Consensus Rankings:   Official  |  Member Designed  |  This Ranking Updated 1 month, 3 weeks, 1 day ago  |  All By Byakuya Kuchiki

1. 1

   

   Neal vs. Rakhmonov

   Shavkat Rakhmonov | Submission | Round 3

   2023 | UFC 285

   Going into the bout many were ready to write off Geoff Neal as Shavkat was coming into this bout as the next hype train similar to Khamzat. The Kazakhstan was finishing all his opponents and making it look easy so the UFC decided to give him a real test in Geoff Neal.
   
   As mentioned Geoff Neal was not taken seriously by the fans however if you have been around you would know Geoff Neal is no easy match-up for anyone. No one would expect Geoff to push Shavkat to a limit we have yet to have seen and it's always amazing when we see a fighter who hasn't faced adversity yet be pushed to a level he never had to reach. Yes Neal came overweight which could add to the reason of his insane durability. Shavkat threw everything he had from spinning back kicks to flying knees but Neal proved that there is a reason why he has yet to KO in the UFC.
   
   Even though Neal lost neither man's stock dropped as he proved once again that he deserved to be a ranked fighter and Shavkat was able to prove that he was a legit threat to the division.
   

2. 2

   

   Gaethje vs. Fiziev

   Justin Gaethje | Decision

   2023 | UFC 286

   Similar to Shavkat vs Neal this looked to be the established fighter taking on the new breed. The narrative going into this fight was that Justin's best years might be behind him and Fiziev was the new breed of lightweights that were going to take over the division. Fighters like Mateusz Gamrot, Arman Tsarukyan, Grant Dawson and Jalin however Fiziev was the first to test the elite top 5 of one of the deepest divisions in the sport. Most fans and analysts sided with Fiziev especially after Justin failed to beat Charles combined with the fact that he got stopped there wasn't much interest in seeing Justin fight for the title again from a ranking perspective, especially with all these new fights looming around the top 15-5.
   
   The narrative might have been that no one wanted to see Justin near the title picture again but coming out of this bout he showed everyone why he was and still is a danger to the division. Fiziev started off strong as his precise striking was a thing of beauty however having that pace always came with a risk if he was not able to take Justin out in the early round will he have the the tank to stay on this level for the whole three rounds?
   
   NO
   
   Justin took the punches and came back to put a beating on Fiziev leaving him with the red crimson mask by the end. In round 3 especially Justin started to put the pace on Fiziev, causing Fiziev to shell up as the amount of damage he was taking kept him from overextending as anything more than a jab he would have to risk leaving himself open for a counter. In the end, Justin proved once again why the top of the lightweight division is one of the deepest divisions in the world.
   

3. 3

   

   Grasso vs. Shevchenko II

   Fight Ends in a Draw After 5 Rounds

   2023 | UFC Fight Night

   Scorecards aside great rematch.
   
   Shevchenko showed great improvement in her overall performance and had one amazing jab throughout.
   Grasso proved she was champion material and that the first fight was no fluke.
   
   Overall both fighters presented a rivalry that really shone a light on a division that a few years ago was very much in the shadow of WMMA.
   

4. 4

   

   Kape vs. dos Santos

   Manel Kape | Decision

   2023 | UFC 293

   Kape came into this country under the radar however by the end of the press conference he firmly put himself in the villain role. Going into a bout with a late replacement after going against the initial hometown opponent during the press conference Kape had to execute a perfect performance.
   
   Santos did start the fight as no late replacement, he kept the pressure on Kape from the start and never let Kape breathe. He has a raw style to him in that he throws all fight never letting Kape take his foot off the breaks. Kape looked more polished as he was able to counter Santos however it was not easy as the Brazilian summoning the power of blonde Charles got dropped various times but kept coming forward.
   
   All in all, it was a great fight and given time Santos could become a real contender in the division That post-fight speech by Kape did what every post-fight speech should do leaving fans wanting to see more.
   

5. 5

   

   Makhachev vs. Volkanovski

   Islam Makhachev | Decision

   2023 | UFC 284

   The top 2 P4Ps best facing off in a bout that rarely happens.
   Many did not give the smaller fighter a chance however after the third all doubts were removed.
   
   Islam did exceptionally well in the striking department considering this is the fighter that beat Max on the feet three times. Volk showed his amazing cardio but had very good grappling defence too always able to stop the complete control of Islam.
   
   The result was widely disputed as both sides felt they had an argument for the victory. In the end, we got a very high technical bout that hopefully gets a rematch soon down the line.
   

