Who is the best pound-for-pound UFC fighter? Jon Jones, Leon Edwards, and Sean O’Malley feature in top 10 rankings list

The UFC pound-for-pound list has been hotly contested in 2023.

After Kamaru Usman’s shocking loss to Leon Edwards in 2022, the top spot became vacant and several fighters attempted to take his place.

Alexander Volkanovski was considered the best UFC fighter on the planet at the start of 2023, but he has suffered three defeats in the last 12 months.

This gave Islam Makhachev, Jon Jones and Edwards a chance to make a compelling case to replace him as the UFC’s pound-for-pound best fighter.

Taking into account results, manner of their wins/losses, titles won and level of opposition faced, the UFC has ranked the top 10 UFC male stars pound for pound.

10. Alexandre Pantoja
Age: 34 years old
Record: 27-5

After years of hard work as a top contender, Pantoja finally realized his dream of becoming a world champion in 2023. A third victory over Brandon Moreno earned him a UFC belt before a flawless defense against Brandon Royval allowed him to crack the UFC pound-for-pound top 10.

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9. Dricus du Plessis
Age: 30 years old
Record: 21-2

Du Plessis stopped Darren Till, Derek Brunson and Robert Whittaker during an outstanding six-fight winning streak to earn a shot at the middleweight title. After a bloody five-round battle with Sean Strickland in January, he became the first South African fighter to win a UFC belt.

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8. Max Holloway
Age: 32 years old
Record: 26-7

Holloway hasn’t lost to a featherweight not named Alexander Volkanovski since he faced Conor McGregor a decade ago. After beating Arnold Allen and Chan Sung Jung to become number one contender again, he moved up to lightweight and scored the “greatest knockout of all time” to win the BMF belt from Justin Gaethje at UFC 300 .

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7. Alexander Volkanovski
Age: 35 years old
Record: 26-3

Volkanovski reigned supreme on this list, but three losses in four fights saw him fall in the rankings. Ilia Topuria took his longtime featherweight strap with a brutal knockout earlier this year, and now it’s unclear whether he will benefit from an immediate rematch.

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6. Sean O’Malley
Age: 29 years old
Record 18-1 (1NC)

O’Malley shocked the world when he knocked out Aljamain Sterling to take his belt. Some doubters remained, but “Suga” turned them into believers with a masterclass victory over the only man to beat him, Marlon Vera, at UFC 299 in March.

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5. Ilia Topuria
Age: 27 years old
Record: 15-0

Topuria has looked close to perfect during his UFC run. “El Matador” went from hopeful to enhanced champion and made things easy when he stopped Volkanovski at UFC 298. Now he wants to bring the premier MMA promotion to Spain for a show at the Santiago Bernabeu.

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4. Alex Pereira
Age: 36 years old
Record: 9-2

Pereira bounced back from losing his middleweight title after being put to sleep by Israel Adesanya in April to win two subsequent fights and another belt at light heavyweight. “Poatan” easily defended his belt by knocking out former champion Jamahal Hill at UFC 300.

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3. Leon Edwards
Age: 32 years old
Record: 22-3

Edwards brought the UFC back to England for a huge PPV show and proved his first win over Usman was no fluke by beating him again. The welterweight champion then silenced Colby Covington, who is considered the second best 170-pound fighter in years.

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2. Jon Jones
Age: 36 years old
Record: 27-1

The greatest fighter of all time proved he still had it after a three-year absence when he quickly tapped Ciryl Gane to become heavyweight champion in his divisional debut. An injury delayed his fight with Stipe Miocic, but they are expected to face each other at some point this year.

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1. Islam Makhachev
Age: 32 years old
Record: 25-1

Makhachev has been close to perfect during his MMA career. In 2023, he twice defended his lightweight belt with Volkanovski, widely considered the best fighter in MMA, before being singled out and eliminated by Khabib Nurmagomedov’s protégé. He will begin his 2024 campaign by facing Dustin Poirier at UFC 302 in June.

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