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.
Also Read: UFC tonight – Get watch times and odds for Saturday’s UFC card
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 | 25-1 | W-W-W |
| #2 | Jon Jones | 27-1 | W-W-W |
| #3 | Leon Edwards | 21-3 | W-W-W |
| #4 | Alexander Volkanovski | 26-3 | L-W-L |
| #5 | Israel Adesanya | 24-3 | L-W-L |
| #6 | Charles Oliveira | 34-9 | W-L-W |
| #7 | Alexandre Pantoja | 20-5 | W-W-W |
| #8 | Kamaru Usman | 20-4 | L-L-L |
| #9 | Alex Pereira | 9-2 | W-W-L |
| #10 | Sean O’Malley | 17-1-1 | W-W-NC |
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 | Muhammad Mokaev | 11-0 | W-W-W | ||
| #9 | Matt Schnell | 16-7 | L-W-L | ||
| #10 | Tim Elliott | 20-13-1 | L-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 | Yadong Song | 20-7 | W-L-W | |
| #8 | Umar Nurmagomedov | 16-0 | W-W-W | |
| #9 | Henry Cejudo | 16-3 | L-W-W | |
| #10 | Deiveson Figueiredo | 22-3 | W-L-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 | 25-1 | 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 | Mateusz Gamrot | 21-3 | W-W-W | ||
| #6 | Arman Tsarukyan | 21-3 | W-W-W | ||
| #7 | Beniel Dariush | 22-6-1 | L-W-W | ||
| #8 | Michael Chandler | 23-8 | L-W-L | ||
| #9 | Rafael Fiziev | 12-2 | L-W-W | ||
| #10 | Jalin Turner | 13-7 | W-L-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 | 20-4 | L-L-L | ||
| #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 | Vicente Luque | 22-8-1 | W-L-L | ||
| #9 | Sean Brady | 15-1 | L-W-W | ||
| #10 | Ian Garry | 13-0 | W-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 | Brendan Allen | 23-5 | W-W-W | ||
| #8 | Paulo Costa | 14-2 | W-L-L | ||
| #9 | Roman Dolidze | 12-2 | L-W-W | ||
| #10 | Khamzat Chimaev | 13-0 | W-W-W |
UFC light heavyweight rankings
In a short amount of time, Alex Pereira stamped his place as one of the best middleweight MMA fighters on the planet. His knockout win over former champion Israel Adesanya forever stamped his spot in division lore and he likely would have been first in line to get a chance to again beat new champion Sean Strickland. However, he switched divisions and rapidly rose to the top at light heavyweight.
At UFC 295, he proved any doubters left wrong when he scored a destructive second-round finish over former champion Jiri Prochazka. Not only is he the ninth fighter in UFC history to win titles in two divisions, but he is by far the fastest to ever achieve the legendary feat as he did it in just seven fights.
| Rank | Fighter | Record | Last 3 Results | ||
| #1 | Alex Pereira | 9-2 | W-W-L | ||
| #2 | Jamahal Hill | 12-1 | W-W-W | ||
| #3 | Jiri Prochazka | 29-4-1 | W-W-W | ||
| #4 | Magomed Ankalaev | 18-1-1 | D-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 | 37-18 | W-L-L | ||
| #10 | Azamat Murzakanvo | 13-0 | W-W-W |
UFC heavyweight rankings
Englishman Tom Aspinall is the best heavyweight in the UFC. While the current title he holds is an interim belt, with all due respect to lineal champion Jon Jones, Aspinall has beaten many of the best fighters in the division for the last three years instead of a great win in one fight.
His lone defeat in the company came after he tore knee ligaments against Curtis Blaydes, otherwise, he has met little resistance during eight bouts in the Octagon and he stamped his place as the best in the class with a destructive championship win over Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295.
| Rank | Fighter | Record | Last 3 Results | ||
| #1 | Tom Aspinall | 14-3 | W-W-L | ||
| #2 | Jon Jones | 27-1 | W-W-W | ||
| #3 | Ciryl Gane | 12-2 | W-L-W | ||
| #4 | Sergei Pavlovich | 18-2 | L-W-W | ||
| #5 | Jailton Almeida | 20-2 | W-W-W | ||
| #6 | Curtis Blaydes | 20-3 | L-W-W | ||
| #7 | Alexander Volkov | 37-10 | W-W-W | ||
| #8 | Stipe Miocic | 20-4 | L-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 |
Where is Islam Makhachev ranked?
UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev is ranked in two categories in our current UFC rankings and the Russian star lands in the top spot for both. Makhachev is No. 1 in our latest lightweight and pound-for-pound rankings.
Who is the best pound for pound MMA history?
Deciding who is the greatest MMA fighter ever is very subjective. But if one had to be chosen, either light heavyweight great Jon Jones, welterweight legend Georges St. Pierre, and flyweight icon Demetrious Johnson would be the likely choices for many fight fans.