B/R’s Pound-for-Pound UFC Rankings to Close out 2023

B/R’s Pound-for-Pound UFC Rankings to Close out 20230 of 2

Jon Jones reacts after winning the UFC heavyweight titleChris Graythen/Getty Images

The UFC’s pound-for-pound pecking order has changed dramatically since the beginning of this year. Just think about all that’s happened.

We saw former pound-for-pound king Jon Jones return from the longest hiatus of his career to claim the heavyweight title with a quick submission win of Ciryl Gane, and long-reigning welterweight champion Kamaru Usman suffer a second straight loss to Leon Edwards. We saw pound-for-pound mainstay Alexander Volkanovski engage in two memorable fights with lightweight champ Islam Makhachev, neither of which went his way. We saw Sean O’Malley complete his long march to the bantamweight title, and Alex Pereira become a two-division champion with a knockout of Jiri Prochazka at light heavyweight. We saw Alexandre Pantoja claim the title at flyweight, and Sean Strickland pull off one of the greatest upsets in recent memory with a middleweight championship-winning decision against Israel Adesanya. And that’s just on the men’s side of the sport!

In the women’s division, we saw some similar shakeups, most notably the retirement of the sport’s top pound-for-pound talent, Amanda Nunes. We also witnessed the end of Valentina Shevchenko’s legendary reign as flyweight champion, while Zhang Weili tightened her grip on the strawweight title, and Erin Blanchfield and Manon Fiorot transformed into legitimate title threats at 125 pounds.

Who knows how the sport will have changed by the end of 2024? If 2023 has been any indication, there are some big changes on the horizon.

Keep scrolling to see how the stage is set heading into the new year.

Women’s Pound-for-Pound Rankings1 of 2

Zhang Weili of China prepares to face Amanda Lemos at UFC 292. Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

10. Julianna Peña

Julianna Peña did the unthinkable at the end of 2021, defeating pound-for-pound queen Amanda Nunes via second-round submission to claim the UFC bantamweight title. That win pushed “The Venezuelan Vixen” onto pound-for-pound lists everywhere, but she has done little to justify that status since. She lost a lopsided decision to Nunes in their 2022 rematch and hasn’t set foot in the Octagon since having spent much of this year recovering from an injury. She needs to win again soon if she wants to maintain her place among the sport’s best female fighters.

9. Jessica Andrade

Former strawweight champion Jessica Andrade has had arguably the worst year of her career. After defeating Lauren Murphy by decision in January, she suffered three straight stoppage losses at the hands of Erin Blanchfield, Yan Xiaonan and Tatiana Suarez. Another loss would have sent the Brazilian spiraling out of the pound-for-pound conversation, but she managed to turn things around in her fifth fight of the year, thrashing Mackenzie Dern to a second-round TKO at UFC 295 in November.

8. Rose Namajunas

After losing the strawweight title with a forgettable split-decision loss to Carla Esparza in 2022, Rose Namajunas finally returned to action in 2023, debuting at flyweight opposite Manon Fiorot. The former strawweight champ suffered a clear decision loss in that fight, but it was more an indication that she was too small for the flyweight division than anything else. She’ll need to get to work proving it soon, but for the moment, there’s no reason to believe she’s not still one of the best strawweight out there. After all, she holds two recent wins over the reigning champion Zhang Weili.

7. Yan Xiaonan

China’s Yan Xiaonan only fought once in 2023, but her lone fight of the year resulted in arguably the best performance of her career, as she scored a sick one-punch knockout over former strawweight champion Jessica Andrade. The win pushed her onto a two-fight streak, as she closed out 2022 with a decision win over Mackenzie Dern, and could set her up for a title fight in 2024.

6. Tatiana Suarez

Tatiana Suarez has long been hailed as a future UFC champion, but the undefeated Ultimate Fighter winner was slowed significantly by a prolonged stretch of injuries. Suarez finally started getting back on track in 2023, picking up a pair of second-round submission wins over Montana De La Rosa and Jessica Andrade, both with guillotine chokes. Throw in her previous wins over the likes of Nina Nunes, Carla Esparza and Alexa Grasso, and it’s easy to understand why she’s so highly regarded.

5. Manon Fiorot

After defeating flyweight gatekeeper Kaitlyn Chookagian by decision at the end of 2022, France’s Manon Fiorot was already in title contention at the beginning of this year. She reaffirmed her position as one of the division’s top dogs in her lone fight of the year, which saw her defeat former strawweight champ Rose Namajunas by decision. She’ll look to take a final step toward a flyweight title shot when she takes on fellow contender Erin Blanchfield on March 30.

4. Erin Blanchfield

Like the aforementioned Manon Fiorot, Erin Blanchfield had already asserted herself as a flyweight title threat by the time this year started. After a submission win over Jessica Andrade and a decision win over Taila Santos—both former title challengers—she has made herself even harder to deny. As we covered above, she and Fiorot will fight for a title shot on March 30.

3. Valentina Shevchenko

Valentina Shevchenko is one of the greatest fighters in women’s MMA history, but she’s no longer the UFC flyweight champ. The Kyrgyz striker lost the belt with a submission loss to Alexa Grasso at UFC 285 in March and failed to reclaim it in their September rematch, which ended with a draw. Despite her stumbles against Grasso, she’s proven herself to be a level above every other flyweight she’s fought and remains a key player in the division heading into the new year.

2. Alexa Grasso

Mexico’s Alexa Grasso started 2023 as a promising flyweight contender. After winning and defending the belt in a two-fight series with flyweight legend Valentina Shevchenko, she will end the year as one of the best female fighters alive. However, she has some very tough challenges to look forward to in 2024, as Shevchenko, Blanchfield and Fiorot are all in position for title shots. If she somehow manages to thwart those challenges, the top spot on this list is as good as hers.

