Pound for pound: Kayla Harrison and Julianna Peña rise with big wins
UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira may have pulled off the biggest win of the night at UFC 307 on Saturday, but it wasn’t enough to move him up in the pound-for-pound rankings.
Instead, the biggest winners (and risers) from the weekend reside in the women’s bantamweight division, as newly crowned women’s bantamweight champ Julianna Peña and Kayla Harrison scored big victories to set up what should be the next fight for the 135-pound throne.
The wins for Peña and Harrison caused a small shift in the women’s P4P rankings, as Harrison moved up one spot to No. 5 with a unanimous decision win over Ketlen Vieira and Peña reenters the rankings at No. 8 following a split decision win over Raquel Pennington.
For the ESPN divisional MMA rankings, click here.
Note: Results are current; rankings 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.
Men’s pound-for-pound rankings
UFC lightweight champion
Record: 26-1
Last: W (Sub5) vs. Dustin Poirier, June 1, 2024
Next: TBD
2. Alex Pereira 
UFC light heavyweight champion
Record: 11-2
Last: W (TKO4) vs. Khalil Rountree Jr., Oct. 5, 2024
Next: TBD
3. Ilia Topuria
UFC featherweight champion
Record: 15-0
Last: W (KO2) vs. Alexander Volkanovski, Feb. 17, 2024
Next: Oct. 26 vs. Max Holloway
UFC flyweight champion
Previous ranking: 6
Record: 28-5
Last: W (UD) vs. Steve Erceg, May 4, 2024
Next: TBD
5. Tom Aspinall
UFC heavyweight interim champion
Record: 15-3
Last: W (TKO1) vs. Curtis Blaydes, July 27, 2024
Next: TBD
UFC bantamweight champion
Previous ranking: Unranked
Record: 18-4
Last: W (UD) vs. Sean O’Malley, Sept.14, 2024
Next: TBD
UFC welterweight champion
Previous ranking: 8
Record: 24-3, 1 NC
Last: W (UD) vs. Leon Edwards, July 27, 2024
Next: TBD
UFC featherweight
Previous ranking: 7
Record: 26-4
Last: L (KO2) vs. Ilia Topuria, Feb. 17, 2024
Next: TBD
UFC middleweight champion
Record: 22-2
Last: W (Sub4) vs. Israel Adesanya, Aug.17, 2024
Next: TBD
10. Max Holloway
UFC featherweight
Previous ranking: Tied for 9
Record: 26-7
Last: W (KO5) vs. Justin Gaethje, April 13, 2024
Next: Oct. 26 vs. Ilia Topuria
Other fighters receiving votes: Leon Edwards, Sean O’Malley and Sean Strickland.
How our panel voted
Brett Okamoto: 1. Islam Makhachev; 2. Alex Pereira; 3. Ilia Topuria; 4. Tom Aspinall; 5. Alexandre Pantoja; 6. Belal Muhammad; 7. Merab Dvalishvili; 8. Alexander Volkanovski; 9. Max Holloway; 10. Dricus Du Plessis.
Andreas Hale: 1. Makhachev; 2. Pereira; 3. Topuria; 4. Aspinall; 5. Dvalishvili; 6. Muhammad; 7. Pantoja; 8. Volkanovski; 9. Holloway; 10. Du Plessis.
Megan Anderson: 1. Makhachev; 2. Pereira; 3. Aspinall; 4. Topuria; 5. Volkanovski; 6. Du Plessis; 7. Pantoja; 8. Muhammad; 9. Dvalishvili; 10. Sean O’Malley.
Carlos Contreras Legaspi: 1. Makhachev; 2. Pereira; 3. Topuria; 4. Du Plessis; 5. Pantoja; 6. Dvalishvili; 7. Muhammad; 8. Aspinall; 9. O’Malley; 10. Leon Edwards.
Ian Parker: 1. Pereira; 2. Makhachev; 3. Topuria; 4. Dvalishvili; 5. Holloway; 6. Du Plessis; 7. Pantoja; 8. Muhammad; 9. Aspinall; 10. Sean Strickland.