6. 6

   

   Aldana vs. Rosa

   Irene Aldana | Decision

   2023 | UFC 296

7. 7

   

   Soldić vs. Kadestam

   Zebaztian Kadestam | KO/TKO | Round 2

   2023 | ONE Fight Night 10

   One Championship signed the hottest free agent in 2022. The two-division KSW Champ seemed UFC destined until out of nowhere One announced that they had signed the 27-year-old. The question now was who does One match him up with as many names were flying around even a potential straight title shot against One's star performer De Riddler. Instead, he got matched up with Murad Ramazanov however due to an accidental groan strike it was stopped, and the debut of Robocop was postponed.
   
   Which brings us here One needing to get their new shiny toy in the spotlight put another bout together 5 months after his initial debute. Many felt as though One was perhaps giving Soldic a layup in his new opponent 14-7 Zebaztian Kadestam. The Bandit was not known to most MMA fans die-hards knew that The Bandit had nuclear hands as all of his ONE championship wins had come via stoppage. Zebaztian was 4-4 in the promotion coming into 2022 but put together 2 stoppages in a row and was the man the promotion thought would give Soldić a fight to solidify his quality to the One championship fans.
   
   If fans were disappointed in his first debut they were left jaw-dropped by the second. Besides landing some hard shots on Kadestam leaving him hurt badly in the first the Bandit was able to fight back and by the second he looked back in the fight. Never allowing Soldic to dictate the fight when the former title challenger dropped the former two-division champ it was as if a movie script just got thrown out the window. One new potential star found himself on the losing end for the first time since 2018.
   

8. 8

   

   Holloway vs. Allen

   Max Holloway | Decision

   2023 | UFC Fight Night

9. 9

   

   Font vs. Yanez

   Rob Font | KO/TKO | Round 1

   2023 | UFC 287

10. 10

    

    Shevchenko vs. Grasso

    Alexa Grasso | Submission | Round 4

    2023 | UFC 285

11+

11. 11

    

    Whittaker vs. Du Plessis

    Dricus Du Plessis | KO/TKO | Round 2  |  UFC 290

    Coming into the UFC Du Plessis was one under the radar for most fight fans. He slowly climbed the rankings however came with a unique style that not many have seen as of yet. Being from South Africa his fighting style was one not seen before. He often made mistakes which brought criticism to his overall approach to his fights. with all that being said the man won even finishing 4 of his last five coming in the bout.
    
    As he slowly climbed the ranking it was evident that he would have to meet the number 2 middleweight in the world Robert Whittaker. A fighter who has been around the division for quite some time and a huge fan favourite. Besides Izzy he has been the most consistent in terms of taking on the best in the division and getting the hard-fought wins. Because of Whittaker's known reputation of beating down challengers combined with Du Plessis apparent bad luck in putting himself in bad situations the overall feeling was Whittaker was going to badly hurt Du Plessis.
    
    What many failed to notice is that Du Plessis has slowly been sharpening his tools and on fight day he had Whiitaker figured out. From having a tight guard when far away to counter any of Whittaker's high kicks to Du Plessis to completely muscling Whittaker on the ground Dricus had the best performance of his career and it came against his most acredited test to date.
    

12. 12

    

    Sadykhov vs. Borshchev

    Fight Ends in a Draw After 3 Rounds  |  UFC 295

    Both men coming in with a striking background and having seen Nazim put the lights off Terrance McKinney the black wolf was very much favoured. His fellow DWCS fighter across had a different type of UFC start. After winning his first bout he would go on to lose two in a row and bounce back with a win over Maheshate Hayisaer. Before the win Viacheslav Borshchev had taken a beating to Mike Davis however showed he was very durable which would be forshadowing for his fight with Nazim.
    
    Viacheslav Borshchev started the first round much more active and quickly established that he had a gas tank as Nazim preffered to pick his shots Borshchev looked to apply heavy pressure. After winning the first unsure if his corner gave advice but Nazim started taking the lead and instead of moving back made the decision to put Borshchev on the backfoot coming first unlike the first round and when he dropped Borshchev it seemed inveidant that the stoppage were to come. Nazim decicing to go to the ground might have saved Borshchev but to the credit of Borshchev when he stood up he was still not recovered and what follwed was a very long two minutes. Coming into the third it was a repeat of the first Nazim decicing to place his shots and Borshchev applying heavy pressure.
    
    Both fighters showed good and bad traits however ending with a draw and fight of the night was not a bad night.
    

