MMA Men’s PFP Rankings 

1. Islam Makhachev – UFC Lightweight Champion (26-1)
2. Ilia Topuria – UFC Featherweight Champion (16-0)
3. Alex Pereira – UFC Light Heavyweight Champion (12-2)
4. Jon Jones – UFC Heavyweight Champion (28-1-1 NC)
5. Dricus Du Plessis – UFC Middleweight Champion (22-2)
6. Tom Aspinall – UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion (15-3)
7. Belal Muhammad – UFC Welterweight Champion (24-3-1 NC)
8. Francis Ngannou – PFL Heavyweight Champion (18-3)
9. Alexandre Pantoja – UFC Flyweight Champion (28-5)
10. Merab Dvalishvili – UFC Bantamweight Champion (18-4)
11. Alexander Volkanovski – UFC Featherweight #1 (26-4)
12. Khamzat Chimaev – UFC Middleweight #3 (14-0)
13. Max Holloway – UFC Featherweight # 2 & UFC Lightweight #5 (26-8)
14. Leon Edwards – UFC Welterweight #1 (22-4-1 NC)
15. Charles Olivera – UFC Lightweight #2 (35-10-1 NC)

MMA Women’s MMA Rankings 

1. Zhang Weili – UFC Strawweight Champion (25-3)
2. Valentina Shevchenko – UFC Flyweight Champion (24-4-1)
3. Alexa Grasso – UFC Flyweight #1 (16-4-1)
4. Kayla Harrison – UFC Bantamweight #2 (18-1)
5. Cris Cyborg – Bellator & PFL Featherweight Champion (28-2-1 NC)
6. Manon Fiorot – UFC Flyweight #2 (12-1)
7. Julianna Pena – UFC Bantamweight Champion (11-5)
8. Erin Blanchfield – UFC Flyweight #3 (13-2)
9. Tatiana Suarez – UFC Strawweight #1 (10-0)
10. Yan Xionan – UFC Strawweight (18-4-1 NC)

In the men’s rankings, Islam Makhachev will hold the top spot until he loses … That’s just the way things are going to go until he suffers a loss. He has been undefeated since 2015 and holds the legacy of the great Dagestani MMA dynasty that has dominated the sport in recent years. Fun fact: students of Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov; Khabib Nurmagomedov, Usman Nurmagomedov, Umar Nurmagomedov, and Islam Makhachev, have a combined record of 91-1 in their careers … And yet the guy with one loss, Islam Makachev, may go down as the greatest of all of them.

No, Jon Jones, nor Alex Pereira is our #2 ranked pound for pound fighter. That distinction must be held by Ilia Topuria. Pereira has won four title fights in the span of the year, which is virtually unheard of, and Jon Jones just added another legacy notch to his all time career in Stipe Miocic … But Ilia’s two consecutive KO’s of the back to back reigning, and potentially greatest featherweights of all time in Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway is something that will never be replicated again in MMA history. Mark my words.

The only non-UFC fighter to grace the list is PFL Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou, who technically never lost the belt in the UFC, which is why his ranking holds such weight. Between him, Jon Jones, and Tom Aspinall, there is really no true way to tell who is the real best Heavyweight in the world, and the chances of any of them every fighting each other is looking slim.

As for the women, Zhang Weili holds the top spot, though Valentina Shevchenko is right there with her. The two champions are essentially interchangeable in the rankings, but Shevchenko has lost more recently, though she did get her win back against Alexa Grasso.

Newcomer Kayla Harrison is our one big stretch in the rankings, as the former PFL champ has only two UFC fights under her belt. But I would bet every dollar I own that she would defeat current Bantamweight champion Julianna Pena … That big statement I just made will likely be put to the test next year when the two face off.

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11/19/2024