B/R Pound-for-pound UFC Rankings: August 2024

July was an action-packed month for the UFC, with a handful of exciting Fight Night cards across the US and a stacked pay-per-view in Manchester, England. Those events were not only entertaining, but collectively shook up the promotion's pound-for-pound pecking order.

The biggest shakeup of the month came courtesy of Chicago's Belal Muhammad, who swiped the welterweight title with a lopsided unanimous decision win over Leon Edwards, who was himself fast becoming one of the promotion's top pound-for-pound talents. Also in Manchester, interim heavyweight champ Tom Aspinall scored a quick knockout win over Curtis Blaydes to defend his belt and cement himself as the division's top fighter.

Former strawweight champ Rose Namajunas — a staple of women's pound-for-pound lists everywhere — was also in action in July, defeating Tracy Cortez by unanimous decision in Denver. Namajunas was originally set for a tougher challenge in Maycee Barber, but her win over the tough Cortez was impressive all the same and only strengthened her reputation as one of the top female fighters on earth.

Keep scrolling to see how B/R's pound-for-pound UFC rankings look as we head into the month of August.

10. Tom Aspinall

Tom Aspinall wasn't included in our men's pound-for-pound rankings at the end of June, but after his 60-second knockout win over long-time contender Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 in Manchester, he's undeniable.

The Brit is now 8-1 in the UFC. His lone loss in the promotion came after a flukey leg injury in a 2022 fight with Blaydes, and he has counterbalanced that setback with quick stoppage wins over the likes of Sergei Spivac, Alexander Volkov, Marcin Tybura and Sergei Pavlovich.

Jon Jones may still hold the division's undisputed title, but his only win in the weight class was a submission of Ciryl Gane well over a year ago, so there's no question Aspinall is the true king.

If Jones wants to change that perception—and return to pound-for-pound relevance—he needs to get off social media and fight.

9. Belal Muhammad

Almost nobody believed Belal Muhammad would beat Leon Edwards at UFC 304.

Not only was Edwards riding wins over the likes of Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington, but he was also soundly in control of his first fight with Muhammad—until it was derailed by a second-round eye poke.

Muhammad proved everyone wrong in their rematch, using pressure, takedowns and ground control to defeat Edwards by unanimous decision and win the welterweight title.

Throw in his recent wins over the likes of Gilbert Burns, Sean Brady and Stephen Thompson, and there's little question he's one of the best fighters on the planet. The only question is how long he can hang onto the belt in a division that is swarming with dangerous contenders.

8. Israel Adesanya

Israel Adesanya has been a staple of pound-for-pound lists like this one for years, but he is currently in the middle of the worst slump of his UFC career.

After losing the middleweight belt with a knockout loss to Alex Pereira in 2022, he then reclaimed the belt with a knockout win over the same opponent, only to lose it again when he suffered a decision loss in a short-notice title fight with a big underdog in Sean Strickland last September.

After his loss to Strickland, Adesanya laid out plans for a long hiatus. In the end, though, that plan was short-lived. He's now slated to challenge reigning champion Dricus Du Plessis in the main event of UFC 305 on August 17 in Perth, Australia.

If he wins that fight, expect him to close out the year much higher in our rankings.

7. Dricus Du Plessis

As mentioned, UFC middleweight champion Du Plessis is set to defend his belt against Adesanya this month.

If the South African defeats the decorated former champion, it will go down as the biggest win of his career and give him a big push up these rankings.

Of course, Du Plessis has already been very impressive in the Octagon, going 7-0 since he joined the UFC roster in 2020. His biggest wins have come in his last two fights, as he knocked out a former champion in Robert Whittaker last July, then swiped the title from Sean Strickland with a hard-fought unanimous decision at UFC 297 in January.

6. Max Holloway

Much like Adesanya, Max Holloway has been appearing on pound-for-pound lists for years.

The former featherweight champion is one of the greatest fighters in the division's history—maybe even the best outright. While he lost the belt with a decision defeat Alexander Volkanovski in 2019, and twice failed to reclaim it from the Australian, he has beaten every other featherweight contender he's met since, including top-flight foes such as Calvin Kattar, Yair Rodriguez, Arnold Allen and "The Korean Zombie" Chan Sung Jung.

