Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently tied a ribbon around its UFC Vegas 105 mixed martial arts (MMA) event, held last Sat. night (April 5, 2025) at APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada. That’s where fast-rising 145-pound contender, Lerone Murphy, shut down power-punching featherweight veteran, Josh Emmett, across five rounds of back-and-forth action.
As a result, Murphy jumped two places to No. 8 in the official featherweight rankings, sending Emmett down two spots to No. 10. The 33 year-old “Iceman” remains undefeated at 16-0-1 and will likely earn himself a Top 5 opponent his next time out.
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. Jon Jones
3. Ilia Topuria
4. Merab Dvalishvili
5. Dricus Du Plessis
6. Magomed Ankalaev
7. Belal Muhammad
8. Alex Pereira
9. Alexandre Pantoja
10. Tom Aspinall
11. Alexander Volkanovski
12. Max Holloway
13. Sean O’Malley
14. Charles Oliveira
15. Arman Tsarukyan
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Alexandre Pantoja
1. Brandon Royval
2. Brandon Moreno
3. Amir Albazi
4. Kai Kara France
5. Tatsuro Taira
6. Manel Kape
7. Alex Perez
8. Asu Almabayev
9. Steve Erceg
10. Tagir Ulanbekov
11. Tim Elliott
12. Bruno Silva
13. Ramazan Temirov
14. Joshua Van
15. Kai Asakura
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Merab Dvalishvili
1. Sean O’Malley
2. Petr Yan
3. Umar Nurmagomedov
4. Cory Sandhagen
5. Deiveson Figueiredo
6. Song Yadong
7. Marlon Vera
8. Rob Font
9. Henry Cejudo
10. Mario Bautista
11. Jose Aldo
12. Kyler Phillips
13. Marcus McGhee
14. Aiemann Zahabi
15. Montel Jackson
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Ilia Topuria
1. Alexander Volkanovski
2. Max Holloway
3. Diego Lopes
4. Movsar Evloev
5. Yair Rodriguez
6. Brian Ortega
7. Arnold Allen
8. Lerone Murphy +2
9. Aljamain Sterling
10. Josh Emmett -2
11. Giga Chikadze
12. Youssef Zalal
13. Bryce Mitchell
14. Calvin Kattar
15. Dan Ige
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Islam Makhachev
1. Arman Tsarukyan
2. Charles Oliveira
3. Justin Gaethje
4. Max Holloway
5. Dustin Poirier
6. Dan Hooker
7. Michael Chandler
8. Mateusz Gamrot
9. Beneil Dariush
10. Renato Moicano
11. Rafael Fiziev
12. Paddy Pimblett
13. Benoit Saint Denis
14. Grant Dawson
15. Ignacio Bahamondes
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Belal Muhammed
1. Sean Brady
2. Shavkat Rakhmonov
3. Leon Edwards
4. Kamaru Usman
5. Jack Della Maddalena
6. Joaquin Buckley
7. Ian Machado Garry
8. Gilbert Burns
9. Colby Covington
10. Geoff Neal
11. Stephen Thompson
12. Michael Morales
13. Carlos Prates
14. Vicente Luque
15. Michael Page
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Dricus Du Plessis
1. Nassourdine Imavov
2. Sean Strickland
3. Khamzat Chimaev
4. Israel Adesanya
5. Robert Whittaker
6. Caio Borralho
7. Jared Cannonier
8. Roman Dolidze
9. Anthony Hernandez
10. Marvin Vettori
11. Brendan Allen
12. Paulo Costa
13. Reinier De Ridder
14. Michel Pereira
15. Roman Kopylov
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Magomed Ankalaev
1. Alex Pereira
2. Jiri Prochazka
3. Carlos Ulberg
4. Jamahal Hill
5. Jan Blachowicz
6. Aleksandar Rakic
7. Khalil Rountree
8. Nikita Krylov
9. Volkan Oezdemir
10. Johnny Walker
11. Dominick Reyes
12. Azamat Murzakanov
13. Bogdan Guskov
14. Alonzo Menifield
15. Anthony Smith
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Jon Jones
1. Tom Aspinall
2. Ciryl Gane
3. Alexander Volkov
4. Sergei Pavlovich
5. Curtis Blaydes
6. Jailton Almeida
7. Serghei Spivac
8. Marcin Tybura
9. Derrick Lewis
10. Tai Tuivasa
11. Waldo Cortes Acosta
12. Shamil Gaziev
13. Mick Parkin
14. Tallison Teixeira
15. Kennedy Nzechukwu
WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Valentina Shevchenko
2. Zhang Weili
3. Alexa Grasso
4. Julianna Pena
5. Manon Fiorot
6. Erin Blanchfield
7. Kayla Harrison
8. Raquel Pennington
9. Rose Namajunas
10. Yan Xiaonan
11. Tatiana Suarez
12. Virna Jandiroba
13. Natalia Silva
14. Jessica Andrade
15. Maycee Barber
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Zhang Weili
1. Yan Xiaonan
2. Tatiana Suarez
3. Virna Jandiroba
4. Jessica Andrade
5. Amanda Lemos
6. Mackenzie Dern
7. Amanda Ribas
8. Iasmin Lucindo
9. Marina Rodriguez
10. Tabatha Ricci
11. Loopy Godinez
12. Gillian Robertson
13. Angela Hill
14. Luana Pinheiro
15. Tecia Pennington
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Valentina Shevchenko
1. Alexa Grasso
2. Manon Fiorot
3. Erin Blanchfield
4. Maycee Barber
5. Natalia Silva
6. Rose Namajunas
7. Jessica Andrade
8. Viviane Araújo
9. Jasmine Jasudavicius
10. Tracy Cortez
11. Karine Silva
12. Miranda Maverick
13. Casey O’Neill
14. Ariane Da Silva
15. J.J. Aldrich
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Julianna Pena
1. Raquel Pennington
2. Kayla Harrison
3. Ketlen Vieira
4. Norma Dumont
5. Macy Chiasson
6. Irene Aldana
7. Mayra Bueno Silva
8. Ailin Perez
9. Karol Rosa
10. Yana Santos
11. Jacqueline Cavalcanti
12. Miesha Tate
13. Nora Cornolle
14. Chelsea Chandler
15. Melissa Mullins
You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week, particularly in the featherweight division, following the UFC 314: “Volkanovski vs. Lopes” pay-per-view (PPV) event on ESPN+, scheduled for Sat., April 12, 2025 at Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.
For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.
