Rankings

Tale of the Takes rankings are independently compiled based on recent performance, strength of competition, finishing ability, consistency, and fight impact — not promotion favoritism or hype.

Pound-for-Pound

Rank	Fighter	Division	The Take
1	lslam Makhachev	Welterweight
2	Ilia Topuria	Lightweight
3	Khamzat Chimaev	Middleweight
4	Alex Pereira	Light Heavyweight
5	Alexander Volkanovski	Featherweight
6	Petr Yan	Bantamweight
7	Merab Dvalishvili	Bantamweight
8	Tom Aspinall	Heavyweight
9	Alexandre Pantoja	Flyweight
10	Max Holloway	Lightweight
11	Dricus Du Plessis	Middleweight
12	Joshua Van	Flyweight
13	Magomed Ankalaev	Light Heavyweight
14	Jack Della Maddalena	Welterweight
15	Arman Tsarukyan	Lightweight

Flyweight

Rank	Fighter	Divsion	The Take
Champion	Joshua Van	Flyweight
1	Alexandre Pantoja	Flyweight
2	Manel Kape	Flyweight
3	Tatsuro Taira	Flyweight
4	Brandon Royval	Flyweight
5	Brandon Moreno	Flyweight
6	Amir Albazi	Flyweight
7	Asu Almabayev	Flyweight
8	Kyoji Horiguchi	Flyweight
9	Tim Elliott	Flyweight
10	Steve Erceg	Flyweight
11	Alex Perez	Flyweight
12	Tagir Ulanbekov	Flyweight
13	Charles Johnson	Flyweight
14	Bruno Silva	Flyweight
15	Lone’er Kavanagh	Flyweight

Bantamweight

Rank	Fighter	Division	The Take
Champion	Petr Yan	Bantamweight
1	Merab Dvalishvili	Bantamweight
2	Umar Nurmagomedov	Bantamweight
3	Sean O’Malley	Bantamweight
4	Corey Sandhagen	Bantamweight
5	Song Yadong	Bantamweight
6	Deiveson Figueiredo	Bantamweight
7	Aiemann Zahabi	Bantamweight
8	Marlon Vera	Bantamweight
9	Mario Bautista	Bantamweight
10	David Martinez	Bantamweight
11	Payton Talbott	Bantamweight
12	Rob Font	Bantamweight
13	Vinicius Oliveira	Bantamweight
14	Kyler Phillips	Bantamweight
15	Montel Jackson	Bantamweight

Featherweight

Rank	Fighter	Record	The Take
Champion	Alexander Volkanovski	27-4-0 (W-L-D)
1	Movsar Evloev	19-0-0 (W-L-D)
2	Diego Lopes	27-7-0 (W-L-D)
3	Yair Rodriguez	21-5-0 (W-L-D)
4	Lerone Murphy	17-0-1 (W-L-D)
5	Aljamain Sterling	25-5-0 (W-L-D)
6	Arnold Allen	20-3-0 (W-L-D)
7	Youssef Zalal	18-5-1 (W-L-D)
8	Steve Garcia	19-5-0 (W-L-D)
9	Brian Ortega	16-5-0 (W-L-D)
10	Jean Silva	16-3-0 (W-L-D)
11	Josh Emmett	19-6-0 (W-L-D)
12	Patricio Pitbull	37-8-0 (W-L-D)
13	Kevin Vallejos	16-1-0 (W-L-D)
14	Dan Ige	19-10-0 (W-L-D)
15	David Onama	14-3-0 (W-L-D)

Lightweight

Rank	Fighter	Record	The Take
Champion	Ilia Topuria	17-0-0 (W-L-D)
1	Arman Tsarukyan	23-3-0 (W-L-D)
2	Charles Oliveira	36-11-0 (W-L-D)
3	Max Holloway	27-8-0 (W-L-D)
4	Justin Gaethje	27-5-0 (W-L-D)
5	Paddy Pimblett	23-3-0 (W-L-D)
6	Dan Hooker	24-13-0 (W-L-D)
7	Mateusz Gamrot	25-4-0 (W-L-D)
8	Benoit Saint Denis	16-3-0 (W-L-D)
9	Rafael Fiziev	13-4-0 (W-L-D)
10	Renato Moicano	20-7-1 (W-L-D)
11	Beneil Dariush	23-7-1 (W-L-D)
12	Michael Chandler	23-10-0 (W-L-D)
13	Manuel Torres	17-3-0 (W-L-D)
14	Mauricio Ruffy	12-2-0 (W-L-D)
15	Fares Ziam	18-4-0 (W-L-D)

