UFC rankings are viewed by many fight fans as a listing of the very best fighters in each major division in mixed martial arts. However, which competitors get ranked and where is always a source of much debate. Ringside Intel is here to further the subjective discourse with our rundown of the top fighters in the UFC.
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This space will be your one-stop shop for the top 10 in the UFC rankings, from the men’s flyweight division to the women’s pound-for-pound list. Scroll down and feast your eyes on the latest rankings.
Men’s pound-for-pound UFC rankings
Twelve straight victories are part of why UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev is at the top of our current pound-for-pound UFC rankings. However, it is also how dominant he has been, and his back-to-back wins over fellow P4P fighters Charles Oliveira and Alexander Volkanovski that place him head and shoulders above any other fighters in the promotion right now.
| Rank | Fighter | Record | Last 3 Results |
| #1 | Islam Makhachev | 24-1 | W-W-W |
| #2 | Alexander Volkanovski | 26-2 | W-L-W |
| #3 | Jon Jones | 27-1 | W-W-W |
| #4 | Leon Edwards | 21-3 | W-W-W |
| #5 | Israel Adesanya | 24-3 | L-W-L |
| #6 | Charles Oliveira | 34-9 | W-L-W |
| #7 | Kamaru Usman | 20-3 | L-L-W |
| #8 | Alexandre Pantoja | 20-5 | W-W-W |
| #9 | Max Holloway | 24-7 | W-L-W |
| #10 | Sean O’Malley | 17-1-1 | W-W-NC |
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UFC flyweight rankings
Brazil’s Alexandre Pantoja has had a long hard road to becoming the new UFC flyweight king. He has toiled away inside the division for five years before he was finally able to earn a title fight at UFC 290. In his first chance at being champion, he made good by scoring a second (third unofficial) win over division king Brandon Moreno. He is not just a 125-pound superstar but a pound-for-pound level competitor as well.
| Rank | Fighter | Record | Last 3 Results | ||
| #1 | Alexandre Pantoja | 26-5 | W-W-W | ||
| #2 | Brandon Moreno | 21-7-2 | l-W-W | ||
| #3 | Brandon Royval | 15-6 | W-W-W | ||
| #4 | Amir Albazi | 17-1 | W-W-W | ||
| #5 | Matheus Nicolau | 19-4-1 | L-W-W | ||
| #6 | Manel Kape | 19-6 | W-W-W | ||
| #7 | Kai Kara-France | 24-11 | L-L-W | ||
| #8 | Matt Schnell | 16-7 | L-W-L | ||
| #9 | Tim Elliott | 20-12-1 | W-W-W | ||
| #10 | Muhammad Mokaev | 10-0 | W-W-W |
UFC bantamweight rankings
Sean O’Malley has had many doubters during his UFC career but he put that to rest definitively at UFC 292. His second-round technical knockout win over Aljamain Sterling proved he is not just an elite striker but a fighter with a high fight IQ. At just 28 he is the division king and at the top of our latest UFC bantamweight rankings.
| Rank | Fighter | Record | Last 3 Results | ||
| #1 | Sean O’Malley | 17-1-1 | W-W-NC | ||
| #2 | Aljamain Sterling | 23-4 | W-W-W | ||
| #3 | Merab Dvalishvili | 16-4 | W-W-W | ||
| #4 | Cory Sandhagen | 16-4 | W-W-W | ||
| #5 | Marlon Vera | 21-7-1 | W-L-W | ||
| #6 | Petr Yan | 16-5 | L-L-W | ||
| #7 | Henry Cejudo | 16-3 | L-W-W | ||
| #8 | Rob Font | 20-7 | L-W-L | ||
| #9 | Yadong Song | 20-7 | W-L-W | ||
| #10 | Umar Nurmagomedov | 16-0 | W-W-W |
UFC featherweight rankings
While Alexander Volkanovski failed in his bid to become a champ-champ, he still remains the best featherweight fighter of all time. Three wins over division legend Max Holloway and outclassing MMA great Jose Aldo will make any resume bulletproof. In his return, he dominantly defended his place at the top of the rankings against interim champion Yair Rodriguez.