Eddie Maisonet III: 1. Makhachev; 2. Pereira; 3. Pantoja; 4. Volkanovski; 5. Topuria; 6. Muhammad; 7. Edwards; 8. Holloway; 9. Aspinall; 10. O’Malley.
Jeff Wagenheim: 1. Pereira; 2. Makhachev; 3. Topuria; 4. Aspinall; 5. Pantoja; 6. Dvalishvili; 7. Holloway; 8. Volkanovski; 9. Muhammad; 10. Du Plessis.
Women’s pound-for-pound rankings
1. Zhang Weili
UFC strawweight champion
Record: 25-3
Last: W (UD) vs. Yan Xiaonan, April 13, 2024
Next: TBD
UFC flyweight champion
Record: 23-4-1
Last: W (UD) vs. Alexa Grasso, Sept. 14, 2024
Next: TBD
3. Alexa Grasso
UFC flyweight
Record: 16-4-1
Last: L (UD) vs. Valentina Shevchenko, Sept. 14, 2024
Next: TBD
4. Cris Cyborg
Bellator featherweight champion
Record: 27-2, 1 NC
Last: W (TKO1) vs. Cat Zingano, Oct. 7, 2023
Next: Oct. 19 vs. Larissa Pacheco
UFC bantamweight
Previous ranking: 6
Record: 18-1
Last: W (UD) vs. Ketlen Vieira, Oct. 5, 2024
Next: TBD
6. Manon Fiorot 
UFC flyweight
Previous ranking: 5
Record: 12-1
Last: W (UD) vs. Erin Blanchfield, March 30, 2024
Next: TBD
PFL featherweight champion
Previous ranking: 8
Record: 23-4
Last: W (UD) vs. Marina Mokhnatkina, Nov. 24, 2023
Next: Oct. 19 vs. Cris Cyborg
UFC bantamweight champion
Previous ranking: N/A
Record: 13-5
Last: W (SD) vs. Raquel Pennington, Oct. 5, 2024
Next: TBD
UFC flyweight
Record: 12-2
Last: L (UD) vs. Manon Fiorot, March 30, 2024
Next: Nov. 2 vs. Rose Namajunas
10. Yan Xiaonan
UFC strawweight
Record: 17-4, 1 NC
Last: L (UD) vs. Zhang Weili, April 13, 2024
Next: TBD
Other fighters receiving votes: Rose Namajunas, Raquel Pennington, Seika Izawa, Amanda Lemos and Julianna Peña.
How our panel voted
Brett Okamoto: 1. Zhang Weili; 2. Valentina Shevchenko; 3. Alexa Grasso; 4. Manon Fiorot; 5. Cris Cyborg. 6. Rose Namajunas; 7. Erin Blanchfield; 8. Kayla Harrison; 9. Larissa Pacheco; 10. Yan Xiaonan.
Andreas Hale: 1. Zhang; 2. Shevchenko; 3. Grasso; 4. Cyborg; 5. Fiorot; 6. Harrison; 7. Pacheco; 8. Namajunas; 9. Peña; 10. Blanchfield.
Megan Anderson: 1. Zhang; 2. Shevchenko; 3. Cyborg; 4. Grasso; 5. Fiorot; 6. Harrison; 7. Peña; 8. Yan; 9. Pacheco; 10. Blanchfield.
Carlos Contreras Legaspi: 1. Shevchenko; 2. Zhang; 3. Grasso; 4. Harrison; 5. Cyborg; 6. Peña; 7. Raquel Pennington; 8. Pacheco; 9. Fiorot; 10. Blanchfield.
Ian Parker: 1. Zhang; 2. Shevchenko; 3. Cyborg; 4. Harrison; 5. Grasso; 6. Yan; 7. Peña; 8. Pacheco; 9. Fiorot; 10. Namajunas.
Eddie Maisonet III: 1. Zhang; 2. Shevchenko; 3. Grasso; 4. Pacheco; 5. Cyborg; 6. Harrison; 7. Peña; 8. Fiorot; 9. Blanchfield; 10. Amanda Lemos.
Jeff Wagenheim: 1. Zhang; 2. Shevchenko; 3. Cyborg; 4. Fiorot; 5. Grasso; 6. Harrison; 7. Yan; 8. Blanchfield; 9. Izawa; 10. Peña.
