Lesnar, Junior Dos Santos, and Cain Velasquez, the pick from the heavyweight division is Stipe Miocic. A two-time champion, Stipe has the most number of defenses in heavyweight history.

Light-heavyweight rep is unquestionably Jon Jones. Frank Shamrock defended his title four times way back in the nineties. Tito Ortiz had a tremendous run of five defenses. Chuck Liddel defended his title four times while helping to popularize the sport way beyond what it had been up to that point. Even Daniel Cormier had a nice run while Jon Jones was stripped of the title, defending three times. But it must be Jones.

At middleweight is has to be Anderson Silva, no questions asked. He single-handedly raised the level of striking in the sport. While the man who beat him twice, Chris Weidman, had his time, and maybe someone else will come along in the future, for now, the king of this division is The Spider.

The same can be said for welterweight. The first, Pat Miletich, was an innovator; Matt Hughes was great, even recently Tyron Woodley had a long successful run, but this division is owned by Georges St-Pierre. The two-time champion only suffered two losses in his career and avenged them both, plus nine title defenses. He’s the best welterweight ever. The end.

Khabib Nurmagomedov or Tony Ferguson, both on 12-fight win streaks in the division, define a lightweight divison that has largely lacked a standout presence. Until they face each other, the true all-time king of this division hasn’t been settled. Finally rescheduled for a fifth time, they’re supposed to be going at in on April 18, but at this point, I won’t believe it until after it happens. So no nominee from lightweight, it’d, in the end, be hard to expect any qualification of the “greatest” to emerge from this group.

At featherweight, Max Holloway is in the midst of a historic run, but it still has to be Jose Aldo. Plus, Max recently losing to Dustin Poirier at 155 showed that his greatness is specific to a division, not transcendent across the sport. With seven defenses and a reign spanning five years in the UFC and four years in the WEC, Aldo is the best.

For bantamweight, Dominic Cruz was a two-time champ who defended his title twice but constant injuries and facing lesser competition takes him down a peg. I have to give it to TJ Dillashaw. And even though Cruz and Dillashaw never fought, TJ twice bested Cody Garbrandt, the man that took the title from Dominic.

There are literally only two choices for flyweight, meanwhile: Demetrius Johnson or Henry Cejudo. For Cejudo to defeat a great champion like Mighty Mouse, that’s a better victory than any of the low-level competition Johnson faced during his run. But we have to give it to Demetrius Johnson; he did defend the title a record 11 times, even if there weren’t any former champions on that list. In contrast to how Cejudo defended his belt by beating Dillashaw.

For men, the list becomes Stipe Miocic, Jon Jones, Anderson Silva, GSP, Jose Aldo, TJ Dillashaw, and Demetrius Johnson.

Starting at the women’s featherweight, arguably the best ever spent most of her career outside the UFC was Cris Cyborg. But she eventually did join and became the champ, only to be knocked out in the first round by current titleholder Amanda Nunes. Therefore, Nunes is the rightful 145-pound queen.

Despite Nunes being the current champ at 135, we can’t take away the fact that the person with the most title defenses is still Ronda Rousey. Say what you will about her, she did bring a whole new level of interest to the sport, and in many people’s minds legitimized women’s MMA. While she may have been a somewhat off-putting personality, the sport owes her a great debt of gratitude.

At flyweight, the only real champ has been Valentina Shevchenko. The division was practically created for her and she’s had a stranglehold over it since getting the title.

Finally for the women, at strawweight, it’s Jonna Jedrzejczyk. With five title defenses, she’s had the most success in the division. Of course, seemingly unbeatable current champ Zhang Weili could be gearing up for a dominant run; after helping further open up the sport to Chinese markets, we’ll have to wait and see.

So for the women, the best are Amanda Nunes, Ronda Rousey, Valentina Shevchenko, and Jonna Jedrzejczyk.

To cut down this list further, let’s eliminate those who have tested positive for PEDs. That takes away Jon Jones, Anderson Silva, and TJ Dillashaw.

In the case of Stipe Miocic, he has lost to Stefan Struve (enough said), Junior Dos Santos, never faced Cain Velazquez, and officially (even though it was due to eye pokes) got KO’d in the first round by Daniel Cormier. So he’s out as far as best ever goes.

Jose Aldo lost twice to Max Holloway and in the biggest fight of his career as far as PPV numbers; he was also defeated by Conor McGregor in 14 seconds.

Demetrius Johnson was a contender at bantamweight but lost to Dominic Cruz, jumped ship to the newly formed flyweight division, faced very little competition until finally losing to Cejudo. Rather than fight him again in a trilogy fight, to determine who was truly the best between the two, Mighty Mouse bounced, leaving the organization for OneChampionship instead.

So, the best male fighter has to be GSP. Never tested positive for PEDs, avenged every loss, and was a two-division champion.

For the women, Joanna lost to Shevchenko and lost twice to Rose Namajunas. You can’t be the best when we all know someone is out there that has your number.

Amanda Nunes knocked out Ronda Rousey in the first round and twice beat Shevchenko, so she’s the best across three divisions. Plus, wins over former champions Miesha Tate and a recent first round KO victory over Holly Holm makes her, therefore, the best female fighter ever.

So we’re left with GSP and Amanda Nunes as the two best.

Amanda Nunes, on the other hand, is a woman, a foreigner, an ethnic minority, and an out lesbian. In fact, she’s the first homosexual UFC champion. Sure, not the first to be out (Liz Carmouche) or even the first lesbian champion (Tonya Evinger in Invicta), but still a seminal figure in the history of the sport nonetheless.

Nunes is always good to her fans, always upbeat in interviews, and has never had issues of PED use. A perfect balance of achievements and importance without having to delve into activism. An old school sort of athlete in the vein of Jack Johnson and Jesse Owens, where just beating the competition helped to change minds, over standing in a picket line holding a sign. Amanda’s worth comes from her actions and a willingness to casually speak out about future plans for marriage and children with her fiance fellow fighter Nina Ansaroff.

For a two-division champion that hasn’t lost in four years, she doesn’t get near the praise she deserves. And as far as UFC 245 goes, since Amanda Nunes has already beaten JDR once before, losing in a couple of weeks wouldn’t even tarnish her legacy. And if she wins, yet another victory against a former champion only further solidifies her as the GOAT of mixed martial arts, regardless of weight class or gender.