| Rank | Fighter | Record | Last 3 Results |
| #1 | Alexander Volkanovski | 26-2 | L-W-W |
| #2 | Max Holloway | 25-7 | W-W-L |
| #3 | Arnold Allen | 19-2 | L-W-W |
| #4 | Yair Rodriguez | 16-4 | L-W-W |
| #5 | Ilia Topuria | 14-0 | W-W-W |
| #6 | Brian Ortega | 15-3 | L-L-W |
| #7 | Josh Emmett | 18-4 | L-L-W |
| #8 | Calvin Kattar | 23-7 | L-L-W |
| #9 | Giga Chikadze | 14-3 | L-W-W |
| #10 | Movsar Evloev | 17-0 | W-W-W |
What are MMA rankings?
MMA rankings are just like rankings for boxers of NFL teams. It is a list of the best fighters in a particular weight class or overall in the sport of mixed martial arts.
UFC lightweight rankings
Islam Makhachev, like his friend and mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov, has been a dominant force in the UFC lightweight division. He won 10 straight to land a title fight and now has one of the best back-to-back title defenses in weight class history when he defeated former champ Charles Oliveria and featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski.
| Rank | Fighter | Record | Last 3 Results | ||
| #1 | Islam Makhachev | 24-1 | W-W-W | ||
| #2 | Charles Oliveira | 34-9 | W-L-W | ||
| #3 | Justin Gaethje | 25-4 | W-W-L | ||
| #4 | Dustin Poirier | 29-8 | W-L-W | ||
| #5 | Beniel Dariush | 22-5-1 | W-W-W | ||
| #6 | Michael Chandler | 23-8 | L-W-L | ||
| #7 | Rafael Fiziev | 12-2 | L-W-W | ||
| #8 | Mateusz Gamrot | 22-2 | W-L-W | ||
| #9 | Arman Tsarukyan | 20-3 | W-W-L | ||
| #10 | Dan Hooker | 23-12 | W-W-L |
UFC welterweight rankings
Fight fans were shocked when Leon Edwards shocked welterweight legend Kamaru Usman in the final seconds of their rematch in 2022. They figured it was a fluke and the champ got lazy late. Well, he proved it was no miracle in March when he defeated Usman again and landed bragging rights for their trilogy. Like it or not, “Rocky” is the cream of the UFC rankings crop at 170 pounds.
| Rank | Fighter | Record | Last 3 Results | ||
| #1 | Leon Edwards | 21-3 | W-W-W | ||
| #2 | Belal Muhammad | 26-3 | W-W-W | ||
| #3 | Kamaru Usman | 20-3 | L-L-W | ||
| #4 | Gilbert Burns | 22-6 | L-W-W | ||
| #5 | Shavkat Rakhmonov | 17-0 | W-W-W | ||
| #6 | Stephen Thompson | 17-6-1 | W-L-L | ||
| #7 | Colby Covington | 17-3 | W-L-W | ||
| #8 | Khamzat Chimaev | 12-0 | W-W-W | ||
| #9 | Vicente Luque | 21-8-1 | L-L-W | ||
| #10 | Sean Brady | 15-1 | L-W-W |
UFC middleweight rankings
At UFC 293, Sean Strickland stunned the MMA world by beating division legend Israel Adesanya despite being a +440 underdog entering fight night. It was a stunning moment that forever changed opinions about who is the division GOAT and opened up the top of the division to all sorts of possibilities in the months ahead.
