Rankings
Pound For Pound Rankings
UFC president Dana White has one more meeting set up with Nurmagomedov in Las Vegas, but it seems the reigning lightweight champ is content to stick to his retirement.
Already considered one of the greatest fighters of all-time, Jones said he wants to turn his attention to heavyweight and has no intention of returning to 205 pounds.
Upcoming Fight: vs Jan Blachowicz | Mar 06, 2021 – UFC 259: Blachowicz vs. Adesanya
It was a meteoric rise for ‘The Last Stylebender’ to his place as UFC middleweight champion, and he’ll look for champ-champ status in March when he moves to light heavyweight.
Upcoming Fight: vs Adriano “Black Diamond” Moraes | Apr 07, 2021 – ONE on TNT I: Moraes vs. Johnson
After fulfilling his dream of adding a global belt to his collection of championships, ‘Mighty Mouse’ now looks to add ONE’s flyweight belt to the grand prix title he already earned.
Upcoming Fight: vs Gilbert “Durinho” Burns | Feb 13, 2021 – UFC 258: Usman vs. Burns
Usman may not be the most popular figure on the UFC roster, but he’s certainly effective and is starting to put his name in the history books with his dominant run.
Upcoming Fight: vs Francis “The Predator” Ngannou | Mar 27, 2021 – UFC 260: Miocic vs. Ngannou 2
With his trilogy win over Daniel Cormier secured, Miocic is widely considered the greatest heavyweight in UFC history – and perhaps even all of MMA.
A point dediction for a low blow forced Figueiredo to settle for a draw against Brandon Moreno, and the two are expected to meet again in early 2021.
Bader was certainly disappointed to lose his Bellator champ-champ status, but he does still have one belt and promises to return in top form.
Upcoming Fight: vs Brian “T-City” Ortega | Mar 27, 2021 – UFC 260: Miocic vs. Ngannou 2
It wasn’t as convincing as the first time around, but Volkanovski picked up a second win over Max Holloway and says he wants to continue taking out top contenders.
Poirier continues to be one of the most exciting fighters in the game, and his grit is immeasurable – qualities he hopes will net him another UFC title shot in the near future.
Holloway delivered a record-breaking destruction of Calvin Kattar and now looks like he’ll get a chance to regain the UFC featherweight title later this year.
Khabib Nurmagomedov proved to be too much for Gaethje at UFC 254, but ‘The Highlight’ could very well get another title shot in the very near future.
Upcoming Fight: vs Paulo Costa | Apr 17, 2021 – UFC Fight Night
With a fantastic win over Jared Cannonier, Whittaker seemed to prove himself the No. 1 contender in the UFC’s middleweight division, but Dana White said he’ll need one more win for a title shot.
Costa was frustrated after suffering the first loss of his career and will now face another monster in Robert Whittaker in his trail back to a title shot.
Upcoming Fight: vs Aljamain “Funk Master” Sterling | Mar 06, 2021 – UFC 259: Blachowicz vs. Adesanya
Yan and his devastating boxing skills have earned him a UFC title, and his first defense will come against an impressive challenger in Aljamain Sterling.
Honorable Mentions
USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings, Feb. 2: Big month ahead at heavyweight
After taking a week off, the UFC is back this Saturday with UFC Fight Night 184 to kick off a busy February that is sure to cause plenty of movement in the USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings.
Among the fights to watch:
No. 6 Alistair Overeem vs. No. 7 Alexander Volkov, heavyweight
No. 3 Cory Sandhagen vs. No. 4 Frankie Edgar, bantamweight
No. 1 Kamaru Usman vs. No. 2 Gilbert Burns, welterweight
No. 5 Pedro Munhoz vs. No. 11 Jimmie Rivera, bantamweight
No. 14 Maycee Barber vs. Alexa Grasso, women’s flyweight
No. 3 Curtis Blaydes vs. No. 4 Derrick Lewis, heavyweight
No. 5 Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. No. 8 Cyril Gane, heavyweight
For those keeping track, the month features three heavyweight main events featuring the Nos. 3 through 8 in our rankings. A lot is at stake among the big men in February.
Get caught up with all of the rankings in the dropdowns above.
Ranking Criteria
The rankings take into account a fighter’s wins/losses, quality of competition, finishing rate/dominance and frequency of fights.
Fighters are no longer eligible to be ranked after they’ve been inactive for 24 months, either due to injuries, drug/conduct suspensions, contract disputes or self-imposed hiatuses.
Fighters serving drug/conduct suspensions are eligible to be ranked, so long as they’re not inactive for more than 24 months.
To the best of our ability, fighters will be ranked in their primary weight class. Catchweight fights and bouts outside the fighter’s primary weight class can have a positive or negative impact on the ranking. However, non-titleholders can be ranked in only one weight class at a given time, and in most cases, they won’t be ranked in a new weight class until they’ve had their first fight at that weight.