The Hurt Handbook MMA Rankings #20

Written By Robert Cardillo

Here are our World MMA Rankings for the week of March 2, 2026.

Factors that are considered are most recent fights, level of competition, and current trajectory based on in-cage performance.

One thing to note is that any ranked fighter who has announced that he/she will compete in a different division, but has not actually done so yet, will still be ranked in the division he/she last fought in. Once the fighter competes in their new weight class, the rankings will reflect that.

Another note is that the Pound-For-Pound Rankings also factor in work across multiple weight classes, not just the one a fighter currently competes in.

Men’s Flyweight

  1. Joshua Van

  2. Alexandre Pantoja 

  3. Manel Kape

  4. Kyoji Horiguchi

  5. Tatsuro Taira

  6. Lone’er Kavanaugh

  7. Brandon Moreno

  8. Brandon Royval

  9. Amir Albazi

  10. Kai Kara France

Honorable Mention(s): Muhammad Mokaev, Steve Erceg, Alex Perez, Tim Elliott

Men’s Bantamweight 

  1. Petr Yan

  2. Merab Dvalishvili

  3. Sean O’Malley

  4. Umar Nurmagomedov 

  5. Cory Sandhagen

  6. Aimenn Zahabi

  7. Mario Bautista

  8. Song Yadong

  9. Deiveson Figueiredo

  10. Payton Talbott

Honorable Mention(s): David Martinez

Men’s Featherweight

  1. Alexander Volkanovski

  2. Movsar Evloev

  3. Lerone Murphy

  4. Diego Lopes

  5. Yair Rodriguez

  6. Aljamain Sterling

  7. Jean Silva

  8. Arnold Allen

  9. Youseff Zalal

  10. Josh Emmett

Honorable Mention(s): Patricio Pitbull, Kevin Vallejos, Melquizael Costa

Lightweight

  1. Ilia Topuria

  2. Justin Gaethje

  3. Arman Tsarukyan

  4. Max Holloway

  5. Charles Oliveira

  6. Benoit Saint Denis

  7. Usman Nurmagomedov

  8. Mauricio Ruffy

  9. Paddy Pimblett

  10. Dan Hooker

Honorable Mention(s): Mateusz Gamrot, Rafael Fiziev, Renato Moicano

Welterweight

  1. Islam Makhachev

  2. Jack Della Maddelena

  3. Michael Morales

  4. Shavkat Rakhmonov

  5. Ian Garry

  6. Kamaru Usman

  7. Carlos Prates

  8. Belal Muhammad

  9. Sean Brady

  10. Leon Edwards

Honorable Mention(s): Joaquin Buckley, Daniel Rodriguez, Michael Venom Page, Uros Medic

Middleweight

  1. Khamzat Chimaev

  2. Dricus Du Plessis

  3. Nassourdine Imavov

  4. Sean Strickland

  5. Brendan Allen

  6. Israel Adesanya

  7. Reinier de Ridder

  8. Caio Borralho

  9. Anthony Hernandez

  10. Robert Whittaker

Honorable Mention(s): Paulo Costa

Light Heavyweight

  1. Alex Pereira

  2. Magomed Ankalaev

  3. Jiri Prochazka

  4. Carlos Ulberg

  5. Jan Blachowicz

  6. Khalil Rountree Jr

  7. Jamahal Hill

  8. Azamat Murzakanov

  9. Volkan Oedzemir

  10. Aleksandar Rakic

Honorable Mention(s): Dominick Reyes, Johnny Walker, Bogdan Guskov

Heavyweight

  1. Tom Aspinall

  2. Francis Ngannou

  3. Ciryl Gane

  4. Waldo Cortes-Acosta

  5. Alexander Volkov

  6. Sergei Pavlovich

  7. Rizvan Kuniev

  8. Jailton Almeida

  9. Curtis Blaydes 

  10. Serghei Spivac

Honorable Mention(s): Ante Delija, Derrick Lewis, Renan Ferreira, Marcin Tybura, Josh Hokit

Women’s Strawweight

  1. Mackenzie Dern

  2. Tatiana Suarez

  3. Virna Jandiroba

  4. Amanda Lemos

  5. Yan Xaionan

  6. Loopy Godinez

  7. Jessica Andrade

  8. Tabatha Ricci

  9. Fatima Kline

  10. Gillian Robertson

Honorable Mention(s): Iasmin Lucindo

Women’s Flyweight

  1. Valentina Shevchenko

  2. Manon Fiorot

  3. Natalia Silva

  4. Zhang Weili

  5. Dakota Ditcheva

  6. Erin Blanchfield

  7. Alexa Grasso

  8. Liz Carmouche

  9. Maycee Barber

  10. Jasmine Jasudavicius

Honorable Mention(s): Rose Namajunas, Taila Santos, Miranda Maverick

Women’s Bantamweight

  1. Kayla Harrison

  2. Julianna Pena

  3. Raquel Pennington

  4. Norma Dumont

  5. Irene Aldana

  6. Ketlen Vieira

  7. Ailin Perez

  8. Yana Santos

  9. Jacqueline Cavalcanti

  10. Macy Chiasson

Honorable Mention(s): Karol Rosa

Men’s P4P

  1. Islam Makhachev

  2. Ilia Topuria

  3. Alex Pereira

  4. Alexander Volkanovski 

  5. Tom Aspinall

  6. Francis Ngannou

  7. Petr Yan

  8. Khamzat Chimaev

  9. Max Holloway

  10. Joshua Van

Honorable Mention(s): Merab Dvalishvili, Alexandre Pantoja, Jack Della Maddalena

Women’s P4P

  1. Valentina Shevchenko 

  2. Zhang Weili

  3. Kayla Harrison

  4. Cris Cyborg

  5. MacKenzie Dern

  6. Julianna Pena

  7. Manon Fiorot

  8. Natalia Silva

  9. Alexa Grasso

  10. Dakota Ditcheva

Honorable Mention(s): Rose Namajunas, Erin Blanchfield

Our rankings will update every Monday, unless there is no change.

Robert Cardillo
Next

The Hurt Handbook MMA Rankings #19