13. 13

    

    Zaleski vs. Fakhretdinov

    Fight Ends in a Draw After 3 Rounds  |  UFC Fight Night

    After Rinat Fakhretdinov decided to send Kevin Lee to the land of dreams there was a lot of speculation over his skill level similarly his opponent Dos Santos was coming in with questions of is he still able to climb the rankings once more.
    
    Rinat Fakhretdinov came out dropping the Brazilian and from there looked to finish it early however as the first ended and the second continued dos Santos never stopped giving output for Rinat to process. By the end of the second, it was clear that dos Santos had recovered and from the start of the third looked to put pressure on the Russian. Dos Santos hurt Rinat badly in the third taking the wind out of his body however Dos Santos made an error in trying to stop him with head shots giving him enough time to recover and continue the third have he gone to the body where the damage was present I doubt Rinat would have been able to do much.
    
    The end result was deserving as both men showed amazing resilience.
    

14. 14

    

    Gibson vs. Katona

    Brad Katona | Decision  |  UFC 292

    TUF final veterans only.
    One fight
    One winner
    One contract (jk the always hire a few on that sweet 12k show and win)
    

15. 15

    

    Yusuff vs. Barboza

    Edson Barboza | Decision  |  UFC Fight Night

    Barboza coming in off the back of two wins however still questions to his decision to go down to 145. Yusuff coming off two wins too after coming short of against Arnold Allen needed a big win and with the momentum behind him, it seemed certain he was going to get the win.
    
    A win here would see either man enter the 145 top ten and for the other, a very long rehabilitation process awaits after both just completed one.
    
    Yusuff started off strong dropping the veteran and having him hurt throughout the whole of the first however Barboza's condition and years of experience played a huge part in his rally from the second till the fifth. The second round was close however Yusuff was noticeably tired and in the third it went from okay to Help I might be highlight reel KO when Barboza at 37 years of age hit his signature spinning back heel kick sending the much younger Yusuf to the canvas due to Barboza being just as tired and the round almost being over Yusuff survived. Start of the fifth Yusuff would come in ready to empty the gas tank however it was not enough and Barboza once again proved his worth as a very underrated BMF.
    
    Fun fight as Yusuff got to show his strength and ability to go the whole five rounds with a veteran like Barboza. Barboza rolled back the years and besides the first looked young as ever and the call out to his wife at the end thanking her for the support further proved that he is fighting for more than just being another fighter on the UFC list.
    

16. 16

    

    Saint-Denis vs. Moisés

    Benoit Saint-Denis | KO/TKO | Round 2  |  UFC Fight Night

    Two fighters known for their ground skills decided to fight on their feet. Not the cleanest of fights however the amount of significant shots they took was crazy. They both must have felt something the next day. The crowd played a huge part in hyping this fight out too as any time the UFC leaves the States the crowds really buy into their hometown fighter.
    
    Many were quick to point out Benoit Saint-Denis as a future contender however he gets hot way too much for me and when he eventually meets the upper-ranked fighters he will need to iron out any potential flaws in his arsenal.
    

17. 17

    

    Holloway vs. Jung

    Max Holloway | KO/TKO | Round 3  |  UFC Fight Night

    We all knew this was going to be a slaughter as we put a man known for his durability up against a fighter who is known for his punch output.
    
    The first round went surprisingly well for Zombie however Max was seen as the betting favourite. Come the second round Max started putting the pace on zombie ending off the exchancgers by landing more which seemed to be what the rest of the 5 rounds pace would be.
    
    Zombie was not content with this outcome as if this would be his last fight he decided to go out on his shield coming out the third like a man ready to risk it all. The image of Zombie throwing one last strike as Max put him unconscious is what made Zombie a legend and what made this fight amazing.
    
    The Singapore crowd singing Zombie theme song at the end as the legend walked out gave the feeling in the atmosphere that wouldn't be replicated anytime soon.
    

18. 18

    

    Means vs. Fialho

    Tim Means | KO/TKO | Round 3  |  UFC Fight Night

    Had Failho winning this bout due to my mind always having an image of Fialho stopping Cameron VanCamp and fighting five times in one year.
    
    Tim Means is a UFC veteran and it was on full display coming out with perfect timing setting Failho up with body shots and later to come for the head was an amazing plan.
    
    Fialho was able to keep Means alert as he always had enough to fire back but the body shots by round 3 caught up and left the Portuguese guessing and Means was able to shut down the 10 years younger warrior.
    

19. 19

    

    Dern vs. Hill

    Mackenzie Dern | Decision  |  UFC Fight Night

    Divorce Dern :
    
    Power increased x2
    Footwork increased x2
    Accuracy increased x2
    Ground control increased x2
    Stamina increased x3