Merab Dvalishvili defeats Cory Sandhagen to retain bantamweight title (1:00)Merab Dvalishvili wins by unanimous decision over Cory Sandhagen to retain his UFC bantamweight championship. (1:00)
Merab Dvalishvili and Alex Pereira put on spectacular performances in the two championship fights at UFC 320 on Saturday. But their displays of mastery couldn’t have been more different.
In recapturing the light heavyweight title, Pereira got the job done in the blink of an eye, knocking down Magomed Ankalaev in the main event’s opening minute, then pummeling him with two dozen unanswered punches and elbows before the referee jumped in to end the beatdown at 1 minute, 20 seconds. In getting vengeance against the fighter who had dethroned him in March, Pereira was brutal, efficient and quick.
Dvalishvili, by contrast, worked the entire scheduled five rounds in defending his bantamweight title against Cory Sandhagen. But the champion was in control for the entire 25 minutes, landing 20 takedowns, the second most in a UFC fight (and most in a title bout). The domineering Dvalishvili extended his UFC takedown record to 117 — he’s the only fighter with more than 100 — and extended his winning streak to 14 in a row.
Along with their different roads to victory, Dvalishvili and Pereira also are having different impacts on the latest ESPN pound-for-pound rankings. Dvalishvili remains at No. 3, because with Ilia Topuria and Islam Makhachev ahead of him in the men’s top 10, there’s little opportunity for upward mobility. Pereira, on the other hand, rises four spots to get back into the top five.
The women’s rankings remain as they were, but change likely will come later this month after Virna Jandiroba and Mackenzie Dern meet for the vacant strawweight title at UFC 321. At that Oct. 25 event, Tom Aspinall will make his first defense of the undisputed heavyweight title, facing Ciryl Gane.
Note: Results are current; rankings are as of Oct. 8. To be eligible for the rankings, a fighter must have competed over the past 12 months or must have an upcoming fight booked. Fighters who have been dropped for inactivity can be reinstated only after they compete.
After knocking out two of the greatest featherweights in UFC history (Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway) in 2024, it was going to be tough for Topuria to top that in 2025. He moved up to lightweight with the goal of challenging Makhachev, but with Makhachev moving up a division, Topuria instead captured the vacant title by knocking out Oliveira cold at UFC 317. — Andreas Hale
UFC welterweight Record: 27-1 Last: W (Sub1) vs. Renato Moicano, Jan. 18 Next: Nov. 15 vs. Jack Della Maddalena
Makhachev staked his claim as the greatest lightweight of all time by swiftly dispatching late-replacement Moicano at UFC 311. It was his UFC-record fourth title defense and tied Kamaru Usman for the second-longest winning streak in UFC history at 15. Next up for Makhachev will be a move to welterweight to challenge new champion Della Maddalena, putting a second championship in play. — Hale
Dvalishvili is on one of the most impressive runs through the UFC’s bantamweight division ever. Not only did he defeat Sean O’Malley for the second time in nine months at UFC 316, but he showcased a new part of his game, finishing O’Malley with a third-round guillotine. Since August 2022, Dvalishvili has beaten José Aldo, Petr Yan, Henry Cejudo, O’Malley (twice), Umar Nurmagomedov and Sandhagen. And he has said he wants to fight again before the end of this year. — Brett Okamoto
UFC heavyweight champion Record: 15-3 Last: W (TKO1) vs. Curtis Blaydes, July 27, 2024 Next: Oct. 25 vs. Ciryl Gane
If you’re going by the eye test, you can make a case that Aspinall is the most dynamic, skillful, talented heavyweight the sport has seen. He is dominating opponents in a way that is unmatched. No one can last a round with him. He had hoped to prove his supremacy against Jon Jones, but Jones opted to retire, elevating Aspinall from interim champion. He makes his first defense of the undisputed belt against Gane at UFC 321. — Okamoto
UFC light heavyweight champion Previous ranking: 9 Record: 13-3 Last: W (TKO1) vs. Magomed Ankalaev, Oct. 4 Next: TBD
A stellar 2024 cemented Pereira’s place as a star in the UFC, but he faced arguably his toughest test as light heavyweight champion when he stepped into the Octagon with Ankalaev at UFC 313. Pereira had dealt with strikers, but the question was whether he could get the job done against a talented grappler. Pereira kept the fight standing but fell short by unanimous decision. He changed that outcome violently when he met Ankalaev in a rematch at UFC 320. — Hale
UFC middleweight champion Previous ranking: Tied for 4 Record: 15-0 Last: W (UD) vs. Dricus Du Plessis, Aug. 16 Next: TBD
UFC flyweight champion Previous ranking: 6 Record: 30-5 Last: W (Sub3) vs. Kai Kara-France, June 28 Next: TBD vs. Joshua Van
The UFC’s flyweight king has racked up four title defenses, including two in pay-per-view main events in 2024. He built his winning streak to eight in his UFC 317 win over Kara-France, whom he had already defeated before. Pantoja is quickly taking laps around the 125-pound division. — Okamoto
