MMA pound-for-pound rankings: Suarez seizes control of a spot in women's top 10

It did not start well for Tatiana Suarez. She was hurt by a straight right hand in the first minute of Saturday's UFC 327 strawweight bout against Loopy Godínez, who then slammed her to the canvas and dropped several punches. But Suarez is at her best while fighting on the mat, and she quickly turned the advantage her way. She seized top control within a minute and beat up Godinez all the way to the horn, winning the round on all three judges' scorecards. Suarez then took the fight back to the mat early in Round 2 and choked out Godinez.

As a result, the 12-1 Suarez moves into the ESPN pound-for-pound women's rankings. She already had the top-10 support of one voter, and on the strength of her latest performance, she added two more to enter into a tie with Alexa Grasso at No. 10.

That is the most significant change in the latest P4P rankings. The other movement: Dakota Ditcheva leapfrogs Erin Blanchfield to take over the No. 8 position.

For the ESPN divisional MMA rankings, click here.

Note: Results are current; rankings are as of April 15. To be eligible for the rankings, a fighter must have competed over the past 12 months or must have an upcoming fight booked. Fighters who have been dropped for inactivity can be reinstated only after they compete.

Women's pound-for-pound rankings

1. Valentina Shevchenko

UFC flyweight champion
Record: 26-4-1
Last: W (UD) vs. Zhang Weili, Nov. 15, 2025
Next: TBA

Shevchenko's dominance came under question in 2022 and 2023, when she went 1-1-1 in a trilogy with Alexa Grasso. Boy, does that feel like a long time ago now. Shevchenko has more than reasserted herself as the best flyweight in the world, and now she's asserted herself as the No. 1 woman in the world, period. It wasn't surprising that she beat Zhang, but it was surprising how easy she made it look. -- Brett Okamoto

2. Kayla Harrison

UFC bantamweight champion
Record: 19-1
Last: W (TechSub2) vs. Julianna Peña, June 7, 2025
Next: TBA

The longtime face of the PFL is quickly becoming the face of the UFC's women's divisions as well. With a dominant win over Peña at UFC 316, Harrison is 4-0 in the UFC and has the hardware to add to her two Olympic judo gold medals. Harrison was to face a massive challenge in her first title defense, with Amanda Nunes coming out of retirement looking to regain her old belt, but their Jan. 24 bout was postponed because of a Harrison neck injury that required surgery. -- Okamoto

3. Zhang Weili

UFC flyweight / strawweight
Record: 26-4
Last: L (UD) vs. Valentina Shevchenko, Nov. 15, 2025
Next: TBA

It's hard to move up in weight, especially at the highest level. That sounds like it should be obvious, but Zhang had been dominant at 115 pounds for so long, some of us might have taken for granted how big of a challenge moving to 125 would be. UFC 322 was a bad night for Zhang, but she doesn't have many. And if she decides to stay at 125, it certainly seems reasonable she'll fare better in the future. -- Okamoto

4. Cris Cyborg

PFL featherweight champion
Record: 29-2, 1 NC
Last: W (Sub3) vs. Sara Collins, Dec. 13, 2025
Next: TBA

It had been a while since Cyborg had fought an elite opponent in MMA until she met Larissa Pacheco in 2024. That was a legitimate matchup -- and many within the industry were predicting Cyborg's downfall. Instead, she took out the PFL's two-weight champion, upending all of Pacheco's momentum. One of the original pioneers of women's MMA is somehow still going strong, and now she's once again a champion after getting her second career submission at PFL Lyon. -- Okamoto

5. Natalia Silva

UFC flyweight
Record: 20-5-1
Last: W (UD) vs. Rose Namajunas, Jan. 24
Next: TBA

Silva is looking every bit the part of a future UFC champion following a dominant display against Alexa Grasso at UFC 315 and a victory over Namajunas at UFC 324. Silva's stick-and-move style has frustrated even the highest level of opponent, and she's got youth on her side as she won't turn 30 until 2027. -- Okamoto

