Makhachev and Shevchenko Climb to the Top of the Pound-for-Pound Rankings
The Saturday morning dawned with Islam Makhachev and Valentina Shevchenko ranked second in Alofoke Deportes’
pound-for-pound rankings. However, at the end of the day, both athletes managed to climb to first place after obtaining resounding victories at UFC 322.
Although their days were not identical, both fighters demonstrated their superiority in the octagon. Shevchenko, who was defending her women’s flyweight title, retained her belt after a unanimous decision over Zhang Weili. Makhachev, for his part, demonstrated his ability by moving up a weight class and dethroning Jack Della Maddalena at welterweight.
A key difference between both performances was the level of their opponents. Zhang, Shevchenko’s rival, was number one in the rankings, making their fight a clash between the two best women in MMA. In contrast, Della Maddalena, whom Makhachev defeated, was ranked eighth among men. This disparity in the rankings could explain why one voter kept Makhachev in second place, below Ilia Topuria, the current lightweight champion.
Below, we present the updated MMA rankings, highlighting the best fighters of the moment.
Men’s Pound-for-Pound Ranking
UFC Welterweight Champion
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 positions him among the greatest of all time in MMA. With a group of talented welterweight contenders, Makhachev will have many opponents. However, the fight everyone wants to see is against the current lightweight champion, Ilia Topuria.
UFC Lightweight Champion
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 himself 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
Dvalishvili is having one of the most impressive careers 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 defeated 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
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
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 faced strikers, but the question was whether he could get the job done against a talented grappler. Pereira kept the fight standing, but fell short by unanimous decision. He violently changed that result when he faced Ankalaev in a rematch at UFC 320.
UFC Middleweight Champion
After five years of anticipation, Chimaev finally fought for a championship at UFC 319, and the result was one of the most dominant title fight performances in UFC history. Chimaev did not manage to finish, but completely demolished Du Plessis in their five-round bout and answered questions about his endurance along the way. If Chimaev can stay healthy and compete frequently, there is still plenty of time for him to rise to the top of this list.
UFC Flyweight Champion
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 victory at UFC 317 over Kara-France, whom he had already defeated before. He will defend the belt against Yan at UFC 323. Pantoja is quickly circling the 125-pound division.
UFC Featherweight Champion
It seemed that the sport had begun to write Volkanovski’s eulogy after his knockout loss to Topuria in February 2024. Volkanovski noticed this and made a point of showing everyone that he still has a lot left by regaining the featherweight belt at UFC 314. His age (36) will likely remain a pre-fight topic, which is fine because Volkanovski likes to prove people wrong.
UFC Welterweight
Retaining a top 10 spot for Della Maddalena 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 while Della Maddalena had a bad night at UFC 322, the perception of his talent hasn’t drastically changed because of it.
UFC Middleweight
Before being stifled 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 another opportunity against Chimaev?
UFC Lightweight
Holloway has won four of his last five fights, alternating between lightweight and featherweight. The only loss was against Ilia Topuria, who now reigns in Holloway’s current division, lightweight.
Other fighters who received votes: Magomed Ankalaev, Umar Nurmagomedov, and Arman Tsarukyan.
Women’s Pound-for-Pound Ranking
UFC Flyweight Champion
Shevchenko’s dominance 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 has now asserted herself as the number 1 in the world, period. It wasn’t surprising that she beat Zhang, but it was surprising how easy she made it look.
UFC Flyweight/Strawweight
It’s difficult to gain weight, especially at the highest level. That sounds like it should be obvious, but Zhang had been dominant at 115 pounds for so long that some of us might have taken for granted how big a challenge it would be to move up 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
PFL’s face for a long time is also quickly becoming the face of the UFC’s women’s divisions. With a dominant victory over Peña at UFC 316, Harrison has a 4-0 record in the UFC and has the team to add to her two Olympic judo gold medals. However, it won’t be easy for her in her first title defense, because Nunes returns with the belt in sight.
PFL Featherweight
It had been a while since Cyborg had 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 two-weight PFL champion, upsetting 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
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
The rise of Dern 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 after her MMA career, after multiple world jiu-jitsu championships, has won three fights in a row.
UFC Flyweight
Silva looks every part like a future UFC champion after a dominant showing against Grasso at UFC 315. Silva’s “hit and move” style has frustrated even the highest-level opponent, and she has youth on her side, as she won’t turn 30 until 2027.
UFC Flyweight
Blanchfield avenged her 2019 defeat to Cortez emphatically at UFC 322, submitting her in the second round of their rematch. At just 26 years old, Blanchfield continues to evolve with improved striking and suffocating grappling. 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
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 challenged 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.
UFC Bantamweight
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.
Other fighters who received votes: Alexa Grasso, Virna Jandiroba, Rose Namajunas, and Tatiana Suarez.
