Islam Makhachev and Valentina Shevchenko Climb to the Top of the UFC Rankings
In a day full of emotions for mixed martial arts fans, Islam Makhachev and Valentina Shevchenko were crowned as the number one in their respective categories in the ESPN ranking. Both athletes achieved resounding victories at UFC 322, demonstrating their dominance in the octagon.
Saturday morning began with Makhachev and Shevchenko ranked second in their divisions. However, by the end of the day, their impressive performances earned them the coveted top spot.
Shevchenko, who was defending her women’s flyweight title, retained her crown after a unanimous decision victory over Zhang Weili. Meanwhile, Makhachev, former lightweight champion, had no problem dethroning Jack Della Maddalena at welterweight.
A notable difference between both fights was the ranking level of their opponents. While Zhang, Shevchenko’s rival, was number one at the time, Della Maddalena, Makhachev’s opponent, was in eighth place. This factor could explain why a voter kept Makhachev in second place, below Ilia Topuria, the current lightweight champion.
Here are the updated rankings:
Men’s Pound-for-Pound Ranking
UFC Welterweight Champion
Record: 28-1
Last fight: Victory (Unanimous Decision) vs. Jack Della Maddalena, November 15th
Makhachev fulfilled his promise to become a two-division champion by neutralizing the threat of Della Maddalena at UFC 322. This victory ties him with Anderson Silva for the longest winning streak in UFC history, with 16 consecutive wins, and places him on the list of the best fighters of all time. The highly anticipated fight against lightweight champion Ilia Topuria is the match that all fans want to see.
UFC Lightweight Champion
Record: 17-0
Last fight: Victory (KO1) vs. Charles Oliveira, June 28th
After knocking out two of the best featherweights in UFC history, Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway, in 2024, it would be difficult for Topuria to surpass that in 2025. He moved up to lightweight with the goal of challenging Makhachev, but with Makhachev moving up a division, Topuria captured the vacant title by knocking out Oliveira at UFC 317.
UFC Bantamweight Champion
Record: 21-4
Last fight: Victory (Unanimous Decision) vs. Cory Sandhagen, October 4th
Next fight: December 6 vs. Petr Yan
Dvalishvili is on one of the most impressive streaks in the UFC bantamweight division. Not only did he defeat Sean O’Malley for the second time in nine months at UFC 316, but he also showed a new facet of his game, finishing O’Malley with a guillotine in the third round. Since August 2022, Dvalishvili has beaten José Aldo, Yan, Henry Cejudo, O’Malley (twice), Umar Nurmagomedov, and Sandhagen. And he will defend his title again, in a rematch with Yan, in December, becoming the only champion in UFC history to defend a title four times in a year.
UFC Heavyweight Champion
Record: 15-3, 1 NC
Last fight: NC1 vs. Ciryl Gane, October 25th
It can be argued that Aspinall is the most dynamic, skilled, and talented heavyweight the sport has seen. He is dominating his opponents in an unparalleled way. Nobody can last a round with him. He was hoping to prove his supremacy against Jon Jones, but Jones chose to withdraw, elevating Aspinall from interim champion. His first defense of the undisputed belt ended anticlimactically, as an eye poke caused his fight at UFC 321 with Gane to be declared a no-contest.
UFC Light Heavyweight Champion
Record: 13-3
Last fight: Victory (TKO1) vs. Magomed Ankalaev, October 4th
A stellar 2024 consolidated Pereira’s place as a star in the UFC, but he faced possibly his toughest test as light heavyweight champion when he entered the octagon with Ankalaev at UFC 313. Pereira had dealt with strikers, but the question was whether he could do the job against a talented wrestler. Pereira kept the fight standing but fell short by unanimous decision. He changed that result violently when he faced Ankalaev in a rematch at UFC 320.
UFC Middleweight Champion
Record: 15-0
Last fight: Victory (Unanimous Decision) vs. Dricus Du Plessis, August 16th
After five years of anticipation, Chimaev finally fought for a championship at UFC 319, and the result was one of the most dominant performances in UFC history. Chimaev did not manage to finish, but completely demolished Du Plessis in their five-round fight and answered questions about his endurance along the way. If Chimaev can stay healthy and compete frequently, he still has plenty of time to climb to the top of this list.
UFC Flyweight Champion
Record: 30-5
Last fight: Victory (Submission3) vs. Kai Kara-France, June 28th
Next fight: December 6 vs. Joshua Van
The UFC flyweight king has accumulated four title defenses, including two in pay-per-view main events in 2024. He built his winning streak to eight in his UFC 317 victory over Kara-France, whom he had already defeated before. He will defend the belt against Yan at UFC 323. Pantoja is quickly lapping the 125-pound division.
UFC Featherweight Champion
Record: 27-4
Last fight: Victory (Unanimous Decision) vs. Diego Lopes, April 12
It seemed that the sport had begun to write Volkanovski’s eulogy after his knockout loss to Topuria in February 2024. Volkanovski took notice and emphasized proving to everyone that he still has a lot left by recapturing the featherweight belt at UFC 314. His age (36 years old) will likely remain a pre-fight topic, which is fine because Volkanovski likes to prove people wrong.
UFC Welterweight
Record: 18-3
Last fight: Defeat (Unanimous Decision) vs. Islam Makhachev, November 15
That Della Maddalena remains in the top 10 might be a surprise, but it speaks to a few things. One, of course, is that there’s no shame in losing to Makhachev. And two, this might be the deepest welterweight division in MMA history. Della Maddalena’s eight-fight win streak in this division still means a lot. And although Della Maddalena had a bad night at UFC 322, the perception of his talent hasn’t changed drastically because of it.