6. Manon Fiorot

UFC flyweight
Record: 13-2
Last: W (TKO1) vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius, Oct. 18, 2025
Next: TBA

Fiorot fell short in her challenge of Valentina Shevchenko, the champ, at UFC 315. But by knocking off Rose Namajunas and Erin Blanchfield in her previous two fights, Fiorot has shown she has the tools to become champion. -- Andreas Hale

7. Mackenzie Dern

UFC strawweight champion
Record: 16-5
Last: W (UD) vs. Virna Jandiroba, Oct. 25, 2025
Next: TBA

Dern's rise to the 115-pound throne was truly a changing of the guard. She is the division's first first-time champion since 2019, because the previous three champs -- Zhang Weili, Carla Esparza and Rose Namajunas -- all were in their second reigns. Dern, nearly a decade into her MMA career after multiple jiu-jitsu world championships, has won three fights in a row. -- Jeff Wagenheim

8. Dakota Ditcheva

PFL flyweight
Previous ranking: 9
Record: 14-0
Last: W (UD) vs. Sumiko Inaba, July 19, 2025
Next: TBA

Not only did Ditcheva win the PFL's flyweight season in 2024, but she did so in spectacular fashion -- a TKO finish over Taila Santos, who once challenged for a UFC title. Ditcheva fought only once in 2025, dominating Inaba in the co-main event of the first PFL Champions Series card in Cape Town, South Africa. She was scheduled to open 2026 with a matchup with fellow kickboxer Denise Kielholtz, but Ditcheva withdrew with an injury. -- Okamoto

9. Erin Blanchfield

UFC flyweight
Previous ranking: 8
Record: 14-2
Last: W (Sub2) vs. Tracy Cortez, Nov. 15, 2025
Next: TBA

Blanchfield avenged her 2019 loss to Cortez in emphatic fashion at UFC 322, submitting her in the second round of their rematch. Still only 26, Blanchfield continues to evolve with improved striking and suffocating grappling. She will have to wait her turn for a title opportunity, with Natalia Silva likely up next, but Blanchfield's turn is certainly coming. -- Hale

T-10. Alexa Grasso

UFC flyweight
Record: 17-5-1
Last: W (KO) vs. Maycee Barber, March 28
Next: TBA

Grasso went nearly three years without winning a fight, but her 2023 win right before the skid was a huge one, a submission of Valentina Shevchenko for the UFC title. What followed were two more fights with Shevchenko -- a draw, then a loss -- and then a loss to Natalia Silva. That made the fight with Barber a must-win, and Grasso came through explosively. -- Wagenheim

T-10. Tatiana Suarez

UFC strawweight
Previous ranking: Unranked
Record: 12-1
Last: W (Sub2) vs. Loopy Godínez, April 11
Next: TBA

If Suarez is still feeling the effects of last year's humbling defeat to Zhang Weili in a title challenge, she certainly didn't show it at UFC 327, overcoming early adversity to thrash Godinez, a fellow top-10 strawweight. Suarez is going to be a tough out for anyone at 115 pounds. -- Wagenheim

Other fighter receiving votes: Julianna Peña.

How our panel voted

Brett Okamoto: 1. Valentina Shevchenko; 2. Zhang Weili; 3. Kayla Harrison; 4. Cris Cyborg; 5. Manon Fiorot; 6. Mackenzie Dern; 7. Dakota Ditcheva; 8. Natalia Silva; 9. Erin Blanchfield; 10. Tatiana Suarez.

Andreas Hale: 1. Shevchenko; 2. Zhang; 3. Harrison; 4. Cyborg; 5. Silva; 6. Fiorot; 7. Blanchfield; 8. Ditcheva; 9. Dern; 10. Alexa Grasso.

Carlos Contreras Legaspi: 1. Shevchenko; 2. Harrison; 3. Cyborg; 4. Zhang; 5. Ditcheva; 6. Dern; 7. Silva; 8. Grasso; 9. Julianna Peña; 10. Fiorot.

