Ranking the Top 10 Fighters on the UFC 324 Card

At long last, the UFC will be back in our lives this weekend. 

UFC 324, the promotion's first event of 2026—and its first on Paramount—goes down at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas this Saturday. It will mark the end of a long MMA drought, as fans have gone without a UFC card since Dec. 13.

On paper, Saturday's UFC 324 is a bit short on big names. The only title fight on the card, an interim lightweight title contest between Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett, has also caught some flak, as it doesn't involve the division's obvious No. 1 contender, Arman Tsarukyan. 

Still, UFC 324 is packed with meaningful fights. From top to bottom, we'll see appearances from legends, former champions, promising prospects, and fan favorites. 

Here are the 10 best fighters set to compete on the card, based on what they've accomplished so far, and how much they still have left to offer the sport. 

10. Arnold Allen

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English featherweight Arnold Allen has been on the cusp of title contention for years, but so far, has been kept from fighting for gold by poorly timed losses to top fighters like Max Holloway and Movsar Evloev. 

In his UFC 324 fight with Jean Silva, he'll look to completely change his fortune. A win won't make him the division's next title challenger—certainly not before Lerone Murphy and Movsar Evloev get their opportunities. However, a victory will put him squarely in the mix. If he can follow it up with another good performance later this year, he could conceivably be fighting for gold this time next year.

That's a lot of maybes, but he's incredibly skilled, and still just 31. It's definitely possible. 

9. Jean Silva

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For a while, it seemed like Brazilian featherweight contender Jean Silva was destined to fight for gold in his division. He was knocking out everyone he fought—notably Bryce Mitchell—and showed no signs of slowing down.

Then he ran into Diego Lopes.

Silva's fight with Lopes ended with a TKO loss, the result of a stunning spinning back elbow from his opponent. At UFC 324, he'll look to put that memory behind him and get back in the hunt for featherweight gold. His opponent this time will be the aforementioned Allen. 

While the Englishman has yet to fight for featherweight gold, he has been in the running for years, and as a suffocating grappler with underrated striking, he might be an even tougher test for Silva than Lopes was. 

No matter the outcome of this fight, it will tell us a lot about where Silva belongs in the division to start this year. 

8. Song Yadong

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Song Yadong has been floating around the UFC bantamweight top 15 for years, and might be the second-best Chinese fighter in the promotion's history behind former strawweight champ Zhang Weili.

However, unlike Zhang, he has yet to win a UFC title, or even contend for one. 

Song will look to change that in the UFC 324 co-main event, when he takes on former champ Sean O'Malley in the biggest fight of his life. 

On paper, the fight with O'Malley is going to be a tough one for the 28-year-old. However, he is probably more well-rounded than his opponent, and his underrated ground game in particular gives him a real shot at victory. 

Song will probably need one more win to earn a title shot in his division. But if he beats the former champ, he'll be on the cusp of that opportunity, which has for so long eluded him. 

7. Deiveson Figueiredo

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Former UFC flyweight champ Deiveson Figueiredo is in a similar boat to Rose Namajunas.

At one point, he was the most dominant force in his division and looked poised for a long title reign. However, after losing his title to Brandon Moreno, he decided to move up a division to bantamweight, and the results have been mixed. 

Figueiredo has picked up some nice wins since moving up a weight class, notably beating former title challenger Marlon "Chito" Vera and former champ Cody Garbrandt. However, those wins have been overshadowed by higher-profile losses, most notably against reigning champ Petr Yan and former title challenger Cory Sandhagen. 

In his UFC 324 undercard fight with Umar Nurmagomedov, he will look to completely change the narrative.

Right now, he's simply a former champion who seems capable of beating the division's mid-level contenders. If he wins—which is objectively a long shot—he will suddenly be one of the top contenders in the weight class, and another bid for UFC gold will likely only be another win away. 

6. Rose Namajunas

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Rose Namajunas is arguably the best strawweight in UFC history. She enjoyed two reigns as the division's champion, first capturing the title with a knockout of Joanna Jedrzejczyk and then a knockout of Zhang Weili—two names in the division's GOAT debate. 

Namajunas isn't higher on this list because she's been inconsistent recently. Since losing the strawweight belt with a terrible decision loss to Carla Esparza, she's gone 3-2 in the flyweight division, picking up some decent wins over the likes of Tracy Cortez and Miranda Maverick, but losing important fights against Manon Fiorot and Erin Blanchfield.

Skeptics argue she's too small for the flyweight division, but she seems committed to the weight class, and if she upsets the surging Natalia Silva on the UFC 324 main card, she'll go a long way to silencing those doubters. 

