As the global leader in combat sports, the UFC is home to easily the most top-tier mixed martial arts fighters on the planet. From flyweight to heavyweight, there isn’t anywhere else that one could find such a loaded roster of world-class talent. However, while every division in the company is strong in their own right, they are not all equal in terms of the sheer amount of talent that they all possess. Going from the bottom to the top, in terms of competitiveness, these are all of the UFC’s weight classes ranked for 2025.
Most Stacked? Ranking Each UFC Division
Women’s Strawweight
From the outside, the women’s 115-lb division appears to be relatively stacked compared to the other female classes in the UFC. Headed by the dominant Chinese sensation Weili Zhang, strawweight is home to a handful heavy-hitters in women’s MMA, including the undefeated Tatiana Suarez, Amanda Lemos, Virna Jandiroba, and Jéssica Andrade.
What sets the division back, though, is that it is mostly top heavy when it comes to notable contenders. Within its top five, only three competitors have fought for a world title. Outside of these women, the rest of the top 15 hasn’t really begun to hit their stride yet on their roads to eventually challenging for UFC gold. That could all change, however, heading into 2025, as Mackenzie Dern and Iasmin Lucindo are beginning to shape into strong divisional dark horses.
Men’s Heavyweight
Standing as the hardest hitting weight class in all of mixed martial arts, a night at the office for a heavyweight can end as swiftly as it begins. Currently occupied by two separate champions in undisputed king Jon Jones and interim title holder Tom Aspinall, the 265-lb division is composed of some of the most intimidating men on the entire roster.
However, the one major thing holding class back is that there is a huge divide in skill and ability separating the top six from the rest of the pack. Included in this stacked upper echelon are the likes of Jailton Almeida, Curtis Blaydes, Sergei Pavlovich, Alexander Volkov, and previous interim champion Ciryl Gane. With such a large gap separating this group of elite individuals from their divisional counterparts, heavyweight currently is the least stacked out of all the men’s weight classes in the UFC.
Men’s Flyweight
A major problem plaguing the 125-lb division is that there seemingly isn’t a suitable challenger for the division’s reigning champion, Alexandre Pantoja. Having bested four out of the top 10, “The Cannibal” has looked untouchable both on his way to winning the title and defending it, including beating the number one and number two competitors two times each.
This still hasn’t stopped flyweight from flushing underneath his looming shadow, as the class boasts a strong top 15 with standouts such as Joshua Van, Asu Almabayev, Tatsuro Taira, and Manel Kape. Just recently, also, famed Japanese MMA star Kai Asakura made the switch from Rizin to join the UFC, although he did lose his high-profile debut to Pantoja. With his inclusion onto the roster, 125-lb has never looked better.
Women’s Bantamweight
Ever since the sudden retirement of Amanda Nunes back in 2023, womens 135-lb has been in a giant power vacuum, as the championship changed a total of two times throughout 2024, going from Raquel Penington to former bantamweight queen Julianna Peña. That isn’t to speak of the volume of competition residing outside the championship. In the top eight of the division alone there are three previous MMA world champions in Holly Holm, the aforementioned Pennington, and also PFL lightweight apex Kayla Harrison. Other top names include Ultimate Fighter winner Macy Chiasson and former 135-lb title holder Miesha Tate.
Though much like in the same vein as women’s strawweight, bantamweight also suffers from a lack of notable competition after a certain point in the rankings. While none of the fighters in the top 15 are anything to scoff at, there is a distinct difference in title trajectory outside the four best competitors.
Men’s Light Heavyweight
Earning the distinguished ESPN MMA Fighter of the Year award, Alex Pereira has ruled over the 205-lb weight class with an iron fist since capturing the belt last November, racking three title defenses in just six months. As it stands, he has surely begun to distance himself from the other top contenders in his division.
Which says a lot about his skill, as light heavyweight is packed to the brim with some of the most reputable strikers in the entire sport. From former champions such as Jamahal Hill, Jiří Procházka, and Jan Błachowicz, to feared knockout artists like Khalil Rountree Jr. and Carlos Ulberg, the 205-lb top regularly puts on incredible performances against each other, much to the amusement of the fans.
Women’s Flyweight
For over a year, the top of the women’s flyweight division had been deadlocked between Valentina Shevchenko and Alexa Grasso, with Grasso taking the belt at UFC 285, and retaining it with a draw six months later. This led to an eventual trilogy bout at UFC 308, where Valentina finally won back her title in dominant fashion by keeping Grasso on her back for the majority of the contest, much to the delight of bettors. Platforms like High Roller provide a perfect playground to complement betting on this division in 2025.
While the two greatest fighters in the division battled for supremacy at the top, the rest of the class had begun to grow more and more stacked as previous champions moved up, and future championship challengers made themselves known. Coming up from 115-lb, Rose Namajunas had gone 2-1 after making her debut last September, defeating Amanda Ribas and Tracy Cortez. Emerging as the next best thing at 125-lb, France’s Manon Fiorot notched an incredible win this year over Erin Blanchfield to earn her first chance at fighting for a UFC title.
