Hello everyone, and welcome back for another week of rankings in the UFC. This weekend was another great card for the UFC, in which we saw Salahdine Parnasse knock out Dan Hooker in under three minutes in the first round.

The next event for the UFC is UFC Fight Night 288 in Glendale, AZ, which features Jean Silva versus Jose Delgado as the main event for NOCHE. This match shouldn’t last long, and that sucks for anyone who loves watching both of these fighters.

That being said, let’s get to this week’s rankings and see who made it. Have a great day, everyone, and may the fights be with you.

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10.  Joshua Van:

May 9, 2026; Newark, New Jersey, UNITED STATES; Joshua Van (red gloves) celebrates after defeating Tatsuro Taira (blue gloves) during UFC 328 at Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images

Joshua Van is ready to defend his title next week against Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 331 in Los Angeles, CA. After their staredown at UFC 330, you can tell that this fight means a lot to both fighters. For Pantoja, it’s about his comeback and his legacy as a champion.

For Van, it’s overcoming the fact that Pantoja was hurt, which led to some people calling him a paper champion. Van is anything but a paper champion, and it showed against Tatsuro Taira at UFC 328.

9. Justin Gaethje:

Justin Gaethje defeated Ilia Topuria at UFC Freedom 250 to become the sole Lightweight Champion in the world. Gaethje is still ranked ninth, following this huge upset of the god-like Topuria. There are a lot of people deserving of a title shot, so I’m sure we’ll see things play out over the next few weeks. 

8. Max Holloway:

Max Holloway defeated Conor McGregor in under two minutes at UFC 329, after McGregor tried a spinning kick, which resulted in tearing up his knee.

Now that Holloway officially won, he should be looking for either a title shot or another big-name fighter to put to sleep. For now, Holloway can take any match that comes his way since he didn’t even break a sweat against McGregor.

7. Charles Oliveira:

Charles “Do Bronx” Oliveira is the new BMF Champion in the world after systematically taking apart Max Holloway at UFC 326. Recently, Oliveira has said he would like to have another rematch with Justin Gaethje, but this time for the title. That could spell doom for Gaethje, since he went to sleep the last time they fought.

6. Alex Pereira:

Jun 14, 2026; Washington, D.C., UNITED STATES; Alex Pereira walks out prior to his fight against Ciryl Gane (not pictured) during UFC Freedom 250 at White House South Lawn. Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-Imagn Images

Alex Pereira has been licking his wounds since losing to Ciryl Gane at UFC Freedom. Recently, I’ve been hearing that a match with the verbally unstable Josh Hokit may be in the works for November, after they exchanged some words at UFC Freedom.

That match would be great for Poatan, since Hokit’s recklessness in the octagon could get him knocked out. CHAMA!

5. Ilia Topuria:

Ilia Topuria has slipped to fifth on this list after losing badly to Justin Gaethje at UFC Freedom 250. It wasn’t just how he lost, but how his god-like complex got in the way of his goals. Topuria even changed his status on X to 18-0, which has now been removed since then.

Topuria did look great in this fight and even almost finished Gaethje, only to find out how a human can will himself to beat a God.

4. Merab Dvalishvili:

Merab Dvalishvili is finally done with his wrestling tour and will be facing Petr Yan at UFC 333 on October 24th. This was exciting to see since all of them have been patiently waiting for Dvalishvili to win back his belt. That is usually easier said than done, and he’ll have to take Yan down this time if he wants his Bantamweight Championship back. 

3. Sean Strickland:

May 9, 2026; Newark, New Jersey, UNITED STATES; Sean Strickland (blue gloves) celebrates after defeating Khamzat Chimaev (red gloves) during UFC 328 at Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images

Sean Strickland remains at the third spot as he continues to enjoy his time as champion. However, after Dricus Du Plessis defeated Kamaru Usman, DDP feels that a third match with Strickland is in order, since he’s already beaten him twice. I didn’t want to see this rematch at first, but right now, it almost feels right.

Until then, either Uncle Dana or Strickland’s mouth will let us know what’s next for our Middleweight Champion.

2. Alexander Volkanovski:

Alexander “The Great” Volkanovski will be fighting Movsar Evloev at UFC 333 in October. This exciting clash will take place as the main event as we see a battle between an up-and-coming star in Evloev and the greatness we know at Volkanovski.

Stylistically, both are similar in their approach, but with a ton of tricks up his sleeve, Volkanovski could easily retain. For now, we’ll have to wait, but you can bet that this fight is going to be one for the ages. 

1. Islam Makhachev:

Islam Makhachev is still the number one, pound-for-pound fighter in the world, and there ain’t no doubt about it. After dismantling Ian Machado-Garry at UFC 330, the champ can now sit back and enjoy the rest of the year, with some time off.

I say that because I don’t see Makhachev fighting again till early spring if we’re lucky. Till then, we get to talk about a bunch of rumors and hope that maybe we’ll see Lord Makhachev sooner rather than later. SMESH!

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