The UFC is home to some of the best mixed martial artists on the planet, so it’s no surprise that fans often debate how the elite fighters compare to one another – would fare against each other.

Alongside its rankings for each weight class, the UFC has its pound-for-pound list, and below, The Independent has constructed its own pound-for-pound top 10 for men’s UFC fighters.

While there is no exact science to putting together lists like this, numerous factors have been considered, including each fighter’s recent record, frequency of activity, calibre of opposition, and overall resume. The latter is of significant value in our rankings, so it’s worth noting that a recent loss won’t be held against a fighter too much if they were on a stellar run beforehand.

The list will be updated after each major event, typically monthly. Without further ado... here are our rankings after UFC 333 in October:

10. Dricus Du Plessis (24-3, middleweight)

For a long time, the South African was derided, with many fans saying his ungainly style would eventually be his undoing. Yet that style took Du Plessis to the middleweight title in 2024. By narrowly winning a battle with Sean Strickland, the 32-year-old became South Africa’s first UFC champion, and that victory was sandwiched between stoppages of former title holders Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker – two of the best fighters in the division’s history. After submitting Adesanya, Du Plessis further consolidated his reign by outpointing Strickland again – and more clearly.

“Stillknocks” has secured 20 of his 24 wins via stoppage, with a near-even split of KOs and submissions. His resume is fantastic, and although it failed to hit another level when he took on Chimaev last August – the night he lost the belt convincingly and dropped down this list – he remains one of the standout 185lbers of this generation. Most recently, he dominated and outpointed former welterweight king Kamaru Usman.

9. Alexandre Pantoja (30-7, flyweight)

After submitting Kai Asakura in 2024, to retain the men’s flyweight title, Pantoja entered our top 10. Not only was he included (in a long overdue move), but he came into the top four. The Brazilian, 36, had wiped out the division, with three wins over ex-champ Brandon Moreno, two against firm contender Brandon Royval, and two against Kai Kara-France. In fact, Pantoja was 10-0 against fighters in the top 10 at one point, before he shockingly lost his title just 26 seconds into a defence against young upstart Joshua Van, due to an arm injury. But we couldn’t hold the nature of that 2025 defeat against Pantoja, whose place in the rankings was protected until their rematch in September. Then, however, Van won a competitive fight to relegate Pantoja here.

8. Merab Dvalishvili (21-6, bantamweight)

The Georgian entered our rankings in September 2024, thanks to a key moment on his journey to become arguably the greatest 135lber ever. Dvalishvili’s title win over Sean O’Malley was just one episode in a long season: a 14-fight win streak that involved three successful title defences in 2025, including a second victory against O’Malley and dismissals of Umar Nurmagomedov and Cory Sandhagen. Add these results to Dvalishvili’s past wins over former champs Jose Aldo, Henry Cejudo and Petr Yan, and you’ve got a scarcely-believable resume. Well, you haven’t; Dvalishvili has.

While the 35-year-old’s winning run came to an end in December, it took a near-perfect performance from Yan to regain the belt and hand Merab his first loss since 2018. Like Pantoja, who lost his belt under strange circumstances on the same night that Dvalishvili dropped his, the Georgian wasn’t initially penalised in our rankings. After all, Dvalishvili had already made history by just stepping in the ring with Yan, as the first fighter in UFC history to attempt four title defences in one calendar year. But when Dvalishvili lost an instant classic against Yan in their trilogy fight this October, he finally dropped down our rankings.

7. Petr Yan (21-5, bantamweight champion)

The Russian entered our rankings by fighting from behind to beat Dvalishvili in a mesmeric bout in October, retaining the 135lb belt that he’d taken from the Georgian with a masterclass 10 months earlier. Yan, 33, had previously missed out on a place in our list due to a surprising run of three straight losses from 2022 to 2023, although that included a controversial defeat by Sean O’Malley, a narrow one by Aljamain Sterling, and his first loss to Dvalishvili). Since then, Yan has won five in a row, and although he has not secured a stoppage in six years, any Yan fight is an exhibition of immense MMA talent. Indeed, the two-time champion has one of the best-rounded skillsets in the sport.

6. Tom Aspinall (15-3, 1 no-contest; heavyweight)

Aspinall didn’t plan on rocketing towards gold when he was demolishing fighters early in his UFC career; he seemed happy climbing the ladder steadily. But with attributes that make him the archetype of a ‘new breed’ of heavyweight, he quickly took apart his fellow contenders, derailing the hype around Sergei Pavlovich in late 2023 – flattening the KO artist on two weeks’ notice – to win the interim title. He then retained the gold by stopping Curtis Blaydes with a first-minute KO – avenging the only blotch on his UFC record, where a freak knee injury forced a loss in 2022.

The 33-year-old then eyed arguable GOAT Jon Jones, but Jones retired and vacated the regular heavyweight title in the process. With that, Aspinall was crowned undisputed champion, but he was ultimately beaten by his greatest foe: bad luck. First there was that injury in 2022, which kept him out for a year, then Jones’s behaviour, then a double eye poke by Ciryl Gane last October – which made Aspinall’s first undisputed-title defence a no-contest, and which injured him to the point that he vacated the belt this September.