Andrew Davis: 1. Shevchenko; 2. Harrison; 3. Zhang; 4. Cyborg; 5. Dern; 6. Silva; 7. Fiorot; 8. Blanchfield; 9. Ditcheva; 10. Suarez.

Jeff Wagenheim: 1. Shevchenko; 2. Zhang; 3. Harrison; 4. Cyborg; 5. Fiorot; 6. Silva; 7. Blanchfield; 8. Dern; 9. Suarez; 10. Ditcheva.

Men's pound-for-pound rankings

1. Islam Makhachev

UFC welterweight champion
Record: 28-1
Last: W (UD) vs. Jack Della Maddalena, Nov. 15, 2025
Next: TBA

Makhachev fulfilled his prophecy of becoming a two-division champion by snuffing out the threat of Della Maddalena's striking with relative ease at UFC 322. The win tied him with Anderson Silva for the longest winning streak in UFC history at 16 and puts Makhachev's name on the short list of greatest MMA fighters of all time. With an incredibly talented crop of contenders at welterweight, he'll have no shortage of opponents. Still, the fight everyone wants to see is a clash with current lightweight champion Ilia Topuria. -- Hale

2. Ilia Topuria

UFC lightweight champion
Record: 17-0
Last: W (KO1) vs. Charles Oliveira, June 28, 2025
Next: June 14 vs. Justin Gaethje

After knocking out two of the greatest featherweights in UFC history (Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway) in 2024, it was going to be tough for Topuria to top that in 2025. He tried, moving up to lightweight with the goal of challenging Makhachev. But with Makhachev moving up a division as well, Topuria instead captured the vacant title by knocking out Oliveira at UFC 317. Next up, he headlines the White House fight card against interim titleholder Gaethje. -- Hale

3. Alex Pereira

UFC light heavyweight
Record: 13-3
Last: W (TKO1) vs. Magomed Ankalaev, Oct. 4, 2025
Next: June 14 vs. Ciryl Gane

A stellar 2024 cemented Pereira's place as a star in the UFC, but he faced arguably his toughest test as light heavyweight champion when he stepped into the Octagon with Ankalaev at UFC 313. Pereira had dealt with strikers, but the question was whether he could get the job done against a talented grappler. Pereira kept the fight standing but fell short by unanimous decision. He changed that outcome quickly and violently when he met Ankalaev in a rematch at UFC 320. Pereira's reign as light heavyweight champion is over, however, as he vacated the title to fight Gane for an interim heavyweight title on the White House card. -- Hale

4. Tom Aspinall

UFC heavyweight champion
Record: 15-3, 1 NC
Last: NC1 vs. Ciryl Gane, Oct. 25, 2025
Next: TBA

You can make a case that Aspinall is the most dynamic, skillful, talented heavyweight the sport has seen. He is dominating opponents in a way that is unmatched. No one can last a round with him. He had hoped to prove his supremacy against Jon Jones, but Jones opted to retire, elevating Aspinall from interim champion. His first defense of the undisputed belt ended anticlimactically, as an eye poke resulted in his UFC 321 fight with Gane being declared a no contest. -- Okamoto

5. Khamzat Chimaev

UFC middleweight champion
Record: 15-0
Last: W (UD) vs. Dricus Du Plessis, Aug. 16, 2025
Next: May 9 vs. Sean Strickland

After five years of hype, Chimaev finally fought for a championship at UFC 319 -- and the result was one of the most dominant title fight performances in UFC history. Chimaev failed to record a finish but thoroughly demolished Du Plessis in their five-round bout and answered questions about his cardio along the way. His first title defense will be against a former champion, Strickland. If Chimaev can stay healthy and compete frequently, there is still plenty of time for him to rise to the very top of this list. -- Okamoto

6. Petr Yan

UFC bantamweight champion
Record: 20-5
Last: W (UD) vs. Merab Dvalishvili, Dec. 6, 2025
Next: TBA