Holloway's most recent fight occurred at lightweight on the landmark UFC 300 card in April, when he challenged Justin Gaethje for the UFC's novelty "BMF" belt.

Despite being a big underdog heading into the fight, he dominated in the Octagon, and ultimately knocked his opponent out cold with a wild flurry in the final second of their five-round contest.

It was arguably the best win of his illustrious career, and one that ensured his place on pound-for-pound lists everywhere for the time being.

Holloway is expected to challenge Ilia Topuria for the featherweight title at UFC 308 in October, in a fight that could push him right back up to the top end of the list.

5. Alexander Volkanovski

Volkanovski spent several years as one of the UFC's top pound-for-pound fighters and will go down as one of the best fighters in MMA history. But he has been struggling recently.

In February 2023, after years of dominance at featherweight, he hiked up to lightweight to challenge Islam Makhachev for a second belt. He was a big underdog heading into the fight, and ultimately came up short by unanimous decision after giving the lightweight champion one of the toughest tests of his career.

After that loss, he returned to featherweight and scored a lopsided stoppage win over a tough challenger in Rodriguez. That was followed by a short-notice lightweight rematch with Makhachev, which ended far worse than their first fight, as he was knocked out with a first-round head kick.

Volkanovski's most recent fight occurred in February, when he attempted to defend his belt against unbeaten challenger Topuria. Unfortunately for him, that ended in disaster, as he was knocked out in Round 2 and lost the title.

He doesn't have a fight booked currently, but he will need to win his next one if he hopes to keep his place on this list.

4. Sean O'Malley

Sean O'Malley has been one of the most hyped fighters on the UFC roster since he signed with the promotion in 2017. While his naysayers always doubted that he would ever reach the top of the bantamweight division, he proved them wrong last August, when he knocked out long-time champion and pound-for-pound star Aljamain Sterling to claim the crown for himself.

O'Malley has defended the title once since then, dominating Marlon "Chito" Vera to a unanimous decision in the main event of UFC 299 in March.

Chito was not the top contender in the bantamweight division at the time, but he held the distinction of being the only person to beat O'Malley before. So, it was an important win for the champion, and one that cemented him as one of the sport's top fighters.

O'Malley will next face one of the toughest tests of his career in streaking wrestler Merab Dvalishvili. The bout will headline the UFC's anticipated debut in The Sphere in Las Vegas on September 14.

3. Ilia Topuria

Topuria became the undisputed UFC featherweight champion when he knocked out Volkanovski at UFC 298 in February. It was far and away the biggest win of his undefeated career, but it is really the only accomplishment on his resume that puts him in the pound-for-pound conversation.

While there is no questioning his ability, he will need to start taking out other big names if he hopes to climb this list.

The good news is that all signs point to him defending his belt against featherweight great Holloway at UFC 308, set for this October in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

If he wins that in impressive fashion, the top spot on this list will be within reach.

2. Alex Pereira

It would be fair to call Pereira the MVP of the UFC right now. The former two-division kickboxing champion has fought three times since November, and each time was a short-notice title fight that he won by knockout.

First, he claimed the vacant heavyweight belt with a knockout of Jiri Prochazka at UFC 295. Then he defended the belt with a first-round knockout of former champ Jamahal Hill at UFC 300 in April. Most recently, he defended the belt for a second time in a short-notice rematch with Prochazka in the main event of last weekend's UFC 303 card, again winning by second-round KO.

It has been the continuation of an incredibly impressive run for Pereira. He has gone 8-1 since joining the UFC in November 2021. Seven of those fights have been against former, current or future UFC champions, and the only one he lost was to Adesanya, who had already been beaten three times across kickboxing and MMA competition by that point.

Nobody would have believed it when he arrived in the UFC, but he is clearly one of the best mixed martial artists in the world at the moment.