| Rank | Fighter | Record | Last 3 Results | ||
| #1 | Sean Strickland | 28-5 | W-W-W | ||
| #2 | Israel Adesanya | 24-3 | L-W-L | ||
| #3 | Dricus Du Plessis | 20-2 | W-W-W | ||
| #4 | Robert Whittaker | 25-7 | L-W-L | ||
| #5 | Jared Cannonier | 17-6 | W-W-L | ||
| #6 | Marvin Vettori | 19-7-1 | L-W-L | ||
| #7 | Paulo Costa | 14-2 | W-L-L | ||
| #8 | Derek Brunson | 23-9 | L-L-W | ||
| #9 | Roman Dolidze | 12-2 | L-W-W | ||
| #10 | Brendan Allen | 22-5 | W-W-W |
UFC light heavyweight rankings
While Jiri Prochazka is not the current light heavyweight champion, after relinquishing the title last year, he is still the scariest fighter in the division. Recent champ Jamahal Hill can make a case for being the best but an Achilles injury has sidelined that opportunity and keeps “Denisa” in the top spot ahead of an upcoming vacant title fight.
| Rank | Fighter | Record | Last 3 Results | ||
| #1 | Jiri Prochazka | 29-3-1 | W-W-W | ||
| #2 | Jamahal Hill | 12-1 | W-W-W | ||
| #3 | Magomed Ankalaev | 18-1-1 | D-W-W | ||
| #4 | Alex Pereira | 8-2 | L-W-W | ||
| #5 | Jan Blachowicz | 29-10-1 | W-D-W | ||
| #6 | Aleksandar Rakic | 14-3 | L-W-W | ||
| #7 | Johnny Walker | 21-7 | W-W-W | ||
| #8 | Nikita Krylov | 30-9 | W-W-W | ||
| #9 | Anthony Smith | 36-18 | L-L-W | ||
| #10 | Azamat Murzakanvo | 13-0 | W-W-W |
UFC heavyweight rankings
After three years away, MMA GOAT Jon Jones returned from his self-imposed exile at a new weight and is still the elite fighter he has always been. In dispatching former interim champion Ciryl Gane with such ease in March, he proved moving up in weight has not limited his greatness, and he now has the chance to take his fight legacy to new heights as the heavyweight champion.
| Rank | Fighter | Record | Last 3 Results | ||
| #1 | Jon Jones | 27-1 | W-W-W | ||
| #2 | Sergei Pavlovich | 18-1 | W-W-W | ||
| #3 | Ciryl Gane | 12-2 | W-L-W | ||
| #4 | Tom Aspinall | 13-3 | W-L-W | ||
| #5 | Stipe Miocic | 20-4 | L-W-W | ||
| #6 | Curtis Blaydes | 20-3 | L-W-W | ||
| #7 | Alexander Volkov | 37-10 | W-W-W | ||
| #8 | Jailton Almeida | 19-2 | W-W-W | ||
| #9 | Sergey Spivak | 16-4 | L-W-W | ||
| #10 | Marcin Tybura | 24-8 | L-W-W |
Women’s UFC pound for pound rankings
With Amanda Nunes walking away from the sport, the women’s pound-for-pound rankings are now wide open. In the wake of the GOAT’s departure and Valentina Shevchenko’s shocking loss, Chinese superstar Zhang Weili jumped into the top spot. At UFC 292 she showed why she is one of the best female fighters alive with a dominant win as she used a complete attack to beat Amanda Lemos.
| Rank | Fighter | Record | Last 3 Results |
| #1 | Zhang Weili | 24-3 | W-W-W |
| #2 | Alexa Grasso | 16-3-1 | D-W-W |
| #3 | Valentina Shevchenko | 23-4-1 | D-L-W |
| #4 | Carla Esparza | 20-7 | L-W-W |
| #5 | Erin Blanchfield | 11-1 | W-W-W |
| #6 | Yan Xiaonan | 17-3 | W-W-L |
| #7 | Rose Namajunas | 12-6 | L-L-W |
| #8 | Julianna Pena | 12-5 | L-W-W |
| #9 | Tatiana Suarez | 10-0 | W-W-W |
| #10 | Manon Fiorot | 11-1 | W-W-W |
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Categorized: MMA Caged Insider