MMA Rankings 2025: Who’s No. 1 in Every Division Right Now?

The first quarter of 2025 delivered seismic shifts to MMA rankings. Islam Makhachev stayed unbeatable, Alexander Volkanovski reclaimed gold in Miami, and Ian Machado Garry made the welterweight elite a little nervous in Kansas City. Add Bellator’s merger into the PFL season, ONE’s reign of “Reug Reug” Oumar Kane, and algorithmic shake-ups from Fight Matrix, and the global pecking order looks very different from January. Below you’ll find the authoritative answer to “who’s No. 1?”—and why. Every entry links to deeper resources like our schedule, results, videos, and fighters pages for more context.

MMA rankings

Pound-for-Pound MMA rankings

    1. Islam Makhachev – UFC – W (Sub1) vs Renato Moicano, Jan 18
    1. Ilia Topuria – UFC – L (KO4) vs Volkanovski, Apr 12
    1. Jon Jones – UFC – W (TKO3) vs Stipe Miocic, Nov 9
    1. Merab Dvalishvili – UFC – W (UD) vs Sean O’Malley, Feb 8 (UFC Schedule – 2025 Season – ESPN)
    1. Tom Aspinall – UFC – W (TKO1) vs Curtis Blaydes, Jul 27 2024
    1. Magomed Ankalaev – UFC – W (UD) vs Jan Blachowicz, Mar 1
    1. Alexandre Pantoja – UFC – W (UD) vs Brandon Royval, Dec 15
    1. Belal Muhammad – UFC – W (UD) vs Leon Edwards, Sep 14 2024 (Which UFC champions are under the most pressure in 2025? – ESPN)
    1. Dricus Du Plessis – UFC – W (SD) vs Israel Adesanya, Jan 25 (UFC Division Champions & Featured Fighters)
    1. Alex Pereira – UFC – W (KO1) vs Jamahal Hill, Apr 13 2024

Division-by-Division Leaders

  • Heavyweight – Tom Aspinall – UFC – W (TKO1) vs Curtis Blaydes
  • Light Heavyweight – Alex Pereira – UFC – W (KO1) vs Jamahal Hill
  • Middleweight – Dricus Du Plessis – UFC – W (SD) vs Israel Adesanya (UFC Division Champions & Featured Fighters)
  • Welterweight – Belal Muhammad – UFC – W (UD) vs Leon Edwards (Which UFC champions are under the most pressure in 2025? – ESPN)
  • Lightweight – Islam Makhachev – UFC – W (Sub1) vs Renato Moicano
  • Featherweight – Alexander Volkanovski – UFC – W (KO4) vs Diego Lopes
  • Bantamweight – Merab Dvalishvili – UFC – W (UD) vs Sean O’Malley (UFC Schedule – 2025 Season – ESPN)
  • Flyweight – Alexandre Pantoja – UFC – W (UD) vs Brandon Royval
  • Women’s Strawweight – Zhang Weili – UFC – W (UD) vs Yan Xiaonan
  • Women’s Flyweight – Alexa Grasso – UFC – W (UD) vs Erin Blanchfield (Fighters On The Rise 2025 | Part One – UFC.com)
  • Bellator Heavyweight – Ryan Bader – Bellator – W (UD) vs Valentin Moldavsky
  • ONE Heavyweight – “Reug Reug” Oumar Kane – ONE – W (SD) vs Anatoly Malykhin

Biggest Movers & Shakers

April’s MMA rankings shake-up centered on the 170-pound class. Ian Machado Garry rocketed from fringe Top 10 to No. 4 after out-dueling Carlos Prates in front of a raucous Kansas City crowd . Meanwhile Paddy Pimblett cracked the lightweight Top 10 for the first time, jumping four spots following his UFC 314 win . On the downslide, former title challenger Michael Chandler fell five slots after a brutal KO loss in Miami . Outside the UFC, ONE’s Kane leapfrogged into the global heavyweight Top 15 with his upset of Malykhin, while Bellator’s Usman Nurmagomedov slipped two spots because of inactivity during the PFL regular season .

How These MMA Rankings Are Calculated

Our methodology blends reputable panel votes and cold-blooded math. The media panels at ESPN, MMA Junkie and Sherdog each submit monthly ballots, which we normalize and average . To cross-check human bias, we feed those results into Fight Matrix’s WHR (Weighted Hierarchical Rating) algorithm—an engine that recalculates 60 times across MMA history to see how one upset ripples through every weight class . Official promotion lists (see UFC.com , ONE and Bellator ) anchor disputed cases when champions lose but keep their belts through injury clauses or contractual rematches.

What’s Next for the Top Contenders

  • Belal Muhammad defends against Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315 in Montréal on May 10 (UFC 315: Muhammad vs Della Maddalena | May 10th, 2025, UFC 315: Muhammad vs Della Maddalena).
  • Interim heavyweight king Tom Aspinall is now “on deck” for either Jon Jones at UFC 317 or Ciryl Gane during International Fight Week, according to Din Thomas .
  • Islam Makhachev vs. Arman Tsarukyan 2 is targeted for UFC 318 in Abu Dhabi, per multiple reports—meaning Tsarukyan’s upset of Charles Oliveira has already paid off .
  • Outside the UFC, ONE champ Oumar Kane called out Francis Ngannou for an Africa “super-fight,” while Bellator sends Usman Nurmagomedov into the PFL lightweight season starting June 7 .
  • Keep an eye on UFC Des Moines (May 3): Cory Sandhagen vs. Deiveson Figueiredo could crown the next bantamweight title challenger . For every bout on the horizon, bookmark our live schedule.

Explore the full 2025 fight calendar in our dedicated MMA schedule hub for dates, venues and weekly updates.

FAQ

Q: How often are MMA rankings updated?
A: We refresh the list the first Monday after each major event, matching Fight Matrix’s weekly algorithm run and the UFC’s official Tuesday “rankings update.”
Q: Do promotion belts guarantee No. 1 status?
A: No. Champions earn priority, but a stagnant champ can be overtaken if an interim or rival-promotion king beats higher-ranked foes, as Fight Matrix’s math proved with Tom Aspinall leap-frogging inactive Jon Jones for five weeks in early 2025.
Q: What sources feed your pound-for-pound list?
A: ESPN, MMA Junkie, Sherdog and algorithmic data from Fight Matrix form our core list; we cross-reference UFC.com fight records to validate recent bouts.

Updated on May 1, 2025.