5. Alex Pereira (13-4, heavyweight)

“Poatan” was chasing the top spot on our list not long ago, following his mesmeric rise in the UFC. The kickboxing champ shot through the middleweight ranks before sleeping old foe Adesanya to take the belt, just a year after his promotional debut. And while Adesanya stopped the Brazilian in their rematch, Pereira bounced back emphatically, moving up to light-heavyweight and cementing his status as one of MMA’s most formidable finishers. To become a two-weight champion in record time, the 38-year-old knocked out former title holder Jiri Prochazka, whom he stopped again in 2024 – a year in which Pereira retained the belt three times with three KOs.

Pereira became the UFC’s most-reliable headliner and looked all but unbeatable, until he faced arguably his biggest stylistic test in Magomed Ankalaev. And while he lost a dull decision last March, he avenged the defeat in brutal fashion, knocking out Ankalaev in 80 seconds. He then gave up his belt and vied for interim heavyweight gold at the White House in June, but a stoppage by Gane meant the UFC is still seeking its first three-weight champion. There’s no shame in Pereira’s loss all the way up at heavyweight, though, so he retains a decent ranking with us.

4. Joshua Van (18-2, flyweight champion)

We mentioned at the top of this article that we value historical achievements and win streaks highly, but activity is also a key factor, and Van is the picture of activity right now. It helps when you’re winning, of course, and the UFC’s second-youngest champion ever has won seven straight bouts in the last two years. The Myanmar native, 25, secured the flyweight title by inflicting a freak injury on divisional great Pantoja last December, but he legitimised his own reign by stopping Tatsuro Taira in the final round of an absolute firefight (having overcome early adversity) and outpointing Pantoja in their rematch. What’s more, Van will fight again in January, taking on KO artist Manel Kape. A scintillating striker with other strings to his bow, Van could go on a truly great run; but at his young age, he could even lose and fight his way back to the top – whatever the future holds, Van surely occupies a key place in it.

3. Alexander Volkanovski (29-4, featherweight champion)

Volkanovski went from underrated to undeniable in his first reign as featherweight champion. The Australian came out victorious in all three of his bouts with bona fide icon Holloway, as well as racking up wins over Brian Ortega, Yair Rodriguez and “The Korean Zombie” in a legendary run. He then jumped up a division to give Islam Makhachev his toughest test as lightweight king in 2023. But after suffering a first-round KO in their rematch (a bout Volk took on just 11 days’ notice) his famed featherweight title run ended in brutal fashion as he was slept by Ilia Topuria. Off the back of two KO losses, many feared “Alexander The Great” had been consigned to the scrapheap.

However, as Topuria relinquished the belt to chase lightweight glory, Volk bounced back with a title win over Diego Lopes, whom the Aussie outpointed again this January to extend his second reign. At 38, Volkanovski then did the unthinkable as he knocked out the unbeaten Movsar Evloev, showing that he is an ageless wonder. With that, our former p4p No 1 climbed a few spots after his drop-off in recent years.

2. Ilia Topuria (17-1, lightweight)

Until suffering his first loss, an upset at the White House, “El Matador” was threatening to wreck everyone and leave. He spoke ‘arrogantly’ of his chances against Volkanovski in 2024, only for his words to prove prophetic. Topuria, still only 29, brutally knocked out the Aussie, taking the 145lb title and moving to 15-0, and he improved that record with his first title defence: a KO of the great Max Holloway.

While these wins showed off Topuria’s unforgiving punching power, eight of his victories have come via submission, thanks to his fine wrestling and underrated jiu-jitsu. Topuria is a great example of the modern mixed martial artist, carrying the UFC into a new era – and not just at featherweight. In early 2025, he vacated his belt in a shock move to chase the title at lightweight. With Islam Makhachev moving up to welterweight and vacating the 155lb belt, Topuria faced Oliveira for the title in June, and – just as he predicted – El Matador knocked the former champ out cold in the first three minutes.

But Topuria’s absorbing run came to an abrupt end when he was stopped by Justin Gaethje in June, as he retired on his stool before the final round. Topuria still showed immense heart in that loss and even dropped Gaethje earlier in the fight, but there’s no doubt his incredible aura took a slight hit. Still, his ranking here is preserved for now.

1. Islam Makhachev (29-1, welterweight champion)

The best mixed martial artist in the world. There was a time when it was suggested that the Russian would never be quite as good as childhood friend Khabib Nurmagomedov, yet Makhachev not only emulated his coach in becoming UFC lightweight champion; he broke Khabib’s record for title defences in the division, before winning a second belt and breaking the all-time win-streak record.

Makhachev, 34, claimed lightweight gold by submitting the greatest submission artist in UFC history, Oliveira, before retaining the gold with two wins over Volkanovski, a submission of Poirier, and a submission of Renato Moicano. Volkanovski was at the peak of his first featherweight title reign at the time, but Makhachev outpointed and knocked out the Australian across their two bouts.

Makhachev ultimately gave up the lightweight belt to eye a second title, which he achieved by dominating Jack Della Maddalena at welterweight last November. He then retained it with a professional showing against Ian Machado Garry. Treasure Makhachev while he’s here, for he really is the best in the world.