Ranking the Best UFC PPVs of 2025 So Far

So far, 2025 has been kind to UFC fans.

In the first six months of the year, we've witnessed incredible finishes, thrilling wars and multiple UFC titles change hands. As one might expect, many of the year's best moments have occurred on pay-per-view, where the promotion typically books its biggest and best fights.

There have been seven UFC PPVs in 2025 so far. The first was UFC 311 in Los Angeles in January and the most recent was Saturday's UFC 317 card in Las Vegas. All of those events had their moments, but some were better than others—and a couple were downright unforgettable.

Without further ado, here are the best UFC PPV cards of 2025 so far, ranked.

No. 5: UFC 313

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Like many of this year's PPVs, UFC 313 was good but not exactly great. However, it was definitely better than UFC 312 or UFC 315, so it makes our top five.

The card went down on March 8 in Vegas.

The main event saw popular lightweight champion Alex Pereira make the fourth title defense of his knockout-filled reign opposite fearsome Russian challenger Magomed Ankalaev.

Ahead of time, Ankalaev was considered the stiffest test of Pereira's career, largely because of his grappling ability. In the end, those suspicions proved accurate—but not in the way most expected.

While Ankalaev ultimately defeated Pereira to become the new champion, he failed on all 11 of his takedown attempts, and instead won the fight with his striking and pressure.

It was a definite shake-up for the light heavyweight division, and one that should set up a big rematch later this year.

Outside the main event, UFC 313 featured several other notable contests. That includes a violent short-notice rematch between ranked lightweights Justin Gaethje and Rafael Fiziev in the co-main event.

Gaethje won by decision after three rounds, but both men walked away with Fight of the Night bonuses.

Other UFC 313 highlights included Mauricio Ruffy's stunning wheel-kick KO of Bobby Green at lightweight. Long-time lightweight contender Jalin Turner also retired during the card, after suffering a submission loss to Ignacio Bahamondes.

No. 4: UFC 311

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UFC 311 is best remembered for the drama that surrounded the main event.

The Jan. 18 card in L.A. was originally set to be headlined by a lightweight title fight between pound-for-pound king Islam Makhachev and No. 1 contender Arman Tsarukyan.

However, things took a chaotic turn just hours ahead of time, when Tsarukyan pulled out of the fight with an injury. That left No. 11 contender Renato Moicano, who had been set to meet Beneil Dariush on the card, to step in and fight the fearsome champion.

As expected, Moicano was blown away by Makhachev. However, he earned the respect and admiration of fans for stepping up; and in losing, he helped further cement Makhachev as one of the best fighters alive.

UFC 311 also featured an impressive performance from bantamweight champ Merab Dvalishvili.

Dvalishvili was in action in the co-main event, taking on the undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov in his first title defense. He entered the Octagon as an underdog but ended up winning by unanimous decision, affirming himself as a pound-for-pound talent in the process.

Other memorable moments on the card include a light heavyweight war between former champs Jiri Prochazka and Jamahal Hill, which the former ultimately won by third-round KO.

Former ONE Championship title-holder Reinier De Ridder also picked up his second UFC win on the main card, choking out Kevin Holland inside a round.

No. 3: UFC 316

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Merab Dvalishvili looked great when he beat Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311 in January, but he looked even better in his second fight of the year at UFC 316.

UFC 316 occurred on June 7 in Newark. Dvalishvili was in action in the main event, attempting his second title defense against Sean O'Malley, the man he won the title from last year.

In the end, Dvalishvili won the rematch even more impressively than the first fight, tapping O'Malley out with a north-south choke in round four. The champ showed all the skills that make him special in the fight—namely his cardio and wrestling—but more importantly picked up his first finish in years.

After the fact, he began to appear in the top three of just about everybody's pound-for-pound rankings.

UFC 316 also saw Kayla Harrison finally claim UFC gold. A former Olympic judoka and two-time PFL lightweight champion, She had been tabbed as a future UFC champ since she signed with the promotion last year.

After wins over Holly Holm and Ketlen Vieira, she finally made it happen in Newark, tapping Julianna Peña with a second-round kimura to claim the bantamweight belt.

Kevin Holland also picked up a nice win on the card, tapping Vicente Luque with a brabo choke in the main-card opener. We also saw rising bantamweight contender Mario Bautista pick up an upset win over debuting Bellator export Patchy Mix.

No. 2: UFC 314

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UFC 314, which came from Miami on April 12, had a lot of hype ahead of time—and for good reason. In the end, it lived up to expectations.

The card was headlined by a clash between former featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski and red-hot contender Diego Lopes.

The pair were meeting for the featherweight division's vacant championship, after former champ Ilia Topuria left the division to move up to lightweight.

It was an exciting fight that went all five rounds, and ultimately went the way of Volkanovski, who further entrenched himself as one of the best fighters ever with the win.

While Volkanovski and Lopes' scrap was the only title fight on the bill, there was plenty more on offer.

In the co-main event, former Cage Warriors champ Paddy Pimblett evolved into a legitimate lightweight title challenger with a dominant TKO win over Michael Chandler—easily the best win of his career to date.

Patricio "Pitbull" Freire, arguably the best fighter in Bellator history, also made his UFC debut on the card. Unfortunately for him, his opponent was former interim featherweight champ Yair Rodriguez, who won their fun, three-round scrap by decision.

Rising featherweight contender Jean Silva also became a title contender at UFC 314, submitting Bryce Mitchell in a hotly-anticipated grudge match. In addition, former light heavyweight champ Dominick Reyes continued his unexpected resurgence, picking up a third-straight stoppage against Nikita Krylov.

No. 1: UFC 317

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Some may call it recency bias, but it's hard to deny Saturday's UFC 317 card in Las Vegas was the best of the year so far.

The event, which capped off the UFC's annual International Fight Week bonanza, was headlined a contest for the vacant lightweight title, with former featherweight champ Ilia Topuria taking on living legend Charles Oliveira.

Ahead of time, Topuria promised to knock his decorated opponent out in the first round, and he made good on that promise, sparking his foe with a salvo of punches at close range.

To call it a star-making performance for Topuria would be an understatement. He's all fight fans have been taking about since, and the victory pushed him into the No. 1 spot in the UFC's pound-for-pound rankings, at the expense of Islam Makhachev.

While the main event stole the show, UFC 317 also featured a flyweight title fight, with champ Alexandre Pantoja defending his belt against stone-fisted challenger Kai Kara-France.

In the end, Kara-France's power was a non-issue, as the champion dragged him to the mat and submitted him in Round 2, further legitimizing himself as one of the best fighters on the planet.

Interestingly, Joshua Van also locked up the next crack at Pantoja at UFC 317.

Van wasn't originally set to to compete on the card, but he stepped in to replace Manel Kape against No. 1-ranked flyweight contender Brandon Royval on short notice. In a notable upset—and arguably the best fight of the year to date—Van upended the rankings with a well-deserved unanimous-decision win.

The card also featured an impressive win from No. 9-ranked lightweight Beneil Dariush, who defeated Renato Moicano, and a vicious knockout courtesy of middleweight Gregory Rodrigues, who put Jack Hermansson down with a first-round left hook.