{"id":636482,"date":"2026-04-28T15:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T15:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/636482\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T15:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T15:30:10","slug":"latest-ufc-rankings-update-aljamain-sterling-climbs-closer-to-top-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/636482\/","title":{"rendered":"Latest UFC rankings update: Aljamain Sterling climbs closer to top spot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) updated its official rankings in the wake of the UFC Vegas 116 mixed martial arts (MMA) event<\/a>, which took place last Sat. night (April 25, 2026) at the promotion\u2019s Meta Apex<\/a> facility in Las Vegas, Nevada. That\u2019s where former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling styled on featherweight rising star Youssef Zalal<\/a>, not long after Joselyne Edwards outlasted 135-pound bruiser Norma Dumont<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As a result, both Sterling and Edwards gained ground in their respective divisions.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how the rankings are compiled, at least until AI takes over<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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

1. Islam Makhachev
2. Ilia Topuria
3. Khamzat Chimaev
4. Alexander Volkanovski
5. Alex Pereira
6. Petr Yan
7. Tom Aspinall
8. Merab Dvalishvili
9. Alexandre Pantoja
10. Joshua Van
11. Charles Oliveira
12. Dricus Du Plessis
13. Arman Tsarukyan
14. Magomed Ankalaev
15. Carlos Ulberg<\/p>\n

1. Alexandre Pantoja
2. Manel Kape
3. Tatsuro Taira
4. Brandon Royval
5. Kyoji Horiguchi
6. Lone\u2019er Kavanagh
7. Amir Albazi
8. Asu Almabayev
9. Brandon Moreno
10. Alex Perez
11. Tim Elliott
12. Steve Erceg
13. Charles Johnson
14. Tagir Ulanbekov
15. Bruno Silva<\/p>\n

1. Merab Dvalishvili
2. (T) Umar Nurmagomedov
2. (T) Sean O\u2019Malley
4. Cory Sandhagen
5. Song Yadong
6. Aiemann Zahabi
7. Deiveson Figueiredo
8. Mario Bautista
9. David Martinez
10. Marlon Vera
11. Payton Talbott
12. Vinicius Oliveira
13. Raul Rosas Jr.
14. Montel Jackson
15. Farid Basharat<\/p>\n

Champion: Alexander Volkanovski<\/p>\n

1. Movsar Evloev
2. Diego Lopes
3. Lerone Murphy
4. Aljamain Sterling +1
5. Yair Rodriguez -1
6. Jean Silva
7. Arnold Allen +1
8. Youssef Zalal -1
9. Steve Garcia
10. Kevin Vallejos
11. Brian Ortega
12. Melquizael Costa
13. Aaron Pico
14. David Onama
15. Patricio Pitbull<\/p>\n

1. Justin Gaethje (interim champion)
2. Arman Tsarukyan
3. Charles Oliveira
4. Max Holloway
5. Benoit Saint Denis
6. Paddy Pimblett
7. Mateusz Gamrot
8. Dan Hooker
9. Renato Moicano
10. Mauricio Ruffy
11. Rafael Fiziev
12. Beneil Dariush
13. Michael Chandler
14. Manuel Torres
15. Fares Ziam<\/p>\n

Champion: Islam Makhachev<\/p>\n

1. Jack Della Maddalena
2. Ian Machado Garry
3. Michael Morales
4. Belal Muhammed
5. Carlos Prates
6. Sean Brady
7. Kamaru Usman
8. Leon Edwards
9. Joaquin Buckley
10. Gabriel Bonfim
11. Mike Malott
12. Michael Page
12. (T) Uros Medic +1
14. Daniel Rodriguez
14. (T) Yaroslav Amosov +1<\/p>\n

Champion: Khamzat Chimaev<\/p>\n

1. Dricus Du Plessis
2. Nassourdine Imavov
3. Sean Strickland
4. Brendan Allen
5. Caio Borralho
6. Joe Pyfer
7. Anthony Hernandez
8. Reinier De Ridder
9. Israel Adesanya
10. Robert Whittaker
11. Jared Cannonier
12. Gregory Rodrigues
13. Christian Leroy Duncan
14. Roman Dolidze
15. Paulo Costa<\/p>\n

1. Magomed Ankalaev
2. Alex Pereira
3. Jiri Prochazka
4. Jan Blachowicz
5. Khalil Rountree
6. Jamahal Hill
7. Paulo Costa
8. Azamat Murzakanov
9. Dominick Reyes
10. Bogdan Guskov
11. Volkan Oezdemir
12. Aleksandar Rakic
13. Johnny Walker
14. Nikita Krylov
15. Alonzo Menifield<\/p>\n

1. Ciryl Gane
2. Alexander Volkov
3. Sergei Pavlovich
4. Waldo Cortes Acosta
5. Josh Hokit
6. Serghei Spivac
7. Curtis Blaydes -1
8. Rizvan Kuniev
9. Derrick Lewis
10. Ante Delija
11. Tyrell Fortune
12. Marcin Tybura
13. Tallison Teixeira
14. Shamil Gaziev +1
15. Mick Parkin -1<\/p>\n

WOMEN\u2019S POUND-FOR-POUND<\/p>\n

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

1. Zhang Weili
2. Tatiana Suarez
3. Virna Jandiroba
4. Yan Xiaonan
5. Gillian Robertson
6. Loopy Godinez
7. Amanda Lemos
8. Tabatha Ricci -1
9. Jessica Andrade
10. Amanda Ribas
11. Fatima Klein
12. Denise Gomes
13. Alexia Thainara
14. Angela Hill
15. Mizuki Inoue<\/p>\n

Champion: Valentina Shevchenko<\/p>\n

1. Natalia Silva
2. Manon Fiorot
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\u2019Neill
12. Wang Cong
13. Eduarda Moura
14. JJ Aldrich
15. Gabriella Fernandes<\/p>\n

1. Julianna Pena
2. Raquel Pennington
3. Joselyne Edwards +8
4. Norma Dumont -1
5. Ketlen Vieira -1
6. Ailin Perez
7. (T) Yana Santos -2
7. (T) Irene Aldana -1
9. Macy Chiasson
10. Karol Rosa -2
11. Jacqueline Cavalcanti -1
12. Nora Cornolle +1
13. Luana Santos +1
14. Michelle Montague *NR
15. Bia Mesquita<\/p>\n

You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week, particularly in the welterweight division, following the UFC Perth: \u201cJack Della vs. Prates\u201d MMA event<\/a> on Paramount+<\/a>, scheduled for Sat., May 2, 2026 at RAC Arena in Perth, Western Australia.<\/p>\n

For much more on that upcoming fight card click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) updated its official rankings in the wake of the UFC Vegas 116 mixed martial…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,40762,785,85,1396,179146,29896,6656],"class_list":["post-636482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-latest-ufc-mma-news","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc-news","tag-ufc-on-paramount","tag-ufc-rankings","tag-ufc-results"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=636482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=636482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=636482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=636482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}