Welterweight

Rank	Fighter	Record	The Take
Champion	Islam Makhachev	28-1-0 (W-L-D)
1	Jack Della Maddalena	18-3-0 (W-L-D)
2	Shavkat Rakhmonov	19-0-0 (W-L-D)
3	Ian Machado Garry	17-1-0 (W-L-D)
4	Michael Morales	19-0-0 (W-L-D)
5	Belal Muhammad	24-5-0 (W-L-D)
6	Carlos Prates	23-7-0 (W-L-D)
7	Sean Brady	18-2-0 (W-L-D)
8	Kamaru Usman	21-4-0 (W-L-D)
9	Leon Edwards	22-6-0 (W-L-D)
10	Joaquin Buckley	21-7-0 (W-L-D)
11	Gabriel Bonfim	19-1-0 (W-L-D)
12	Gilbert Burns	22-9-0 (W-L-D)
13	Geoff Neal	16-7-0 (W-L-D)
14	Colby Covington	17-5-0 (W-L-D)
15	Daniel Rodriguez	20-5-0 (W-L-D)

Middleweight

Rank	Fighter	Record	The Take
Champion	Khamzat Chimaev	15-0-0 (W-L-D)
1	Dricus Du Plessis	23-3-0 (W-L-D)
2	Nassourdine Imavov	17-4-0 (W-L-D)
3	Sean Strickland	26-7-0 (W-L-D)
4	Anthony Hernandez	15-2-0 (W-L-D)
5	Brendan Allen	26-7-0 (W-L-D)
6	Israel Adesanya	24-5-0 (W-L-D)
7	Caio Borralho	17-2-0 (W-L-D)
8	Reinier de Ridder	21-3-0 (W-L-D)
9	Robert Whittaker	27-9-0 (W-L-D)
10	Jared Cannonier	18-9-0 (W-L-D)
11	Michael Page	24-3-0 (W-L-D)
12	Roman Dolidze	15-4-0 (W-L-D)
13	Paulo Costa	15-4-0 (W-L-D)
14	Gregory Rodrigues	18-6-0 (W-L-D)
15	Joe Pyfer	15-3-0 (W-L-D)

Light Heavyweight

Rank	Fighter	Record	The Take
Champion	Alex Pereira	13-3-0 (W-L-D)
1	Jiří Procházka	32-5-1 (W-L-D)
2	Magomed Ankalaev	21-2-1 (W-L-D)
3	Carlos Ulberg	14-1-0 (W-L-D)
4	Khalil Rountree Jr.	15-7-0 (W-L-D)
5	Jan Błachowicz	29-11-2 (W-L-D)
6	Azamat Murzakanov	16-0-0 (W-L-D)
7	Jamahal Hill	12-4-0 (W-L-D)
8	Volkan Oezdemir	21-8-0 (W-L-D)
9	Dominick Reyes	15-5-0 (W-L-D)
10	Bogdan Guskov	18-3-0 (W-L-D)
11	Aleksandar Rakić	14-6-0 (W-L-D)
12	Johnny Walker	22-9-0 (W-L-D)
13	Nikita Krylov	30-11-0 (W-L-D)
14	Zhang Mingyang	19-7-0 (W-L-D)
15	Alonzo Menifield	17-6-1 (W-L-D)

Heavyweight

Rank	Fighter	Record	The Take
Champion	Tom Aspinall	15-3-0 (W-L-D)
1	Ciryl Gane	13-2-0 (W-L-D)
2	Alexander Volkov	39-11-0 (W-L-D)
3	Sergei Pavlovich	20-3-0 (W-L-D)
4	Curtis Blaydes	19-5-0 (W-L-D)
5	Waldo Cortes Acosta	16-2-0 (W-L-D)
6	Jailton Almeida	22-4-0 (W-L-D)
7	Serghei Spivac	17-6-0 (W-L-D)
8	Derrick Lewis	29-12-0 (W-L-D)
9	Ante Delija	26-7-0 (W-L-D)
10	Marcin Tybura	27-10-0 (W-L-D)
11	Shamil Gaziev	14-2-0 (W-L-D)
12	Tai Tuivasa	15-8-0 (W-L-D)
13	Mick Parkin	10-1-0 (W-L-D)
14	Valter Walker	15-1-0 (W-L-D)
15	Tallison Teixeira	8-1-0 (W-L-D)

Last Updated: January 2026