Ilia Topuria ranked most marketable combat sports athlete of 2026, ahead of Anthony Joshua and Canelo

Ilia Topuria is the most marketable athlete in combat sports, according to SportsPro's annual ranking of the world's most marketable athletes, published on Wednesday, October 28. The former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion is ranked No. 41 overall and is the only fighter in the top 50, Bloody Elbow reported.

Tennis star Aryna Sabalenka topped the 2026 list, ahead of freestyle skier Eileen Gu, basketball player Giannis Antetokounmpo, soccer star Erling Haaland and tennis player Carlos Alcaraz.

A first appearance for Topuria

SportsPro said Topuria is a new entry this year and that his appearance at UFC Freedom 250 at the White House in June "drove widespread attention" for the Spaniard. According to Bloody Elbow, his No. 41 spot puts him above Max Verstappen, Novak Djokovic and Harry Kane.

The ranking comes despite the first loss of Topuria's career. At UFC Freedom 250 he lost the undisputed lightweight title to Justin Gaethje when his corner stopped the fight after the fourth round. SportsPro used evidence from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026, so the period covered includes the White House card but very little of what came after it.

Topuria scored 61.11 out of 100, per Bloody Elbow: 20.16 out of 45 for brand equity, 33.21 out of 40 for momentum and 7.74 out of 15 for commercial trajectory.

How the other fighters ranked

Seven other combat sports athletes made SportsPro's extended list of 150, according to Bloody Elbow's breakdown of the scores:

• No. 41: Ilia Topuria (61.11)
• No. 52: Anthony Joshua (59.57)
• No. 61: Canelo Alvarez (58.45)
• No. 62: Khamzat Chimaev (58.29)
• No. 93: Alexander Volkanovski (53.20)
• No. 100: Tyson Fury (52.86)
• No. 109: Oleksandr Usyk (52.32)
• No. 136: Max Holloway (48.34)

Joshua had the highest brand equity score of any fighter, 36.55 out of 45, but only 21.43 for momentum. Topuria's momentum score was the best in combat sports. Joshua topped the whole SportsPro list in 2017, the year he beat Wladimir Klitschko, Bloody Elbow noted.

Volkanovski and Holloway, the two men Topuria beat in UFC featherweight title fights, both made the list. Chimaev is the second-highest UFC fighter.

How the list works

SportsPro compiled the ranking with NorthStar Solutions Group. It started with 1,202 athletes from 70 sports and assessed 247 of them in full. Each athlete gets a NorthStar Marketability Score out of 100, built from three pillars: brand equity (45 points), momentum (40 points) and commercial trajectory (15 points). There are 27 marketability drivers behind the score.

What's next for Topuria

Topuria has not fought since the Gaethje loss and has no fight booked. Paddy Pimblett, who has been feuding with him, said this week that he would rather have a rematch with Gaethje first. Several of the fighters on the list have big fights coming up. Canelo Alvarez faces Christian Mbilli in Riyadh on October 31, and Joshua meets Fury at Principality Stadium in Cardiff on December 11.