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Men's MMA pound-for-pound rankings: 2025 ends with shakeup caused by UFC 323

Men's MMA pound-for-pound rankings: 2025 ends with shakeup caused by UFC 323

Find out where everyone ranks in the men's pound-for-pound top 15 before 2025 comes to a close.

How do the best mixed martial artists on the planet measure up against each other, regardless of division? That's the question our USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie men's pound-for-pound rankings aims to answer.

The results from UFC 323, where two new champions were crowned, caused a shakeup near the top of the rankings and resulted in one of those new champs claiming a spot at the expense of Shavkat Rakhmonov, who hasn't fought now in more than a year.

See below to find out how the top 15 rank.

Note: Results are through Dec. 13.

More rankings: Complete USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings by division

1. Islam Makhachev

How do you replace Ilia Topuria at the top of the pound-for-pound rankings? You move up a division and make the sitting champion look silly over the course of 25 minutes for a clean sweep on the judges' scorecards. That's exactly what Makhachev did to Della Maddalena at UFC 322, dominating him for his 16th win in a row, a streak that dates back to 2016. Now we wait and see what happens with Makhachev's first title defense, which won't be booked until some time after Ramadan ends March 19, although the widespread expectation is a fight with former 170-pound champ Kamaru Usman.

2. Ilia Topuria

Topuria was named the 2024 Male Fighter of the Year following his two knockouts of Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway to win and then defend the UFC featherweight title before vacating to moving up to lightweight to claim the vacant 155-pound title with a knockout of former champ Oliveira. Unfortunately that was his only appearance of 2025, and Topuria is out indefinitely while he takes time off to deal with a personal family matter.

3. Khamzat Chimaev

Thanks to a run of unfortunate circumstances, which included multiple withdrawals, a bad weight miss that resulted in changing divisions, and an injury layoff, Chimaev's run to a UFC title came later than expected, but it happened earlier this year when he dominated Du Plessis to claim the middleweight championship. Chimaev has been talking about a move up to light heavyweight to face champ Alex Pereira, but he's got a list of contenders at 185 pounds he should focus on instead.

4. Alex Pereira

Alex Pereira def. Magomed Ankalaev, UFC 320

Just when it seemed like the end of the "Poatan" Era had arrived, Pereira came through in a big way by dismantling Ankalaev in their rematch to reclaim the UFC light heavyweight title seven months after losing it. What comes next for the two-division champ remains to be seen, but a move to heavyweight isn't out of the question.

5. Alexandre Pantoja

Pantoja had been the steadiest UFC flyweight champion since Demetrious Johnson lost the title and left the promotion in late 2018. That is, until he lost the belt to Van in a most unfortunate fashion as he suffered an arm injury just 26 seconds into the bout that forced the TKO stoppage. The timing of his return, and whether or not he'll be the first to challenge Van in a rematch, are unclear.

6. Merab Dvalishvili

Thanks to a Stellar performance from Yan, Dvalishvili came up short in his quest to become the first UFC champion to ever defend their title four times in a calendar year. Still, after three 135-pound title defenses against Umar Nurmagomedov, Sean O'Malley and Cory Sandhagen in less than nine months, Dvalishvili was named MMA Junkie's Male Fighter of the Year. It remains to be seen if he'll receive an immediate title rematch with Yan.

7. Alexander Volkanovski

Apr 12, 2025; Miami, Florida, UNITED STATES; Alexander Volkanovski (red gloves) reacts after defeating Diego Lopes (not pictured) during UFC 314 at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

With Topuria vacating the UFC featherweight title, Volkanovski capitalized on his opportunity to reclaim the belt by defeating Diego Lopes earlier this year at UFC 314. The win came after Volkanovski had lost three of four fights, including two in a row, and now we wait to see how long this reign at 145 pounds can last. It'll start with an immediate rematch in the UFC 325 headliner.

8. Dricus Du Plessis

Du Plessis' 11-fight winning streak, which included nine UFC appearances, came to halt when he ran into the buzzsaw that is Chimaev to lose the middleweight title. But that streak included wins over former champs Israel Adesanya, Sean Strickland, and Robert Whittaker, which is nothing to be ashamed of.

9. Magomed Ankalaev

Ankalaev couldn't follow up his brilliant performance against Pereira in their first encounter with an encore, and now it's back to the drawing board for the Russian, who hadn't tasted defeat since his second UFC appearance in September 2018.

10. Petr Yan

Dec 6, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, UNITED STATES; Merab Dvalishvili (red gloves) fights Petr Yan (blue gloves) during UFC 323 at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

How can you not appreciate the long road Petr Yan endured to reclaiming the UFC championship at 135-pounds? After losing the belt by disqualification to Aljamain Sterling in March 2021, Yan went 1-3 with a three-fight losing skid before stringing together three wins in a row to secure a rematch with Dvalishvili. Thanks to a stellar performance, Yan got his revenge and the bantamweight title back, and he's now waiting to see what comes first in his second title reign.

11. Jack Della Maddalena

While Della Maddalena did well taking the fight to Belal Muhammad and beating him at his own game, wrestling, to claim the welterweight championship in May, the same could not be said for his performance against Islam Makhachev at UFC 322. Della Maddalena looked like a fish out of water while suffering his first defeat since his second professional bout in May 2016.

12. Arman Tsarukyan

It had been 19 months since Tsarukyan competed before he ran through Hooker at UFC Fight Night 265, which puts him in the title conversation after having to withdraw from a title fight in January. Although, he'll have to wait longer with Justin Gaethje vs. Paddy Pimblett booked to fight for the interim lightweight title at UFC 324.

13. Tom Aspinall

After enduring all the Jon Jones heavyweight title-unification drama for what seemed like forever, we ended up with Aspinall finally returning and his first fight as undisputed champion ending in a no contest thanks to a nasty eye poke by Ciryl Gane. Whomp whomp, better luck next time. An immediate rematch is what appears to be next.

14. Michael Morales

Morales made his best case for a shot at the UFC welterweight title by taking out top-contender Brady at UFC 322. That performance, combined with his overall resume, was enough to propel him to this debut spot in the rankings.

15. Max Holloway

A former featherweight champion, Holloway is now testing the waters at lightweight, which got off to a good start with his performance against Poirier at UFC 318. A rematch with Charles Oliveira 10 years in the making is up next in the UFC 326 headliner.

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Men's MMA pound-for-pound rankings: Where things stand to close 2025

Category: General Sports

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