Time will tell when he fights again, but after the schedule he's been keeping, he's deserving of a break, and it will be no threat to his place on this list.

1. Islam Makhachev

There's still a strong argument for undisputed heavyweight champion Jon Jones being the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in MMA. However, the former light heavyweight champion hasn't fought since he claimed the vacant heavyweight belt with a quick submission over an easy style matchup in Ciryl Gane last March, and that was his first fight since he scraped by Dominick Reyes in a light heavyweight title fight in February of 2020.

Great as Jones is, he just hasn't been active enough to be included in the pound-for-pound conversation at the moment.

Islam Makhachev, on the other hand, has been actively defending his lightweight belt against very strong competition, which is why he gets our No. 1 spot, and the long-absent Jones isn't even included on our list.

Makhachev won the vacant lightweight belt with a submission of the great Charles Oliveira in 2022. He then defended it twice against featherweight legend Alexander Volkanovski—first with a decision, then a knockout—and then authored a third defense against future Hall of Famer Dustin Poirier at UFC 302 in June.

These are the kinds of dominant wins over world-class foes that Jones used to deliver, but the kind we haven't seen from him in about half a decade.

Makhachev isn't currently booked to fight, but he is expected to take on top contender Arman Tsarukyan next.

10. Yan Xiaonan

China's Yan Xiaonan has been hovering around the top of the women's strawweight division for years, and she finally got her crack at the belt at UFC 300 in March when she took on Zhang Weili.

That fight didn't go her way, as she lost a unanimous decision to the champion, but it did little to diminish her status as one of the division's best.

She may never be a champion, but after recent wins over Jessica Andrade and Mackenzie Dern, it's clear she's a tough test for most fighters in her weight class.

She doesn't have a fight booked, but will hopefully be back in action soon.

9. Erin Blanchfield

Erin Blanchfield started 2024 on the cusp of a flyweight title shot, with nine straight victories behind her.

In fact, if the UFC didn't already have plans for a trilogy fight between flyweight champ Alexa Grasso and former champ Valentina Shevchenko, Blanchfield might have been granted a shot at the title.

Because of the Grasso-Shevchenko plans, though, Blanchfield was booked for a No. 1 contender fight with France's Manon Fiorot, at which point her momentum finally slowed with a unanimous-decision loss.

Given that Fiorot was also near the top of the flyweight rankings at the time, Blanchfield didn't lose too much ground in defeat, but she will now need a couple more wins if she hopes to win the title and continue her climb up the women's pound-for-pound rankings.

Like Yan, she doesn't have a fight on the calendar, but she will hopefully be booked again soon.

8. Tatiana Suarez

Tatiana Suarez has been considered a future champion since she arrived in the UFC after a win on The Ultimate Fighter in 2016. Unfortunately, she has spent much of the time since sidelined by injuries, but after six straight wins in the flyweight and strawweight divisions, she is finally on the cusp of the title shot her fans have forecasted from the beginning.

Time will tell when and where it happens, but all signs point to her challenging strawweight champion Zhang Weili for the division's undisputed title sometime soon.

It will be a tough challenge for the undefeated contender, but she can definitely pull it off, and she may even enter the cage as a betting favorite based on her ridiculous wrestling and submission skill.

7. Raquel Pennington

Raquel Pennington has been a member of the bantamweight top 15 for what feels like forever, but she never seemed quite capable of becoming a champion—particularly with former pound-for-pound queen Amanda Nunes in the division.

That finally changed this past January when, after Nunes' retirement, Pennington fought Mayra Bueno Silva for the vacant belt and won by unanimous decision.

Pennington has yet to defend her new title, but rumors are swirling that she will defend her belt against former champion Julianna Peña later this year.

Peña is too inactive and too short on meaningful wins to be included on this list, but she should still be a decent challenge for the champ if the fight actually occurs.

6. Rose Namajunas

Former strawweight champion Namajunas was once one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world but has been both inactive and inconsistent of late, hence her position on the bottom half of this list.

After defending her belt with a split-decision win over Zhang in 2021, she relinquished the title with a 2022 split-decision loss to Carla Esparza in what was, objectively, one of the most boring fights ever.