What a return to the top it's been for Yan. He began his career with 15 consecutive wins before going on a 1-4 run from 2021 to 2023. That almost doesn't feel real now, after watching him reclaim his throne against Dvalishvili, who once handed him the worst loss of his career. Yan took a major detour, but this was the destination we felt he was capable of before the skid. He once again looks like one of the absolute best fighters on the planet. -- Okamoto

7. Merab Dvalishvili

UFC bantamweight
Record: 21-5
Last: L (UD) vs. Petr Yan, Dec. 6, 2025
Next: TBA

Dvalishvili was on one of the most impressive runs through the UFC's bantamweight division ever. Not only did he defeat Sean O'Malley for the second time in nine months at UFC 316, but he showcased a new part of his game, finishing O'Malley with a third-round guillotine. Starting in August 2022, Dvalishvili beat José Aldo, Yan, Henry Cejudo, O'Malley (twice), Umar Nurmagomedov and Cory Sandhagen. But at UFC 323, in an attempt to become the first champion in UFC history to successfully defend his title four times in a calendar year, Dvalishvili lost his title in a rematch with Yan. -- Okamoto

8. Alexander Volkanovski

UFC featherweight champion
Record: 28-4
Last: W (UD) vs. Diego Lopes, Jan. 31
Next: TBA

It felt as if the sport had started to write Volkanovski's eulogy following his knockout loss to Topuria in February 2024. Volkanovski noticed and made a point of proving to everyone he still has plenty left by recapturing the featherweight belt at UFC 314, the first of two consecutive wins over Lopes. His age (37) will likely continue to be a prefight topic, which is fine because Volkanovski enjoys proving people wrong. -- Okamoto

9. Alexandre Pantoja

UFC flyweight
Record: 30-6
Last: L (TKO1) vs. Joshua Van, Dec. 6, 2025
Next: TBA

Pantoja became the UFC's unquestioned flyweight king by racking up four title defenses, including two in pay-per-view main events in 2024. He built his winning streak to eight in his UFC 317 win over Kara-France, whom he had already defeated before, like other challengers. But he lost his belt in a gruesome way, injuring his elbow in the opening seconds of a UFC 323 fight with Van. -- Okamoto

10. Arman Tsarukyan

UFC lightweight
Record: 23-3
Last: W (Sub2) vs. Dan Hooker, Nov. 22, 2025
Next: TBA

Tsarukyan's status as a lightweight title contender is murky, but only in terms of what's official. In the eyes of basically every unbiased observer, Tsarukyan holds a claim as the best lightweight in the world, and it figures to only be a matter of time until he gets a chance to prove it. -- Okamoto

Other fighters receiving votes: Carlos Ulberg and Joshua Van.

How our panel voted

Brett Okamoto: 1. Islam Makhachev; 2. Ilia Topuria; 3. Petr Yan; 4. Merab Dvalishvili; 5. Alexander Volkanovski; 6. Tom Aspinall; 7. Alex Pereira; 8. Khamzat Chimaev; 9. Arman Tsarukyan; 10. Alexandre Pantoja.

Andreas Hale: 1. Makhachev; 2. Topuria; 3. Aspinall; 4. Pereira; 5. Chimaev; 6. Pantoja; 7. Yan; 8. Dvalishvili; 9. Volkanovski; 10. Tsarukyan.

Carlos Contreras Legaspi: 1. Topuria; 2. Makhachev; 3. Pereira; 4. Volkanovski; 5. Dvalishvili; 6. Chimaev; 7. Yan; 8. Pantoja; 9. Aspinall; 10. Joshua Van.

Andrew Davis: 1. Makhachev; 2. Topuria; 3. Chimaev; 4. Aspinall; 5. Pereira; 6. Yan; 7. Dvalishvili; 8. Pantoja; 9. Volkanovski; 10. Carlos Ulberg.

Jeff Wagenheim: 1. Makhachev; 2. Topuria; 3. Aspinall; 4. Chimaev; 5. Pereira; 6. Pantoja; 7. Yan; 8. Dvalishvili; 9. Volkanovski; 10. Tsarukyan.