Stock Up, Stock Down: Pound-for-Pound Rankings After UFC 283
UFC 283, the promotion's first pay-per-view offering of the year, went down on Saturday night at the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, and it had plenty of relevance for pound-for-pound lists everywhere.
In the main event, Jamahal Hill claimed the vacant light heavyweight title, battering the division's former king Glover Teixeira to a unanimous-decision win after five exciting rounds.
In the co-main event, Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno met for an unprecedented fourth time. Moreno became the undisputed flyweight champion with a third-round stoppage win and moved to 2-1-1 in his rivalry with the dangerous Brazilian in the process.
Earlier on the broadcast, former strawweight champ Jessica Andrade picked up a lopsided unanimous-decision win over Lauren Murphy, cementing herself as the top pound-for-pound fighter on the women's side of the sport.
See how all of this high-quality MMA action affected our pound-for-pound UFC rankings below.
Men: Nos. 10-6
1 of 4
10. Brandon Moreno
9. Aljamain Sterling
8. Alex Pereira
7. Charles Oliveira
6. Leon Edwards
Brandon Moreno is once again the undisputed UFC flyweight champion, having defeated Deiveson Figueiredo by stoppage in the UFC 283 co-main event. He's also back on in our men's pound-for-pound top 10. He's now sitting at No. 10, the same spot Figueiredo occupied heading into their latest clash.
To be honest, Moreno seems like he's probably a lot better than his current vantage point suggests. He may, for example, be an objectively superior fighter to the likes of bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling and middleweight champ Alex Pereira. It's just a bit difficult to prove at this point, because four of his last five fights have all been against Figueiredo. As good as the former champ is, he is only one man.
Hopefully, now that Figueiredo is headed up to bantamweight, Moreno can focus on the growing list of contenders at flyweight. Beating even one or two of them could send him flying up this list.
Men: Nos. 5-1
2 of 4
5. Islam Makhachev
4. Francis Ngannou
3. Israel Adesanya
2. Kamaru Usman
1. Alexander Volkanovski
Nobody in the top half of our men's pound-for-pound rankings was in action at UFC 283, so there have been no changes to this part of this list. However, that is guaranteed to change over the next few months.
At UFC 284 on Feb. 11, our No. 1 seed Alexander Volkanovski, the featherweight champ, will climb up to lightweight to challenge the No. 5-ranked Islam Makhachev for a second title. While a win will only cement him as the sport's pound-for-pound king, a loss would cause tectonic movement on this list.
And there could be plenty more changes thereafter. At UFC 285 on March 4, former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones will make his long-awaited return to the cage, taking on former interim heavyweight champ Ciryl Gane for the undisputed heavyweight belt that Francis Ngannou ditched on his way out the door.
Jones, who has been out of action since 2020, spent the better part of a decade as one of MMA's pound-for-pound kings. Given that his legendary undefeated streak is still intact, a win over Gane should land him right back near the top of pound-for-pound lists everywhere.
Then there's UFC 286 on March 18. That card will see our No. 6 seed Leon Edwards defend the welterweight belt against former pound-for-pound king Kamaru Usman, whom he defeated to claim the title in a shocking upset last year. No matter the outcome, that one will affect this list.
Women: Nos. 10-6
3 of 4
10. Manon Fiorot
9. Ketlen Vieira
8. Amanda Lemos
7. Julianna Peña
6. Carla Esparza
At this point, Brazil's Jessica Andrade seems to be a level above just about everybody but the champion Valentina Shevchenko at flyweight and superior to all but the top three or four fighters at strawweight, where she was once the champion.
She reaffirmed that at UFC 283, when she picked up an effortless but brutal unanimous-decision victory over former flyweight title challenger Lauren Murphy.
It was impressive enough to push Andrade back into our women's pound-for-pound top five at the expense of a fellow former strawweight champ in Carla Esparza.
While Esparza is criminally underrated and definitely among the sport's best female fighters, she only ever cracked our Top Five because of her 2022 split-decision win over Rose Namajunas, which was neither convincing nor entertaining. After watching her lose the title to Zhang Weili last year and Andrade beat Murphy last weekend, it's obvious who's better between them,
So Esparza is down, and Andrade is up—which brings us to the top five.
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Women: Nos. 5-1
4 of 4
5. Jessica Andrade
4. Zhang Weili
3. Rose Namajunas
2. Amanda Nunes
1. Valentina Shevchenko
As we covered above, Jessica Andrade is back in the top five, and Carla Esparza is on the outside looking in.
Beyond that change, there's nothing to report on this end of the list, but that could change soon, as flyweight champ and pound-for-pound queen Valentina Shevchenko is set to defend her belt against the tough Alexa Grasso at UFC 285 in Las Vegas on March 4.
A win will only strengthen Shevchenko's claim to the pound-for-pound throne, but a loss will totally upend our rankings. It's unlikely, but after watching the champ struggle with Taila Santos at UFC 275 in her last fight and Grasso level up over her last few appearances, it's not impossible.
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