10. Alexandre Pantoja
Alexandre Pantoja will close out 2023 as the UFC men's flyweight champion. The Brazilian won the title with a split decision win over Mexican star Brandon Moreno at UFC 290 in July. That was his first fight of the year, but he managed to squeeze in one more before the calendar closed, defending his title with a lopsided decision defeat of Brandon Royval at UFC 296 earlier this month.
9. Sean O'Malley
Sean O'Malley only fought once in 2023, but his lone fight of the year saw him score a second-round knockout over Aljamain Sterling to become the UFC bantamweight champion. O'Malley will have another big opportunity to cement his place among the sport's top pound-for-pound fighters at UFC 299 in March when he attempts to defend his title and avenge the lone loss of his career against fan-favorite finisher Marlon "Chito" Vera.
8. Sean Strickland
You probably would have gotten laughed out of town for predicting such a thing back in January, but Sean Strickland will close out the year as the UFC middleweight champion. He won the title with a shocking decision defeat of the great Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 in September, and while there is cause to believe he simply caught the former champ on an off night, he'll have a chance to silence a lot of naysayers when he attempts to defend his title against Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297 in January.
7. Alex Pereira
Alex Pereira's year got off to a bit of a rough start, as he lost the UFC middleweight title to Israel Adesanya in an April rematch he had no obligation to accept. However, the Brazilian quickly looked to get back on track by moving up to light heavyweight, and that proved to be a great decision. In his first fight in the weight class, he defeated former champion Jan Blachowicz by decision. In his second, he claimed the division's vacant title with an impressive knockout of another former champ Jiri Prochazka. Just like that, he became a two-division MMA champ—just like he was in the kickboxing ring.
6. Charles Oliveira
Charles Oliveira suffered a tough loss at the end of 2022, surrendering the lightweight title to Islam Makhachev with a second-round submission loss. However, his first fight of the year saw him rebound in style with a first-round TKO over Beneil Dariush. That win set him up for a rematch with Makhachev, but his plans were derailed when he suffered an injury in training. He surely didn't intend to close out 2023 recovering from an injury, but his recent wins over the likes of Dariush, Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirier, and Michael Chandler suggest he's still the best lightweight other than the champ.
5. Israel Adesanya
Nigerian-born New Zealander Israel Adesanya kicked off the year with one of the most dramatic wins in modern combat sports history, reclaiming the UFC middleweight belt with a second-round knockout of Alex Pereira, who had beaten him three times between kickboxing and MMA competition. He then lost the title in his next fight, suffering a shocking decision loss to Sean Strickland, but that loss does not undo the fact that he is 8-3 in the 11 title fights he has somehow squeezed in since 2019.
4. Leon Edwards
Leon Edwards was behind the most dramatic upset of 2022, which saw him claim the welterweight title with a fifth-round head kick of Kamaru Usman. The Brit kicked off 2022 by proving that win was no fluke, defeating Usman by decision at UFC 286 in March. He then defended his title for a second time with a decision defeat of Colby Covington at UFC 296 earlier this month, although Covington looked like he had no business in the Octagon on the night.
3. Jon Jones
Jon Jones is probably the best MMA fighter of all time, but he lost his pound-for-pound crown after spending some three years on the sidelines following his 2020 win over Dominick Reyes, which marked his twelfth light heavyweight title defense. He finally returned to action in 2023, defeating Ciryl Gane by first-round submission in a fight for the vacant heavyweight belt. That win made him a two-division champion, but it was not enough to push him back onto the pound-for-pound throne. He'll need to get more active to make that happen.
2. Alexander Volkanovski
Australia's Alexander Volkanovski had quite a year. He kicked things off in February when, after four successful featherweight title defenses, he moved up to lightweight to challenge Islam Makhachev for a second title. Despite winning the fight in the eyes of many onlookers, Volkanovski came up short by decision. He then moved back down to featherweight, where he defended his belt with a third-round TKO of Yair Rodriguez, before accepting a short-notice rematch with Makhachev at UFC 294 in October. That fight ended in disaster for the Australian, as he suffered a first-round knockout loss, but he remains the UFC's featherweight champ, and considering the size disadvantage he was dealing with in his two fights against Makhachev, he is arguably still deserving of the top spot on this list. We'll see if he can reclaim his former perch when he takes on Ilia Topuria at UFC 298 in February.
1. Islam Makhachev
Russia's Islam Makhachev only fought one person in 2023. Ordinarily, that wouldn't be enough to push a fighter to pound-for-pound supremacy, but as we covered above, the person the lightweight champion fought was the featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski, and he fought him twice, winning both times. Volkanovski, for those with short memories, started the years as the UFC's pound-for-pound king. Combine those Makhachev's two wins over the Australian with his 2022 triumph over lightweight great Charles Oliveira and there's little denying he's the UFC's top dog right now.