UFC Middleweight
Record: 23-3
Last fight: Defeat (Unanimous Decision) vs. Khamzat Chimaev, August 16th
Before being submitted by Chimaev and losing the belt, Du Plessis was dominating the middleweight division with 11 consecutive victories, including four in a row over champions or former champions (Sean Strickland twice, Israel Adesanya, and Robert Whittaker). Can he rebuild for another opportunity against Chimaev?
UFC Lightweight
Record: 27-8
Last fight: Victory (Unanimous Decision) vs. Dustin Poirier, July 19th
Holloway has won four of his last five fights, jumping back and forth between lightweight and featherweight. The only loss was against Ilia Topuria, who now reigns in Holloway’s current division, the lightweight.
Other fighters who received votes: Magomed Ankalaev, Umar Nurmagomedov, and Arman Tsarukyan.
Women’s Pound-for-Pound Ranking
UFC Flyweight Champion
Record: 26-4-1
Last fight: Victory (Unanimous Decision) vs. Zhang Weili, November 15th
Shevchenko’s supremacy was questioned in 2022 and 2023, when she had a 1-1-1 record in a trilogy with Alexa Grasso. God, that seems like a long time ago now. Shevchenko has reasserted herself as the best flyweight in the world, and now she has asserted herself as the number 1 in the world, period. It wasn’t surprising that she beat Zhang, but it was surprising how easily she did it.
UFC Flyweight/Strawweight
Record: 26-4
Last fight: Defeat (Unanimous Decision) vs. Valentina Shevchenko, November 15
It’s difficult to gain weight, especially at the highest level. That seems obvious, but Zhang had dominated at 115 pounds for so long that some of us might have taken for granted how big a challenge it would be to move to 125. UFC 322 was a bad night for Zhang, but she doesn’t have many. And if she decides to stay at 125, it certainly seems reasonable that she’ll do better in the future.
UFC Bantamweight Champion
Record: 19-1
Last fight: Victory (Technical Submission2) vs. Julianna Peña, June 7th
The face of PFL for a long time is also quickly becoming the face of the UFC women’s divisions. With a dominant victory over Peña at UFC 316, Harrison has a 4-0 record in the UFC and has the prize to add to her two Olympic judo gold medals. However, she will not have it easy in her first title defense, because Nunes returns with the belt in sight.
PFL Featherweight
Record: 28-2, 1 NC
Last fight: Victory (Unanimous Decision) vs. Larissa Pacheco, October 19, 2024
It had been a while since Cyborg fought an elite MMA opponent until she faced Pacheco in 2024. That was a legitimate fight, and many within the industry predicted Cyborg’s downfall. Instead, she eliminated the PFL two-weight champion, undoing all of Pacheco’s momentum. One of the original pioneers of women’s MMA is still going strong somehow, and she will seek the vacant PFL title against Collins, an Australian with a 6-0 record but little high-level experience.
UFC Flyweight
Record: 13-2
Last fight: Victory (TKO1) vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius, October 18th
Fiorot did not succeed in her challenge against Shevchenko, the champion, at UFC 315. But by defeating Rose Namajunas and Erin Blanchfield in her two previous fights, Fiorot has shown that she has the tools to become a champion.
UFC Strawweight Champion
Record: 16-5
Last fight: Victory (Unanimous Decision) vs. Virna Jandiroba, October 25th
Dern’s ascent to the 115-pound throne was truly a changing of the guard. She is the first first-time champion of the division since 2019, because the previous three champions, Zhang Weili, Carla Esparza, and Rose Namajunas, were in their second reigns. Dern, almost a decade into her MMA career after multiple world jiu-jitsu championships, has won three fights in a row.
UFC Flyweight
Record: 19-5-1
Last fight: Victory (Unanimous Decision) vs. Alexa Grasso, May 10
Silva appears to be the future UFC champion candidate after a dominant performance against Grasso at UFC 315. Silva’s style of hitting and moving has frustrated even the highest-level opponents, and she has youth on her side, as she won’t turn 30 until 2027.
UFC Flyweight
Record: 14-2
Last fight: Victory (Submission2) vs. Tracy Cortez, November 15th
Blanchfield avenged her 2019 defeat to Cortez emphatically at UFC 322, submitting her in the second round of their rematch. At only 26 years old, Blanchfield continues to evolve with improved stand-up and a suffocating grip. She will have to wait her turn for a title shot, with Natalia Silva likely next, but Blanchfield’s turn is certainly coming.
PFL Flyweight
Record: 14-0
Last fight: Victory (Unanimous Decision) vs. Sumiko Inaba, July 19th
Next fight: February 7 vs. Denise Kielholtz
Ditcheva not only won the PFL flyweight season last year, but she did so in spectacular fashion: a TKO finish over Taila Santos, who once competed for a UFC title. Ditcheva opened her 2025 campaign by dominating Inaba in the co-main event of the first PFL Champions Series card in Cape Town, South Africa. She will open 2026 with a matchup against fellow kickboxer Kielholtz.
UFC Bantamweight
Record: 12-6
Last fight: Defeat (Submission2) vs. Kayla Harrison, June 7th
Peña is a two-time women’s bantamweight champion, with one of those reigns made possible by one of the biggest upsets in UFC history, her submission victory in 2021 over Amanda Nunes. Peña’s four most recent appearances have been in title fights, so she is made for big moments.