UFC welterweight champion Record: 18-2 Last: W (UD) vs. Belal Muhammad, May 10 Next: Nov. 15 vs. Islam Makhachev
Della Maddalena seemingly came from nowhere to make his debut on the pound-for-pound list, but that’s what happens when you win a UFC championship and snap Muhammad’s 11-fight win streak. Della Maddalena has had some close calls in the UFC, but at the end of the day he’s always found a way to win, going 8-0 inside the Octagon. Can he keep it going against Makhachev? — Okamoto
UFC featherweight champion Previous ranking: 10 Record: 27-4 Last: W (UD) vs. Diego Lopes, April 12 Next: TBD
It felt as if the sport had started to write Volkanovski’s eulogy following his knockout loss to Topuria in February 2024. Volkanovski noticed and made a point of proving to everyone he still has plenty left by recapturing the featherweight belt at UFC 314. His age (36) will likely continue to be a prefight topic, which is fine because Volkanovski enjoys proving people wrong. — Okamoto
PFL heavyweight Previous ranking: Unranked Record: 18-3 Last: W (KO1) vs. Renan Ferreira, Oct. 19, 2024 Next: TBD
With Magomed Ankalaev falling out of the rankings after his loss to Pereira, Ngannou is back in the top 10 — but possibly not for long. It’s been nearly a year since he last fought, and the PFL has nothing on the books for him, so Ngannou soon will be ineligible. For now, however, he’s hard to deny, riding a seven-fight winning streak with six of those wins coming by knockout — five in the first round. But what is the MMA future for “The Predator”? — Jeff Wagenheim
Other fighters receiving votes: Max Holloway, Magomed Ankalaev, Dricus Du Plessis and Arman Tsarukyan.
UFC strawweight / flyweight Record: 26-3 Last: W (UD) vs. Tatiana Suarez, Feb. 8 Next: Nov. 15 vs. Valentina Shevchenko
UFC flyweight champion Record: 25-4-1 Last: W (UD) vs. Manon Fiorot, May 10 Next: Nov. 15 vs. Zhang Weili
Shevchenko put a cap on the Alexa Grasso trilogy in 2024 with a dominant performance that put to bed any remaining questions around that rivalry. She followed that up with a well-rounded performance against Fiorot to improve to 10-1-1 in UFC title fights. Her next challenge will be to fend off the pound-for-pound No. 1. — Okamoto
The longtime face of the PFL is quickly becoming the face of the UFC’s women’s divisions as well. With a dominant win over Peña at UFC 316, Harrison is 4-0 in the UFC and has the hardware to add to her two Olympic judo gold medals. She won’t have it easy in her first title defense, though, because Nunes is coming back with the belt in her sights. — Okamoto
PFL featherweight Record: 28-2, 1 NC Last: W (UD) vs. Larissa Pacheco, Oct. 19, 2024 Next: Dec. 13 vs. Sara Collins
It had been a while since Cyborg had fought an elite opponent in MMA until she met Pacheco in 2024. That was a legitimate matchup — and many within the industry were predicting Cyborg’s downfall. Instead, she took out the PFL’s two-weight champion, upending all of Pacheco’s momentum. One of the original pioneers of women’s MMA is somehow still going strong, and she’ll go for the vacant PFL title against Collins, an Australian with a 6-0 record but little top-level experience. — Okamoto
Silva is looking every bit the part of a future UFC champion following a dominant display against Grasso at UFC 315. Silva’s stick-and-move style has frustrated even the highest level of opponent, and she’s got youth on her side as she won’t turn 30 until 2027. — Okamoto
UFC flyweight Record: 12-2 Last: L (UD) vs. Valentina Shevchenko, May 10 Next: Oct. 18 vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius
Fiorot fell short in her challenge of Shevchenko, the champ, at UFC 315. But by knocking off Rose Namajunas and Erin Blanchfield in her previous two fights, Fiorot has shown she has the tools to become champion. — Hale
As the only woman to defeat Kayla Harrison and after coming close to beating Cyborg in October, Pacheco deserves her spot on this list. Unfortunately, the lack of quality opponents in the PFL will prevent her from climbing higher. At 30, Pacheco is still improving, but it will be interesting to see who the PFL finds to face her next. — Hale
UFC flyweight Record: 13-2 Last: W (UD) vs. Rose Namajunas, Nov. 2, 2024 Next: Nov. 15 vs. Tracy Cortez
Blanchfield dug herself out of a hole to beat Namajunas last November, and she was scheduled to have a chance to build more momentum in a meeting with another young prospect — until Maycee Barber pulled out of their May bout on fight night. Next up is the surging Cortez. Blanchfield has immense potential and has shown new wrinkles in her game since dropping a decision to Manon Fiorot last year. — Hale
Not only did Ditcheva win the PFL’s flyweight season last year, but she did so in spectacular fashion — a TKO finish over Taila Santos, who once challenged for a UFC title. Ditcheva opened her 2025 campaign by dominating Inaba in the co-main event of the first PFL Champions Series card in Cape Town, South Africa. — Okamoto