After nearly two years on the shelf, she finally returned to the Octagon last September, when she climbed up to flyweight to take on Manon Fiorot, only to lose by unanimous decision.

Despite widespread calls to return to strawweight, Namajunas decided to stick to flyweight, and scored her first win in the division, defeating Amanda Ribas by unanimous decision in March.

She then further silenced skeptics of her flyweight move in July, when she scored a unanimous-decision win over Cortez in the main event of the UFC's return to Denver.

She's still probably a win or two away from a flyweight title shot, but she's closing in and is still one of the best female fighters on the planet.

5. Manon Fiorot

French flyweight Manon Fiorot is riding one of the best streaks in all of women's MMA right now, with victories over top contenders and former champions and title challengers like Blanchfield, Namajunas, Katlyn Cerminara, Jennifer Maia and Silva behind her.

Under normal circumstances, she would almost certainly be booked for a flyweight title shot by now. Unfortunately for her, the UFC will next pit champion Alexa Grasso against former champion Valentina Shevchenko at The Sphere on September 14.

It'll be the third time the two stars have met, and presumably the last. Unless they fight to another draw or their fight ends by disqualification, Fiorot should get the next crack at the winner.

4. Kayla Harrison

Kayla Harrison can fairly be called the UFC's biggest signing of 2024.

A former Olympic gold medalist in judo and a two-time PFL champion, she made her UFC debut at UFC 300 in March, tapping former bantamweight champion Holly Holm out inside two rounds.

Choking Holm out is impressive under any circumstances, but it was all the more impressive in Harrison's case as the fight occurred in the 135-pound bantamweight division, and she has spent most of her career fighting at 155 pounds.

Having proved she can make bantamweight and made a huge splash in her UFC debut, Harrison is completely deserving of a crack at the champ Pennington. She deserves the opportunity more than Pena, who hasn't fought since she was walloped by Nunes in July, 2022, but it seems the UFC sees things differently.

Time will tell how the UFC moves Harrison over the remainder of the year, but in the eyes of many fans, she's the best fighter at 135 pounds.

3. Valentina Shevchenko

Former flyweight champ Shevchenko spent many years near the top of everyone's women's pound-for-pound rankings, and probably would have been No. 1 across the board were it not for the existence of Nunes, who she lost to twice as a bantamweight.

While Shevchenko remains one of the sport's top female players, her stock has taken a knock over the last year thanks to Grasso.

First, Shevchenko lost the title to Grasso when she was submitted in a stunning upset in March 2023. They then met in a rematch the following September, which ended in a draw. That outcome didn't do much to prove who was superior, but they are now set to settle their rivalry in the co-main event of the UFC's debut in The Sphere on September 14.

Whoever wins that fight might just become the sport's pound-for-pound queen.

2. Alexa Grasso

As mentioned, Grasso has surged toward pound-for-pound supremacy over the course of two fights with the great Shevchenko; first, a shocking submission win, then a hard-fought draw that meant she retained her title, even if she didn't win.

The pair will now fight for a third time when the UFC debuts in The Sphere in September, and whoever wins will cement themselves as one of the best female fighters around.

Unfortunately for that winner, the road isn't going to get any easier from there, as tough contenders like Fiorot, Namajunas, Blanchfield and Barber are all closing in on title shots.

1. Zhang Weili

Zhang's decision victory over Yan Xiaonan at UFC 300 was largely overshadowed by the many stunning moments on the card—namely Max Holloway and Alex Pereira's knockouts of Justin Gaethje and Jamahal Hill, respectively.

However, it was an excellent performance from the champ, and one that cemented her as the best female fighter in the world right now.

With her win over Yan, and other recent triumphs over the likes of Amanda Lemos and Esparza, Zhang proved she is going to be very difficult to dethrone. However, there are some interesting challenges on the way for her, namely undefeated wrestler Suarez, who will hopefully get a title shot before the year is out.

Whatever the future holds, she is clearly the sport's pound-for-pound queen as we head into August.