1
Chimaev
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Back in July 2025, we dropped our men’s Pound-for-Pound (P4P) list and made one thing clear: we’re not ranking belts, we’re ranking who beats who right now. Fast forward to January 2026 and the board looks different — new champions, new climbers, new fallers, and a few fresh faces that force the conversation. We’ve also added a Women’s P4P list for the first time, because the sport doesn’t stop at one side of the roster.
#1 – Khamzat Chimaev
Chimaev goes from near-the-top to the top, and the timing matches the violence. He’s coming off a five-round unanimous decision over Dricus Du Plessis to capture UFC gold. The kind of win that screams control, inevitability, and "good luck surviving five minutes with this guy."
#2 – Islam Makhachev
Makhachev slides up one spot after a win that reads like a textbook: unanimous decision over Jack Della Maddalena across five rounds, the kind of “no debate” performance that keeps his floor higher than most fighters’ ceilings. We have Khamzat ranked above Islam due to the fact that Du Plessis was ranked higher than Della Maddalena in our last P4P list - suggesting that Chimaev's win was harder than Islam's.
#3 – Ilia Topuria
July’s #1 becomes January’s #3, not because he fell off — because the top got crowded. Topuria’s last outing was still a statement: a first-round knockout of Charles Oliveira to claim the lightweight crown, the kind of finish that would justify #1 in plenty of timelines. However, due to lack of activity, we had to bump him down the list.
#4 – Alex Pereira
Pereira makes the biggest jump inside the top 10 after doing what he does best: a first-round KO/TKO of Magomed Ankalaev in their rematch, with a finish that doesn’t leave room for “but what if.” If you remember from our July 2025 P4P list, we had said, "in a rematch, we’d favor Pereira to bounce back," and bounce back, he did.
#7 – Tom Aspinall
Aspinall drops two, but the context is messy: his most recent appearance ended in a No Contest against Ciryl Gane after an eye-poke controversy — not a clean win, not a clean loss, just the kind of result that stalls momentum while the division keeps moving.
#8 – Petr Yan
Yan storms back into the picture by taking the biggest kind of receipt: a five-round unanimous decision over Merab Dvalishvili to reclaim the bantamweight title, flipping the narrative with sharp boxing and five-round composure. This was by all accounts, a one-sided beat down: pure dominance on a man who's legacy was built on dominating others. Petr Yan cracked the code, and reclaimed his belt, forcing us to deservedly include him in our P4P list, and unfortunately, give Dvalishvili the biggest fall in rankings since our last list.
#10 – Arman Tsarukyan
Tsarukyan debuts in the “problem for everyone” slot after a finish that matters: a Round 2 submission of Dan Hooker, the kind of win that says he can do more than edge decisions — he can end nights. We expect Arman to be fighting for the belt sometime in 2026.
#11 – Joshua Van
Van crashes into the men’s P4P at #11 after a championship-level moment: TKO (arm injury stoppage) over Alexandre Pantoja at 0:26 of Round 1 to win the flyweight title, an abrupt ending that still counts the same — and changes the division overnight. This causes Pantoja to slide three spots after that freak sequence. It’s a brutal reminder that sometimes the sport rewrites itself in under thirty seconds.
#13 – Anthony Hernandez
Hernandez debuts at #14 off a hard-earned finish: a Round 4 submission of Roman Dolidze, the kind of late-fight break that signals conditioning, pressure, and a pace people don’t want any part of. Anthony is now on an 8-fight winning streak, with 6 of those wins being finishes. He's due for a title shot, though we're not convinced he stands a chance against the champion, Khamzat Chimaev.
#15 – Paddy Pimblett
Pimblett claims the final spot after a signature finish: a Round 3 KO/TKO over Michael Chandler, the kind of momentum win that turns “popular” into “problem.” Though he hasn't fought since our last list, he's on a 7-fight winning streak (undefeated in the UFC) and he's slated to take on Justin Gaethje at UFC 324. If he wins that fight, he'll undoubtedly be next for Ilia Topuria and skyrocket up our next batch of P4P rankings.
Removed Since July
Five July names don’t make the January cut: Du Plessis (#10), Della Maddalena (#12), Ankalaev (#13), Nurmagomedov (#14), and Brady (#15). The simplest explanation is also the truest: the list got more crowded, the standards shifted, and new results forced new math.
Women’s P4P
We added a Women’s P4P list because the talent pool demands it — and the top five comes with real recent context:
- Valentina Shevchenko is fresh off a five-round unanimous decision over Zhang Weili.
- Kayla Harrison won the bantamweight title by submitting Julianna Peña (kimura) at 4:55 of Round 2.
- Mackenzie Dern captured strawweight gold with a five-round unanimous decision over Virna Jandiroba.
- Natália Silva earned her spot by outclassing Alexa Grasso to a unanimous decision.
- Zhang Weili remains in the mix, as we believe the weight-difference was the prevailing factor to her recent loss: not a lack of skill.