1. Zhang Weili

Zhang Weili is the face of Chinese MMA, the UFC strawweight champion, and perhaps most importantly of all, the best female fighter in the world heading into 2024. While she famously suffered back-to-back losses to Rose Namajunas in 2021, she has since rebounded in style, with a stunning knockout of Joanna Jedrzejczyk, a title-winning submission of Carla Esparza, and in her lone fight of 2023, a lopsided decision defeat of knockout puncher Amanda Lemos. Time will tell who she defends her belt against in the new year, but whoever gets the call will have their work cut out for them.

Men’s Pound-for-Pound Rankings2 of 2

Opponents Islam Makhachev of Russia and Alexander Volkanovski of Australia face off prior to their rematch in October. Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

10. Alexandre Pantoja

Alexandre Pantoja will close out 2023 as the UFC men’s flyweight champion. The Brazilian won the title with a split decision win over Mexican star Brandon Moreno at UFC 290 in July. That was his first fight of the year, but he managed to squeeze in one more before the calendar closed, defending his title with a lopsided decision defeat of Brandon Royval at UFC 296 earlier this month.

9. Sean O’Malley

Sean O’Malley only fought once in 2023, but his lone fight of the year saw him score a second-round knockout over Aljamain Sterling to become the UFC bantamweight champion. O’Malley will have another big opportunity to cement his place among the sport’s top pound-for-pound fighters at UFC 299 in March when he attempts to defend his title and avenge the lone loss of his career against fan-favorite finisher Marlon “Chito” Vera.

8. Sean Strickland

You probably would have gotten laughed out of town for predicting such a thing back in January, but Sean Strickland will close out the year as the UFC middleweight champion. He won the title with a shocking decision defeat of the great Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 in September, and while there is cause to believe he simply caught the former champ on an off night, he’ll have a chance to silence a lot of naysayers when he attempts to defend his title against Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297 in January.

7. Alex Pereira

Alex Pereira’s year got off to a bit of a rough start, as he lost the UFC middleweight title to Israel Adesanya in an April rematch he had no obligation to accept. However, the Brazilian quickly looked to get back on track by moving up to light heavyweight, and that proved to be a great decision. In his first fight in the weight class, he defeated former champion Jan Blachowicz by decision. In his second, he claimed the division’s vacant title with an impressive knockout of another former champ Jiri Prochazka. Just like that, he became a two-division MMA champ—just like he was in the kickboxing ring.

6. Charles Oliveira

Charles Oliveira suffered a tough loss at the end of 2022, surrendering the lightweight title to Islam Makhachev with a second-round submission loss. However, his first fight of the year saw him rebound in style with a first-round TKO over Beneil Dariush. That win set him up for a rematch with Makhachev, but his plans were derailed when he suffered an injury in training. He surely didn’t intend to close out 2023 recovering from an injury, but his recent wins over the likes of Dariush, Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirier, and Michael Chandler suggest he’s still the best lightweight other than the champ.

5. Israel Adesanya

Nigerian-born New Zealander Israel Adesanya kicked off the year with one of the most dramatic wins in modern combat sports history, reclaiming the UFC middleweight belt with a second-round knockout of Alex Pereira, who had beaten him three times between kickboxing and MMA competition. He then lost the title in his next fight, suffering a shocking decision loss to Sean Strickland, but that loss does not undo the fact that he is 8-3 in the 11 title fights he has somehow squeezed in since 2019.

4. Leon Edwards

Leon Edwards was behind the most dramatic upset of 2022, which saw him claim the welterweight title with a fifth-round head kick of Kamaru Usman. The Brit kicked off 2022 by proving that win was no fluke, defeating Usman by decision at UFC 286 in March. He then defended his title for a second time with a decision defeat of Colby Covington at UFC 296 earlier this month, although Covington looked like he had no business in the Octagon on the night.

3. Jon Jones

Jon Jones is probably the best MMA fighter of all time, but he lost his pound-for-pound crown after spending some three years on the sidelines following his 2020 win over Dominick Reyes, which marked his twelfth light heavyweight title defense. He finally returned to action in 2023, defeating Ciryl Gane by first-round submission in a fight for the vacant heavyweight belt. That win made him a two-division champion, but it was not enough to push him back onto the pound-for-pound throne. He’ll need to get more active to make that happen.

2. Alexander Volkanovski

Australia’s Alexander Volkanovski had quite a year. He kicked things off in February when, after four successful featherweight title defenses, he moved up to lightweight to challenge Islam Makhachev for a second title. Despite winning the fight in the eyes of many onlookers, Volkanovski came up short by decision. He then moved back down to featherweight, where he defended his belt with a third-round TKO of Yair Rodriguez, before accepting a short-notice rematch with Makhachev at UFC 294 in October. That fight ended in disaster for the Australian, as he suffered a first-round knockout loss, but he remains the UFC’s featherweight champ, and considering the size disadvantage he was dealing with in his two fights against Makhachev, he is arguably still deserving of the top spot on this list. We’ll see if he can reclaim his former perch when he takes on Ilia Topuria at UFC 298 in February.

1. Islam Makhachev

Russia’s Islam Makhachev only fought one person in 2023. Ordinarily, that wouldn’t be enough to push a fighter to pound-for-pound supremacy, but as we covered above, the person the lightweight champion fought was the featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski, and he fought him twice, winning both times. Volkanovski, for those with short memories, started the years as the UFC’s pound-for-pound king. Combine those Makhachev’s two wins over the Australian with his 2022 triumph over lightweight great Charles Oliveira and there’s little denying he’s the UFC’s top dog right now.