With such a wide array of talent making it up, women’s flyweight stands as the most competitive female UFC division.
Men’s Middleweight
From top to bottom, men’s 185-lb is a melding pot of killers. Standing at the head of these top-notch individuals is one of the most unlikeliest of UFC champions in recent years, Dricus Du Plessis. Logging a breakthrough 2024, the South African bruiser kicked off the new year by barely eking out a split decision win over Sean Strickland to nab the title in Canada. That summer, “Stillknocks” solidified his place as the king of the middleweights by submitting former five-time defending champion Israel Adesanya, becoming the only man to submit him in his whole career.
In other parts of this UFC division, several undefeated fighters appear on the fast track toward greatness, as Khamzat Chimaev and Shara Magomedov put on magnificent performances in 2024. Chimaev managed to tap out the ferocious Robert Whittaker in a single round, and Magomedov blasted his way into the top 15 by virally knocking out Armen Petrosyan at UFC 308.
There also seems to be a surge of young talent pushing upward through this UFC division as of late, as Anthony Hernandez, Caio Borralho, and Nassourdine Imavov each picked up stellar wins this year. Imavov in particular has positioned himself amongst the very best of the middleweights at number five with his victories versus Jared Cannonier and Brendan Allen.
Men’s Welterweight
Recognized today as the top UFC division in terms of grappling, the welterweight top 15 proves to be a strong group of individuals filled with title contenders. In the utmost part of the elite, there exists current champion Belal Muhammad and previous kings Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman.
Just below them, the rest of the 170-lb upper echelon is made up of a mix of impeccable young stars and gritty veterans, from Shavkat Rakhmonov, Ian Machado Garry, Gilbert Burns, and Colby Covington. Looking at the top seven fighters in the class alone, there are five different individuals who could all be fighting for the title over the course of the next few years, including Jack Della Maddalena, Sean Brady, and Joaquin Buckley.
However, putting on arguably the best yearly performance out of any fighter on the roster other than the champions, Carlos Prates looks to be a divisional juggernaut in the making, Going a perfect 4-0 inside the Octagon in 2024 with four performance bonuses, the aptly named “The Nightmare” could very well be in the title picture by the time 2025 is over.
Men’s Featherweight
When it comes to naming the most stacked UFC division, men’s featherweight is often the class that is brought into the forefront of contention. After all, three of its top ten competitors currently exist on the men’s pound-for-pound rankings. Its burgeoning champion, Ilia Topuria, exploded into superstardom in the realm of combat sports by starching two of the greatest 145-lb icons of all time in Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway.
Making up the rest of the top featherweights on the planet, Diego Lopes and Movsar Evloev perhaps punched their tickets toward a championship showdown with their wins over Brian Ortega and former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling respectively. Further on down the list, there’s previous interim 145-lb king Yair Rodriguez, English striking tactician Arnold Allen, and the undefeated Lerone Murphy
Men’s Bantamweight
Easily the most diverse UFC division in the entire promotion, men’s bantamweight is home to a wide array of competitors from all across the weight scale, ranging from former featherweights like José Aldo and flyweights like Deiveson Figueiredo.
Sitting atop the 135-lb mountain is none other than Merab Dvalishvili, who stole the championship from Sean O’Malley in September at UFC Noche via unanimous decision. The win marked the Georgian’s tenth victory in a row, making his win streak the longest in bantamweight history.
Dvalishvili’s dominance accurately reflects the stacked nature of the bantamweight division, as hungry and lethal contenders lurk around every corner in the top 15. Need only look at the warpaths of sterling names like Umar Nurmagomedov, Petr Yan, and Mario Bautista to see just how dog eat dog the 135-lb class truly is.
Men’s Lightweight
Arriving at what is undoubtedly the toughest UFC division in which to be successful, the men’s lightweight utmost elite are without question the cream of the crop of not just the UFC, but of the entire sport.
Holding this UFC division with an iron-clad grip, Dagestani powerhouse Islam Makhachev has elevated himself to a whole different level from the rest of the competition, defending his 155-lb belt a total of three times and earning the top spot on the promotion’s men’s pound-for-pound rankings. Other previous title holders within the top 10 include Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirier, Michael Chandler, Max Holloway, and Charles Oliveira.
This UFC division is also the spawning ground for some of the most popular fighters in the UFC, with fan-favorites such as Renato Moicano, Dan Hooker, and Paddy Pimblett often being the star attractions on whichever card they are competing on. It also is responsible for putting together numerous memorable bouts throughout the year, with Makhachev and former featherweight kingpin Volkanovski’s first fight being called the best fight of 2023.
Going into 2025, the UFC lightweight division remains the most competitive weight class in mixed martial arts, and should it continue to thrive like in previous years, then it will still soar at the summit of the sport when it is over.