In fact, a win could even set Namajunas up for a fight with the division's champion, Valentina Shevchenko. 

5. Sean O'Malley

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Sean O'Malley's UFC career began a lot like Paddy Pimblett's. Outside of a controversial loss to Marlon "Chito" Vera, he looked unstoppable through his early days in the Octagon, and in 2023, finally lived up to his hype by knocking out Aljamain Sterling to win bantamweight gold.

Unfortunately, O'Malley's title reign was a short one. After a successful defense in a rematch with Chito, he lost his belt to Merab Dvalishvili and then failed to reclaim the title in an immediate rematch. 

In the UFC 324 co-main event, O'Malley will look to get back on track against Yadong.

It's a crucial fight for the former champion, partly because a win will put him back in title contention, but more importantly, because it will tell us where he stands in the bantamweight division.

Is O'Malley still a serious contender, or did his losses to Dvalishvili expose the fact that he can't compete with the division's very best fighters? 

4. Paddy Pimblett

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Paddy Pimblett clearly has a very bright future in the UFC.

The former Cage Warriors champion has looked unstoppable since joining the roster in 2021, rattling off seven straight wins and beating the likes of Tony Ferguson, King Green, and Michael Chandler. 

In Saturday's main event, the British fighter will make his first bid for UFC gold—even if it's just an interim title. If he wins, which the oddsmakers favor him to do, he will be set for a title-unifying grudge match with longtime rival Ilia Topuria.

Given the lengthy, raging war of words between the pair, it would surely be one of the biggest fights of this year. 

Of course, getting by Justin Gaethje is not going to be easy. As impressive as he's been in the Octagon so far, Pimblett has never fought anybody on the American's level before. 

3. Natalia Silva

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Natalia Silva is on one of the best runs in the UFC right now.

The Brazilian flyweight is on a 13-fight win streak, with her last seven occurring in the Octagon. Highlights of that streak include a win over Jasmine Jasudavicius and, more recently, former champions Jessica Andrade and Alexa Grasso.

At this point, Silva already deserves a crack at dominant flyweight champ Valentina Shevchenko. However, rather than wait around for the opportunity, she's agreed to a UFC 324 main card clash with former strawweight champ Namajunas. 

On paper, this will be one of the most difficult tests of her MMA career to date. However, if she wins, she will be irrefutable as the No. 1 flyweight contender, and most fans will give her a good chance of dethroning Shevchenko, who seems to be as dangerous as ever but is clearly nearing the end of her career. 

2. Umar Nurmagomedov

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By the time it's said and done, Umar Nurmagomedov may have had a better career than anyone else on the UFC 324 lineup. 

The Russian bantamweight—a protege of the great Khabib Nurmagomedov—is a very impressive 19-1 overall, with wins over tough opponents like Cory Sandhagen and Mario Bautista. 

So far, he's lost his only bid for UFC gold, having suffered a decision loss to Merab Dvalishvili last year. However, it was a competitive fight, and it did not change the fact that he is clearly one of the most talented fighters in his division. He can strike, he can grapple, and most importantly, he can blend those two skills together perfectly. 

Unfortunately, his UFC 324 fight with Deiveson Figueiredo—one of the more meaningful fights on the bill—is buried on the undercard. However, if he wins, he will be one of the top contenders for a crack at new bantamweight champ Petr Yan, who shook up the division by taking the title from Dvalishvili late last year. 

1. Justin Gaethje

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As we've covered, Justin Gaethje will meet Pimblett in the UFC 324 main event, with the promotion's interim lightweight belt on the line.

It's a bit unfortunate Arman Tsarukyan isn't involved in the contest, as he objectively deserves the chance to fight for gold more than Gaethje or Pimblett, but it's still an excellent matchup, and the winner is all but guaranteed a title-unifying showdown with undisputed champ Ilia Topuria later this year. 

Heading into the fight, it's quite clear it will be one of the last of Gaethje's career. And what a career it's been. Since joining the UFC, the former World Series of Fighting star has fought twice for the lightweight belt—first against Khabib Nurmagomedov, and later against Charles Oliveira. He lost both times, but over the years, has developed a reputation as arguably the most exciting fighter on the roster—evidenced by the ridiculous 14 post-fight bonuses he's received.

He has also fought nothing but elite competition in the process, with wins over the likes of Tony Ferguson, Donald Cerrone, Michael Chandler, and, most recently, Rafael Fiziev. 

Time will tell if Gaethje is able to capture an undisputed UFC title before he retires, but no fighter on the UFC 324 lineup has had a greater impact than him—even those who have enjoyed long championship reigns.