Photo by Ed Mulholland/Zuffa LLC
As a result, Sean O’Malley departs the promotion’s pound-for-pound list.
Defending UFC bantamweight champion, Merab Dvalishvili, captured his thirteenth straight win with a submission victory over former 135-pound titleholder, Sean O’Malley, in the UFC 316 pay-per-view (PPV) main event last weekend in Newark.
His performance was good enough to send “The Machine” to No. 2 in the promotion’s pound-for-pound rankings, one spot above inactive heavyweight champion, Jon Jones, and two seats ahead of former featherweight kingpin, Ilia Topuria.
That’s not all.
Kayla Harrison’s dominant showing in the UFC 316 co-main event landed the newly-crowned bantamweight champion at No. 3 on the women’s pound-for-pound chart, just under strawweight titleholder, Zhang Weili, and flyweight queen, Valentina Shevchenko.
Here’s how the rankings are compiled, at least until AI takes over:
Rankings are 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. Merab Dvalishvili +2
3. Jon Jones -1
4. Ilia Topuria -1
5. Dricus Du Plessis
6. Magomed Ankalaev
7. Alexander Volkanovski
8. Jack Della Maddalena +1
9. Alex Pereira -1
10. Alexandre Pantoja
11. Tom Aspinall
12. Max Holloway
13. Belal Muhammad
14. Charles Oliveira +1
15. Arman Tsarukyan *NR
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Alexandre Pantoja
1. Brandon Royval
2. Brandon Moreno
3. Amir Albazi
4. Kai Kara France
5. Tatsuro Taira
6. Manel Kape
7. Alex Perez
8. Asu Almabayev
9. Steve Erceg
10. Joshua Van +4
11. Tim Elliott
12. Tagir Ulanbekov -2
13. Ramazan Temirov
14. Bruno Silva -2
15. Kai Asakura
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Merab Dvalishvili
1. Sean O’Malley
2. Umar Nurmagomedov +1
3. Petr Yan -1
4. Cory Sandhagen
5. Song Yadong
6. Deiveson Figueiredo
7. Marlon Vera
8. Rob Font
9. Mario Bautista +1
10. Henry Cejudo -1
11. Aiemann Zahabi
12. Kyler Phillips
13. Marcus McGhee
14. Montel Jackson
15. Vinicius Oliveira
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Alexander Volkanovski
1. Max Holloway
2. Diego Lopes
3. Ilia Topuria
4. (T) Movsar Evloev
4. (T) Yair Rodriguez
6. Arnold Allen
7. Brian Ortega
8. Lerone Murphy
9. Aljamain Sterling
10. Josh Emmett
11. Jean Silva
12. Youssef Zalal
13. David Onama
14. Dan Ige
15. Calvin Kattar
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Islam Makhachev
1. Arman Tsarukyan
2. Charles Oliveira
3. Justin Gaethje
4. Max Holloway
5. Dustin Poirier
6. Dan Hooker
7. Mateusz Gamrot
8. Paddy Pimblett
9. Beneil Dariush
10. Renato Moicano
11. Rafael Fiziev
12. Michael Chandler
13. Benoit Saint Denis
14. Grant Dawson
15. Joel Alvarez
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Jack Della Maddalena
1. Belal Muhammed
2. Sean Brady
3. Shavkat Rakhmonov
4. Leon Edwards
5. Kamaru Usman
6. Ian Machado Garry
7. Joaquin Buckley
8. Michael Morales
9. Colby Covington
10. Gilbert Burns
11. Geoff Neal
12. Stephen Thompson
13. Carlos Prates
14. Kevin Holland *NR
15. Michael Page
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Dricus Du Plessis
1. Nassourdine Imavov
2. Sean Strickland
3. Khamzat Chimaev
4. Israel Adesanya
5. Robert Whittaker
6. Caio Borralho
7. Jared Cannonier
8. Roman Dolidze
9. Anthony Hernandez
10. Marvin Vettori
11. Brendan Allen
12. Reinier De Ridder +1
13. Paulo Costa -1
14. Roman Kopylov
15. Abus Magomedov
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Magomed Ankalaev
1. Alex Pereira
2. Jiri Prochazka
3. Carlos Ulberg
4. Jamahal Hill
5. Jan Blachowicz
6. Aleksandar Rakic
7. Khalil Rountree
8. Dominick Reyes
9. Volkan Oezdemir
10. Nikita Krylov
11. Azamat Murzakanov +1
12. Johnny Walker -1
13. Zhang Mingyang
14. Bogdan Guskov
15. Alonzo Menifield
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Jon Jones
1. Tom Aspinall
2. Ciryl Gane
3. Alexander Volkov
4. Sergei Pavlovich
5. Curtis Blaydes
6. Jailton Almeida
7. Marcin Tybura +1
8. Waldo Cortes Acosta +3
9. Serghei Spivac -2
10. Derrick Lewis -1
11. Tai Tuivasa -1
12. Shamil Gaziev
13. Mick Parkin
14. Tallison Teixeira
15. Martin Buday
WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Valentina Shevchenko
2. Zhang Weili
3. Kayla Harrison +4
4. Manon Fiorot
5. Julianna Pena -2
6. Natalia Silva +2
7. Alexa Grasso -2
8. Erin Blanchfield -2
9. Virna Jandiroba
10. Raquel Pennington
11. Tatiana Suarez +1
12. Rose Namajunas -1
13. Yan Xiaonan
14. Amanda Lemos
15. Maycee Barber
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Zhang Weili
1. Virna Jandiroba
2. Tatiana Suarez
3. Yan Xiaonan
4. Amanda Lemos
5. Jessica Andrade
6. Mackenzie Dern
7. Amanda Ribas
8. Iasmin Lucindo
9. Gillian Robertson
10. Tabatha Ricci
11. Loopy Godinez
12. Angela Hill
13. Tecia Pennington
14. Loma Lookboonmee
15. Denise Gomes
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Valentina Shevchenko
1. Natalia Silva
2. Manon Fiorot
3. Alexa Grasso
4. Erin Blanchfield
5. Maycee Barber
6. Jasmine Jasudavicius
7. Rose Namajunas
8. Viviane Araújo
9. Jessica Andrade
10. Tracy Cortez
11. Miranda Maverick
12. Karine Silva -1
13. Casey O’Neill +1
14. Wang Cong *NR
15. Ariane Da Silva -2
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Kayla Harrison
1. Julianna Pena -1
2. Raquel Pennington -1
3. Ketlen Vieira
4. Norma Dumont
5. Macy Chiasson
6. Irene Aldana
7. Ailin Perez
8. Mayra Bueno Silva
9. Yana Santos
10. Karol Rosa
11. Jacqueline Cavalcanti
12. Nora Cornolle
13. Miesha Tate
14. Joselyne Edwards
15. Chelsea Chandler
You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week, particularly in the welterweight division, following the UFC Atlanta: “Usman vs. Buckley” mixed martial arts (MMA) event on ESPN and ESPN+, scheduled for Sat., June 14, 2025 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.
For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.
