Pereira, Aspinall Shake Up P4P Rankings

As a result, former light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill has been removed from the pound-for-pound rankings.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) crowned two new champions at the UFC 295 pay-per-view (PPV) event last weekend inside Madison Square Garden in New York City, with Alex Pereira capturing the vacant light heavyweight title and Tom Aspinall winning the interim heavyweight strap. As a result, both fighters found themselves making headway in the “official” UFC rankings, with Pereira taking over the No. 5 spot on the pound-for-pound chart and Aspinall debuting at No. 14 on the very same list.

Also making moves were Benoit Saint-Denis and Mackenzie Dern. The lightweight “God of War” made his debut at No. 11 on the 155-pound chart, thanks to a stunning first-round knockout over Matt Frevola, while Dern slipped to No. 8 at strawweight after getting beat up by former division champion Jessica Andrade. In addition, Loopy Godinez jumped to No. 11 in the same category after turning away Tabatha Ricci on the UFC 295 “Prelims” card.

Here’s how UFC compiles its official rankings:

Rankings were generated by a voting panel made up of media members. The media members were asked to vote for who they feel are the top fighters in the UFC by weight-class and pound-for-pound. A fighter is only eligible to be voted on if they are in active status in the UFC. A fighter can appear in more than one weight division at a time. The champion and interim champion are considered to be in the top positions of their respective divisions and therefore are not eligible for voting by weight-class. However, the champions can be voted on for the pound-for-pound rankings.

Take a look at what the latest rankings field looks like courtesy of UFC.com. Note: (+/- = movement in rankings, T = tie, *NR = Not previously ranked).

MEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND

1. Islam Makhachev
2. Jon Jones
3. Alexander Volkanovski
4. Leon Edwards
5. Alex Pereira +5
6. Charles Oliveira -1
7. Sean O’Malley -1
8. Sean Strickland -1
9. Israel Adesanya -1
10. Alexandre Pantoja -1
11. Aljamain Sterling
12. Max Holloway
13. Kamaru Usman +1
14. Tom Aspinall *NR
15. Jiri Prochazka -2

FLYWEIGHT

Champion: Alexandre Pantoja

1. Brandon Moreno
2. Deiveson Figueiredo
3. Amir Albazi
4. Brandon Royval
5. Kai Kara France
6. Matheus Nicolau
7. Alex Perez
8. Manel Kape
9. Matt Schnell
10. Muhammad Mokaev
11. Tim Elliott
12. Su Mudaerji
13. Steve Erceg +1
14. Tagir Ulanbekov -1
15. David Dvorak

BANTAMWEIGHT

Champion: Sean O’Malley

1. Aljamain Sterling
2. Merab Dvalishvili
3. Henry Cejudo
4. Cory Sandhagen
5. Petr Yan
6. Marlon Vera
7. Song Yadong
8. Rob Font
9. Dominick Cruz
10. Pedro Munhoz
11. Jonathan Martinez
12. Umar Nurmagomedov
13. Ricky Simon
14. Chris Gutierrez
15. Said Nurmagomedov

FEATHERWEIGHT

Champion: Alexander Volkanovski

1. Max Holloway
2. Yair Rodriguez
3. Brian Ortega
4. Arnold Allen
5. Ilia Topuria
6. Josh Emmett
7. Calvin Kattar
8. Giga Chikadze
9. Movsar Evloev
10. Bryce Mitchell
11. Edson Barboza
12. Sodiq Yusuff
13. Dan Ige
14. Lerone Murphy
15. Alex Caceres

LIGHTWEIGHT

Champion: Islam Makhachev

1. Charles Oliveira
2. Justin Gaethje
3. Dustin Poirier
4. Beneil Dariush
5. Michael Chandler
6. Mateusz Gamrot
7. Rafael Fiziev
8. Arman Tsarukyan
9. Dan Hooker
10. Rafael dos Anjos
11. (T) Benoit Saint-Denis *NR
11. (T) Jalin Turner
13. Bobby Green -1
14. Renato Moicano -1
15. Drew Dober

