Francis Ngannou and Cris Cyborg are heavy hitters. Their newest influence is on the ESPN pound-for-pound rankings.
Ngannou had been a mainstay of the lads’s prime 10 again when he was the UFC heavyweight champion. Nevertheless, after departing the Octagon two years in the past to pursue his dream {of professional} boxing, he fell from our rankings as a result of his inactivity in MMA made him ineligible. However now he is again within the prime 10, after returning with a bang over the weekend. Ngannou knocked out Renan Ferreira within the first spherical of their PFL Battle of the Giants important occasion.
Cyborg competed within the co-main occasion of that very same card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and by defeating fellow top-10 fighter Larissa Pacheco, Cyborg added a PFL Tremendous Fights featherweight belt to the Bellator strap she already owned. The victory boosted Cyborg up one spot into the highest three of our ladies’s rankings.
For the ESPN divisional MMA rankings, click on right here.
Word: Outcomes are present; rankings as of Oct. 22. To be eligible for the rankings, a fighter should have competed over the previous 12 months or should have an upcoming struggle booked. Fighters who’ve been dropped for inactivity could be reinstated solely after they compete.
Males’s pound-for-pound rankings
1. Islam Makhachev 
UFC light-weight champion
Document: 26-1
Final: W (Sub5) vs. Dustin Poirier, June 1, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
2. Alex Pereira
UFC gentle heavyweight champion
Document: 12-2
Final: W (TKO4) vs. Khalil Rountree Jr., Oct. 5, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
3. Ilia Topuria
UFC featherweight champion
Document: 15-0
Final: W (KO2) vs. Alexander Volkanovski, Feb. 17, 2024
Subsequent: Oct. 26 vs. Max Holloway
4. Alexandre Pantoja
UFC flyweight champion
Earlier rating: 6
Document: 28-5
Final: W (UD) vs. Steve Erceg, Could 4, 2024
Subsequent: Dec. 7 vs. Kai Asakura
5. Tom Aspinall
UFC heavyweight interim champion
Document: 15-3
Final: W (TKO1) vs. Curtis Blaydes, July 27, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
6. Francis Ngannou 
PFL heavyweight Tremendous Fights champion
Earlier rating: Unranked
Document: 18-3
Final: W (KO1) vs. Renan Ferreira, Oct. 19, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
7. Merab Dvalishvili 
UFC bantamweight champion
Earlier rating: 6
Document: 18-4
Final: W (UD) vs. Sean O’Malley, Sept.14, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
8. Belal Muhammad
UFC welterweight champion
Earlier rating: 7
Document: 24-3, 1 NC
Final: W (UD) vs. Leon Edwards, July 27, 2024
Subsequent: Dec. 7 vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov
T-9. Dricus Du Plessis
UFC middleweight champion
Document: 22-2
Final: W (Sub4) vs. Israel Adesanya, Aug.17, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
T-9. Alexander Volkanovski
UFC featherweight
Earlier rating: 8
Document: 26-4
Final: L (KO2) vs. Ilia Topuria, Feb. 17, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
Different fighters receiving votes: Max Holloway, 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. Francis Ngannou; 8. Pantoja; 9. Volkanovski; 10. Holloway.
Megan Anderson: 1. Makhachev; 2. Pereira; 3. Ngannou; 4. Aspinall; 5. Topuria; 6. Volkanovski; 7. Du Plessis; 8. Pantoja; 9. Muhammad; 10. Dvalishvili.
Carlos Contreras Legaspi: 1. Makhachev; 2. Pereira; 3. Topuria; 4. Du Plessis; 5. Pantoja; 6. Dvalishvili; 7. Ngannou; 8. Muhammad; 9. Aspinall; 10. O’Malley.
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. Ngannou; 5. Topuria; 6. Volkanovski; 6. Muhammad; 7. Leon Edwards; 8. Holloway; 9. Aspinall.
Jeff Wagenheim: 1. Pereira; 2. Makhachev; 3. Ngannou; 4. Topuria; 5. Aspinall; 6. Pantoja; 7. Dvalishvili; 8. Holloway; 9. Volkanovski; 10. Muhammad.
Girls’s pound-for-pound rankings
1. Zhang Weili
UFC strawweight champion
Document: 25-3
Final: W (UD) vs. Yan Xiaonan, April 13, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
2. Valentina Shevchenko
UFC flyweight champion
Document: 23-4-1
Final: W (UD) vs. Alexa Grasso, Sept. 14, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
3. Cris Cyborg
Bellator featherweight and PFL Tremendous Fights champion
Earlier rating: 4
Document: 28-2, 1 NC
Final: W (UD) vs. Larissa Pacheco, Oct. 19, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
4. Alexa Grasso
UFC flyweight
Earlier rating: 3
Document: 16-4-1
Final: L (UD) vs. Valentina Shevchenko, Sept. 14, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
5. Kayla Harrison
UFC bantamweight
Document: 18-1
Final: W (UD) vs. Ketlen Vieira, Oct. 5, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
6. Manon Fiorot
UFC flyweight
Document: 12-1
Final: W (UD) vs. Erin Blanchfield, March 30, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
7. Larissa Pacheco
PFL featherweight champion
Document: 23-5
Final: L (UD) vs. Cris Cyborg, Oct. 19, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
8. Julianna Peña
UFC bantamweight champion
Document: 12-5
Final: W (SD) vs. Raquel Pennington, Oct. 5, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
9. Erin Blanchfield
UFC flyweight
Document: 12-2
Final: L (UD) vs. Manon Fiorot, March 30, 2024
Subsequent: Nov. 2 vs. Rose Namajunas
10. Yan Xiaonan
UFC strawweight
Document: 17-4, 1 NC
Final: L (UD) vs. Zhang Weili, April 13, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
Different fighters receiving votes: Rose Namajunas, Raquel Pennington, Seika Izawa and Amanda Lemos.
How our panel voted
Brett Okamoto: 1. Zhang Weili; 2. Valentina Shevchenko; 3. Cris Cyborg; 4. Alexa Grasso; 5. Manon Fiorot; 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. Cyborg; 5. Harrison; 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. Cyborg; 5. Pacheco; 6. Harrison; 7. Peña; 8. Fiorot; 9. Blanchfield; 10. Amanda Lemos.
Jeff Wagenheim: 1. Zhang; 2. Shevchenko; 3. Cyborg; 4. Fiorot; 5. Grasso; 6. Pacheco; 7. Harrison; 8. Yan; 9. Blanchfield; 10. Seika Izawa.
