May 10, 2025; Montreal, Quebec, CANADA; Belal Muhammad (red gloves) fights Jack Della Maddalena (blue gloves) during UFC 315 at Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images
Arman Tsarukyan (left), Islam Makhachev, Jack Della Maddalena, and Belal Muhammad are in the men's pound-for-pound rankings for the week of November 12, 2025.

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.

It's not often that two fighters in the pound-for-pound rankings throw down, but that's what will happen Saturday at UFC 322 where Jack Della Maddalena will attempt the first defense of his welterweight championship against Islam Makhachev, who recently vacated the lightweight title for an opportunity to become a UFC two-division champ.

Before Della Maddalena and Makhachev shake things up, see below to find out how the top 15 rank.

Note: Results are through Oct. 25.

1. Ilia Topuria

  • Record: 17-0
  • Division: Lightweight (UFC champion)
  • Last fight: Win, Charles Oliveira via first-round KO, June 28
  • Next fight: TBD

It's Topuria's world, and it's been that way for more than a year. He 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 in his only appearance of 2025. Has there ever been a more impressive three-fight stretch in the history of the sport?

2. Islam Makhachev

  • Record: 27-1
  • Division: Lightweight, welterweight
  • Last fight: Win, Renato Moicano via first-round submission, Jan. 18
  • Next fight: Nov. 15 vs. Jack Della Maddalena

With a 15-fight winning streak that dates back to 2016, Makhachev long has been one of the most dominant fighters in MMA. His reign as UFC lightweight champion was kind of odd, with two title defenses against a featherweight in Volkanovski, a near-the-end-of-his-career Dustin Poirier, and Renato Moicano because No. 1 contender Arman Tsarukyan withdrew on UFC 311 weigh-ins day. Makhachev vacated the title (won my Topuria) earlier this year and now has a chance to become a two-division UFC champ when he meets Della Maddalena at UFC 322.

3. Merab Dvalishvili

  • Record: 21-4
  • Division: Bantamweight (UFC champion)
  • Last fight: Win, Cory Sandhagen via unanimous decision, Oct. 4
  • Next fight: Dec. 6 vs. Petr Yan

No champion in UFC history has ever defended their title four times in a calendar year. And yet, that's what Dvalishvili aims to do when he faces Yan in a rematch at UFC 323. Already in 2025 Dvalishvili has defeated Umar Nurmagomedov, Sean O'Malley in a rematch, and Cory Sandhagen to cap off a 14-fight winning streak since 2018. They don't call him "The Machine" for nothing.

4. Alexandre Pantoja

  • Record: 30-5
  • Division: Flyweight (UFC champion)
  • Last fight: Win, Kai Kara-France via third-round submission, June 28
  • Next fight: Dec. 6 vs. Joshua Van

Pantoja has been the steadiest UFC flyweight champion since Demetrious Johnson lost the title and left the promotion in late 2018. Pantoja seeks his fifth consecutive title defense when he meets the dangerous Van at UFC 323.

5. Khamzat Chimaev

  • Record: 15-0
  • Division: Middleweight (UFC champion)
  • Last fight: Win, Dricus Du Plessis via unanimous decision, Aug. 16
  • Next fight: TBD

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 already 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.

6. Alex Pereira

  • Record: 13-3
  • Division: Light heavyweight (UFC champion)
  • Last fight: Win, Magomed Ankalaev via first-round TKO, Oct. 4
  • Next fight: TBD

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.

7. Alexander Volkanovski

  • Record: 27-4
  • Division: Featherweight (UFC champion)
  • Last fight: Win, Diego Lopes via unanimous decision, April 12
  • Next fight: TBD

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.

8. Dricus Du Plessis

  • Record: 23-5
  • Division: Middleweight
  • Last fight: Loss, Khamzat Chimaev via unanimous decision, Aug. 16
  • Next fight: TBD

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. Jack Della Maddalena

  • Record: 18-2
  • Division: Welterweight (UFC champion)
  • Last fight: Win, Belal Muhammad via unanimous decision, May 10
  • Next fight: Nov. 15 vs. Islam Makhachev

At UFC 315, Della Maddalena took the fight to Muhammad and beat him at his own game, wrestling, to claim the welterweight championship. If he wants his title reign to last more than one fight, Della Maddalena will likely need a similar effort against Makhachev. A win would push his streak to 19 dating back to his third professional fight in October 2016.

10. Magomed Ankalaev

  • Record: 20-2-1
  • Division: Light heavyweight
  • Last fight: Loss, Alex Pereira via first-round TKO, Oct. 4
  • Next fight: TBD

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.

11. Belal Muhammad

  • Record: 24-4
  • Division: Welterweight
  • Last fight: Loss, Jack Della Maddalena via unanimous decision, May 10
  • Next fight: Nov. 22 vs. Ian Machado Garry

12. Tom Aspinall

  • Record: 15-3
  • Division: Heavyweight (UFC champion)
  • Last fight: No contest, Ciryl Gane, Oct. 25
  • Next fight: TBD

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.

13. Francis Ngannou

  • Record: 18-3
  • Division: Heavyweight
  • Last fight: Win, Renan Ferreira via first-round KO, Oct. 19, 2024
  • Next fight: TBD

Who knows when Ngannou will return to the cage – or if he will, given he's eyeing a return to boxing next over the PFL – but the not-so-long-ago "Baddest Man on the Planet" needs a fight soon to stay in these rankings. It's been more than a year since he pounded out Ferreira, and before that it had been 21 months without MMA.

14. Shavkat Rakhmonov

  • Record: 19-0
  • Division: Welterweight
  • Last fight: Win, Ian Machado Garry via unanimous decision, Dec. 7, 2024
  • Next fight: TBD

Rakhmonov is still recovering from a serious knee injury suffered in his win over Machado Garry, which is a shame considering he had positioned himself to be the next title challenger at 170 pounds.

15. Arman Tsarukyan

  • Record: 22-3
  • Division: Lightweight
  • Last fight: Win, Charles Oliveira via split decision, April 13, 2024
  • Next fight: Nov. 22 vs. Dan Hooker

In an alternate universe, Tsarukyan could be UFC lightweight champion right now. Instead, because of a bad weight cut that forced him out of his UFC 311 matchup with Makhachev, Tsarukyan will return later this month to fight Dan Hooker after a 21-month layoff. If he wins, though, that would figure to secure him his long-awaited shot at the title.

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Men's MMA pound-for-pound rankings: Where things stand before UFC 322

Reporting by MMA Junkie / MMA Junkie

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