WELTERWEIGHT

Champion: Leon Edwards

1. Kamaru Usman
2. Belal Muhammed
3. Colby Covington
4. Gilbert Burns
5. Shavkat Rakhmonov
6. Stephen Thompson
7. Geoff Neal
8. Vicente Luque
9. Sean Brady
10. Ian Machado Garry
11. Jack Della Maddalena
12. Kevin Holland
13. Neil Magny
14. Michael Chiesa
15. Rinat Fakhretdinov

MIDDLEWEIGHT

Champion: Sean Strickland

1. Israel Adesanya
2. Dricus Du Plessis
3. Robert Whittaker
4. Jared Cannonier
5. Marvin Vettori
6. Paulo Costa
7. Roman Dolidze
8. Khamzat Chimaev
9. Jack Hermansson
10. Brendan Allen
11. Kelvin Gastelum
12. Nassourdine Imavov
13. Paul Craig
14. Chris Curtis
15. Anthony Hernandez

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT

Champion: Alex Pereira

1. Jamahal Hill -1
2. Jiri Prochazka -1
3. Magomed Ankalaev -1
4. Jan Blachowicz
5. Aleksandar Rakic
6. Nikita Krylov
7. Johnny Walker
8. Anthony Smith
9. Volkan Oezdemir
10. Ryan Spann
11. Khalil Rountree
12. Azamat Murzakanov
13. Dominick Reyes
14. Alonzo Menifield
15. Dustin Jacoby

HEAVYWEIGHT

Champion: Jon Jones

1. Tom Aspinall +3
2. Ciryl Gane -1
3. Sergei Pavlovich -1
4. Stipe Miocic -1
5. Curtis Blaydes
6. Alexander Volkov
7. Jailton Almeida
8. Serghei Spivac
9. Tai Tuivasa
10. (T) Derrick Lewis
10. (T) Marcin Tybura
12. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
13. Alexandr Romanov
14. Marcos Rogerio De Lima
15. Rodrigo Nascimento

WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND

1. Alexa Grasso
2. Zhang Weili
3. Valentina Shevchenko
4. Julianna Pena
5. Erin Blanchfield
6. Manon Fiorot
7. Carla Esparza
8. Rose Namajunas
9. Yan Xiaonan
10. Tatiana Suarez
11. Jessica Andrade
12. Raquel Pennington
13. Amanda Lemos
14. Ketlen Vieira
15. Irena Aldana

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT

Champion: Zhang Weili

1. Carla Esparza
2. Yan Xiaonan
3. Tatiana Suarez
4. Amanda Lemos
5. Jessica Andrade
6. Virna Jandiroba
7. Marina Rodriguez +1
8. Mackenzie Dern -1
9. Luana Pinheiro
10. Amanda Ribas +1
11. Loopy Godinez +2
12. Tabatha Ricci -2
13. Angela Hill -1
14. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
15. Michelle Waterson-Gomez

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT

Champion: Alexa Grasso

1. Valentina Shevchenko
2. Erin Blanchfield
3. Manon Fiorot
4. Katlyn Chookagian
5. Jessica Andrade
6. Lauren Murphy
7. Maycee Barber
8. Viviane Araújo
9. Amanda Ribas
10. Tracy Cortez
11. Natalia Silva
12. Casey O’Neill
13. Karine Silva
14. Andrea Lee
15. Joanna Wood

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT

Champion: VACANT

1. Julianna Pena
2. Raquel Pennington
3. Ketlen Vieira
4. Holly Holm
5. Irene Aldana
6. Pannie Kianzad
7. Yana Santos
8. Karol Rosa
9. Macy Chiasson
10. Norma Dumont
11. Miesha Tate
12. Julia Avila
13. Josiane Nunes
14. Chelsea Chandler
15. Tainara Lisboa

You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week, particularly in the middleweight division, following the UFC Vegas 82: “Allen vs. Craig” mixed martial arts (MMA) event on ESPN+, going down this Sat. night (Nov. 18, 2023) at APEX in Las Vegas.

For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.