New Rankings! Royval, Ortega Head North

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently updated its official rankings in the wake of the UFC Mexico City mixed martial arts (MMA) event, which took place last Sat. night (Feb. 27, 2024) at Arena CDMX in Mexico City, Mexico. That’s where Brandon Royval captured a split decision victory over former flyweight champion Brandon Moreno, a performance good enough to send “Raw Dog” to No. 1 at 125 pounds. In addition, longtime featherweight contender Brian Ortega jumped to No. 3 at 145 pounds by submitting Yair Rodriguez.

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. Leon Edwards
4. Alex Pereira
5. Ilia Topuria
6. Charles Oliveira
7. Alexander Volkanovski
8. Sean O’Malley
9. Dricus Du Plessis
10. Alexandre Pantoja
11. Israel Adesanya
12. Tom Aspinall
13. Sean Strickland
14. Max Holloway
15. Aljamain Sterling

FLYWEIGHT

Champion: Alexandre Pantoja

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

BANTAMWEIGHT

Champion: Sean O’Malley

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

FEATHERWEIGHT

Champion: Ilia Topuria

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

LIGHTWEIGHT

Champion: Islam Makhachev

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

WELTERWEIGHT

Champion: Leon Edwards

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

MIDDLEWEIGHT

Champion: Dricus Du Plessis

1. Sean Strickland
2. Israel Adesanya
3. Robert Whittaker
4. Jared Cannonier
5. Marvin Vettori
6. Paulo Costa
7. Brendan Allen
8. Nassourdine Imavov
9. (T) Roman Dolidze
9. (T) Jack Hermansson
11. Khamzat Chimaev
12. Paul Craig
13. Anthony Hernandez
14. Chris Curtis
15. Caio Borralho

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT

Champion: Alex Pereira

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

HEAVYWEIGHT

Champion: Jon Jones

1. Tom Aspinall
2. Ciryl Gane
3. Sergei Pavlovich
4. Stipe Miocic
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. Erin Blanchfield
5. Julianna Pena
6. Manon Fiorot
7. Raquel Pennington
8. Rose Namajunas
9. Tatiana Suarez
10. Yan Xiaonan
11. Jessica Andrade
12. Amanda Lemos
13. Ketlen Vieira
14. Irene Aldana
15. Mayra Bueno Silva

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT

Champion: Zhang Weili

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

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT

Champion: Alexa Grasso

1. Valentina Shevchenko
2. Erin Blanchfield
3. Manon Fiorot
4. Katlyn Cerminara
5. Jessica Andrade
6. Maycee Barber
7. Natalia Silva
8. Amanda Ribas
9. Viviane Araújo
10. Tracy Cortez
11. Ariane Lipski
12. Karine Silva
13. Casey O’Neill
14. Miranda Maverick
15. Jasmine Jasudavicius

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT

Champion: Raquel Pennington

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

You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week, particularly in the heavyweight division, following the UFC Vegas 87: “Rozenstruik vs. Gaziev” mixed martial arts (MMA) event on ESPN+, scheduled for this Sat. night (March 2, 2024) at the promotion’s APEX facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.

For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.