Petr Yan boots Merab from Top 5 at pound-for-pound in official UFC 323 rankings update

UFC 323 caused a major shakeup in the official UFC rankings, thanks to title-winning performances from Petr Yan and Joshua Van. The action went down last Sat. night (Dec. 6, 2025) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and marked the end of the promotion’s pay-per-view (PPV) era.

As well as the end of title reigns for Merab Dvalishvili and Alexandre Pantoja.

A handful of fighters also made their debuts on the latest rankings chart, including bantamweight phenom Payton Talbott. The 27 year-old “Contender Series” standout landed at No. 12 on the bantamweight ladder after retiring former 135-pound champion Henry Cejudo.

Here’s how the rankings are compiled, at least until AI takes over:

Rankings are generated by a voting panel made up of media members. The media members were asked to vote for who they feel are the top fighters in the UFC by weight-class and pound-for-pound. A fighter is only eligible to be voted on if they are in active status in the UFC. A fighter can appear in more than one weight division at a time. The champion and interim champion are considered to be in the top positions of their respective divisions and therefore are not eligible for voting by weight-class. However, the champions can be voted on for the pound-for-pound rankings.

Take a look at what the latest rankings field looks like courtesy of UFC.com. Note: (+/- = movement in rankings, T = tie, *NR = Not previously ranked).

MEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND

1. Islam Makhachev
2. Ilia Topuria
3. Khamzat Chimaev +1
4. Alex Pereira +2
5. Alexander Volkanovski +2
6. Petr Yan *NR
7. Tom Aspinall +1
8. Merab Dvalishvili -5
9. Alexandre Pantoja -4
10. Max Holloway
11. Joshua Van *NR
12. Dricus Du Plessis -3
13. Magomed Ankalaev -1
14. Jack Della Maddalena -3
15. Arman Tsarukyan -2

Champion: Joshua Van

1. Alexandre Pantoja -1
2. Brandon Royval +1
3. Tatsuro Taira +2
4. Brandon Moreno -2
5. Amir Albazi -1
6. Manel Kape
7. Asu Almabayev
8. Kyoji Horiguchi
9. Tim Elliott
10. Steve Erceg
11. Alex Perez
12. Tagir Ulanbekov
13. Charles Johnson
14. Bruno Silva
15. Lone’er Kavanagh

BANTAMWEIGHT

Champion: Petr Yan

1. Merab Dvalishvili -1
2. Umar Nurmagomedov -1
3. Sean O’Malley -1
4. Cory Sandhagen
5. Song Yadong
6. Deiveson Figueiredo
7. Aiemann Zahabi
8. Marlon Vera
9. Mario Bautista
10. David Martinez +1
11. Rob Font +1
12. (T) Payton Talbott *NR
13. (T) Vinicius Oliveira +1
14. Kyler Phillips
15. Marcus McGhee

FEATHERWEIGHT

Champion: Alexander Volkanovski

1. Movsar Evloev
2. Diego Lopes
3. Yair Rodriguez
4. Lerone Murphy
5. Aljamain Sterling
6. Arnold Allen
7. Youssef Zalal
8. Steve Garcia
9. Brian Ortega
10. Josh Emmett
11. Jean Silva
12. Patricio Pitbull
13. Dan Ige
14. David Onama
15. Giga Chikadze

LIGHTWEIGHT

Champion: Ilia Topuria

1. Arman Tsarukyan
2. Charles Oliveira
3. Max Holloway
4. Justin Gaethje
5. Paddy Pimblett
6. Dan Hooker
7. Mateusz Gamrot
8. Benoit Saint Denis
9. Rafael Fiziev
10. Renato Moicano
11. Beneil Dariush +1
12. Michael Chandler -1
13. Manuel Torres *NR
14. Mauricio Ruffy
15. Fares Ziam *NR

