Today's 15 best pound-for-pound UFC fighters named

Islam Makhachev tops the updated men's pound-for-pound rankings on Tuesday after defeating Dustin Poirier at UFC 302 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on Saturday. The versatile fighter from Dagestan defeated the American challenger by submission in the fifth round after a bloody fight that featured plenty of back-and-forth fighting.

Poirier, however, fought valiantly against Makhachev and remains the fourth-ranked fighter on the lightweight list. Machachev's ground fighting skills are hard to underestimate, so it's impressive that The Diamond was able to keep him at bay for nearly five rounds. Although he took the Dagestani further than expected, Poirier hinted after the fight that this could be his last foray into the UFC Octagon.

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Islam Makhachev defeats Dustin Poirier at UFC 302

Islam Makhachev defeats Dustin Poirier in the main event of UFC 302.

Dana White said Jon Jones was number 1 in the world

However, Islam Makhachev has done far more in the last four years than Jones

Despite Makhavchev's continued dominance, UFC boss Dana White argued at the post-fight press conference that Jon Jones should top people's pound-for-pound lists. Jones is currently ranked second behind Makhachev, who is undefeated in 14 fights.

It's certainly difficult to judge this current form compared to Jones' legendary status in the UFC, but White had some fitting words during the post-event press conference:

“[Makhachev’s] one of the greatest of all time [and] “I think he's incredible,” White told reporters. “I don't think he's the best fighter in the world pound for pound. For anyone to call Islam the best fighter in the world pound for pound when Jon Jones is still fucking fighting is crazy!”

White continued, “Now when you think about what pound-for-pound rankings really mean, he moved up to heavyweight and destroyed the best guy in the world. As long as Jon Jones is still actively fighting and in the rankings, yeah, nobody is the best fighter in the world pound-for-pound.”

The UFC boss is certainly right about Jones' dominance throughout his career, even if Makhachev's form is unmatched and he is far more active than the heavyweight, who has fought only once since defeating Dominick Reyes in 2020, and even that single fight since then, a guillotine choke victory over Ciryl Gane, was 458 days ago.

Although White is the CEO of the UFC, he technically has no say in the rankings, hence his lack of support for the current list. The rankings are determined by a voting panel of media representatives. In what appears to be a subjective process, the UFC states that “media representatives were asked to vote for what they believe to be the best fighters in the UFC.”

The panel includes members from KHON Honolulu, FightNews and MoxeoMundial, showing that a wide range of media representatives are used to compile the lists. This subjectivity would explain why Charles Oliveira also overtook Tom Aspinall to reach 12th place in the rankings. Neither fighter was victorious in 2024, and Oliveira actually lost his last fight to Arman Tsarukyan.

Leon Edwards, Alex Pereira and Ilia Topuria complete the top 5 of the list.

The 15 best fighters of the UFC, ranking

Here is the full list, with Makhachev at the top, although White supports Jones.

With his recent win over Paulo Costa at UFC 302, Strickland was able to maintain his place in the pound-for-pound charts, while the Brazilian slipped to eighth place in the middleweight rankings.

With so many fight night events coming up and a big pay-per-view show at the end of the month featuring Conor McGregor's comeback against Michael Chandler, there's sure to be even more movement in the coming weeks.

Here is the full list pound for pound:

1. Islam Makachev – UFC Lightweight Champion
2. Jon Jones – UFC Heavyweight Champion
3. Leon Edwards – UFC Welterweight Champion
4. Alex Pereira – UFC Light Heavyweight Champion
5. Ilia Topuria – UFC Featherweight Champion
6. Sean O'Malley – UFC Bantamweight Champion
7. Alexander Volkanovski – Featherweight
8. Max Holloway – Featherweight
9. Dricus du Plessis – UFC Middleweight
10. Alexandre Pantoja – UFC Flyweight Champion
11. Israel Adesanya – Middleweight
12. Charles Oliveria – Lightweight
13. Tom Aspinall – UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion
14. Sean Strickland – Middleweight
15. Aljamain Sterling – Featherweight