WELTERWEIGHT

Champion: Islam Makhachev

1. Jack Della Maddalena
2. Ian Machado Garry
3. Shavkat Rakhmonov
4. Michael Morales
5. Belal Muhammed
6. Carlos Prates
7. Sean Brady
8. Kamaru Usman
9. Leon Edwards
10. Joaquin Buckley
11. Gabriel Bonfim
12. Gilbert Burns
13. Colby Covington
14. Geoff Neal
15. Daniel Rodriguez

MIDDLEWEIGHT

Champion: Khamzat Chimaev

1. Dricus Du Plessis
2. Nassourdine Imavov
3. Sean Strickland
4. Anthony Hernandez
5. Brendan Allen
6. Israel Adesanya
7. Caio Borralho
8. Reinier De Ridder
9. Robert Whittaker
10. (T) Michael Page
10. (T) Jared Cannonier
12. Roman Dolidze
13. Paulo Costa
14. Gregory Rodrigues +1
15. Joe Pyfer *NR

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT

Champion: Alex Pereira

1. (T) Magomed Ankalaev
1. (T) Jiri Prochazka
3. Carlos Ulberg
4. Khalil Rountree
5. Jan Blachowicz
6. Azamat Murzakanov +1
7. Jamahal Hill -1
8. Volkan Oezdemir +1
9. Dominick Reyes -1
10. Bogdan Guskov +1
11. Aleksandar Rakic -1
12. Johnny Walker
13. Nikita Krylov
14. Zhang Mingyang
15. Alonzo Menifield

HEAVYWEIGHT

Champion: Tom Aspinall

1. Ciryl Gane
2. Alexander Volkov
3. Sergei Pavlovich
4. Curtis Blaydes
5. Waldo Cortes Acosta
6. Jailton Almeida
7. Serghei Spivac
8. Derrick Lewis
9. Marcin Tybura
10. Ante Delija
11. Shamil Gaziev
12. Tai Tuivasa
13. Mick Parkin
14. Valter Walker
15. Tallison Teixeira

WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND

1. Valentina Shevchenko
2. Kayla Harrison
3. Zhang Weili
4. Natalia Silva
5. Mackenzie Dern
6. Manon Fiorot
7. Erin Blanchfield
8. Julianna Pena
9. Alexa Grasso
10. Virna Jandiroba
11. Raquel Pennington
12. Tatiana Suarez
13. Rose Namajunas
14. Yan Xiaonan
15. Maycee Barber *NR

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT

Champion: Mackenzie Dern

1. Zhang Weili
2. Tatiana Suarez
3. Virna Jandiroba
4. Yan Xiaonan
5. Amanda Lemos
6. Loopy Godinez
7. Iasmin Lucindo
8. Tabatha Ricci
9. Jessica Andrade
10. Gillian Robertson
11. Amanda Ribas
12. Fatima Klein
13. Denise Gomes
14. Angela Hill
15. Alexia Thainara

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT

Champion: Valentina Shevchenko

1. Manon Fiorot
2. Natalia Silva
3. Alexa Grasso
4. Erin Blanchfield
5. Maycee Barber
6. Rose Namajunas
7. Jasmine Jasudavicius
8. Tracy Cortez
9. Karine Silva
10. Miranda Maverick
11. Casey O’Neill
12. Wang Cong
13. Eduarda Moura
14. JJ Aldrich
15. Gabriella Fernandes

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT

Champion: Kayla Harrison

1. Julianna Pena
2. Raquel Pennington
3. Norma Dumont
4. Ketlen Vieira
5. Yana Santos
6. Irene Aldana
7. Macy Chiasson
8. Ailin Perez
9. Karol Rosa
10. Jacqueline Cavalcanti
11. Mayra Bueno Silva
12. Nora Cornolle
13. Miesha Tate
14. Joselyne Edwards
15. Luana Santos

You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week, particularly in the flyweight division, following the UFC Vegas 112: “Royval vs. Kape” mixed martial arts (MMA) event on ESPN2 and ESPN+, scheduled for Sat., Dec. 13, 2025 at APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.

For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.