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New UFC champions hit pound-for-pound list after UFC 323, big winners crack rankings

Originally posted on MMA on SI | By Drew Beaupre | Last updated Dec 9, 2025 3:17 PM ET

A busy night of action at UFC 323 produced a number of notable changes to the UFC rankings, and several fighters broke into the Top 15 of their divisions.

The final PPV event of the ESPN era was loaded with major names and exciting fights, and two titles changed hands in the main and co-main events when Joshua Van won the flyweight belt from Alexandre Pantoja via injury TKO and Petr Yan reclaimed the bantamweight belt in his rematch with Merab Dvalishvili.

Several former champions were also in action on the UFC 323 main card, but Yan was the only one who managed to get his hand raised and return to the promotion’s pound-for-pound rankings in the process.

Pound-For-Pound Rankings Shift After UFC 323

Yan’s victory sees the now two-time bantamweight king rejoin the UFC pound-for-pound list at #6, while Dvalishvili dropped down five places to #8.

Pantoja remains above Van in the pound-for-pound rankings following the gruesome result of their fight, but he did fall four places down to the #9 spot. Meanwhile, the 24-year-old Van broke into the rankings for the first time and sits at #11, ahead of former UFC titleholders Dricus du Plessis, Magomed Ankalaev, Jack Della Maddalena, and top-ranked lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan.

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All four of those fighters fell in the pound-for-pound rankings after UFC 323, but UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall moved up one spot to #7. Fellow UFC titleholders Alex Pereira and Alexander Volkanovski also jumped up two places each to to fill out the final two spaces of the Top 5, while middleweight king Khamzat Chimaev is now ranked at #3 after moving up one spot.

New UFC Fighters Break Into Divisional Top 15

Outside of the pound-for-pound list and now-former Champions Pantoja and Dvalishvili dropping down to #1 contender status at flyweight and bantamweight, two-time flyweight titleholder Brandon Moreno dropped from #2 to #4 following a controversial loss to Tatsuro Taira.

Taira is now ranked at #3 and could be next in line to challenge for the flyweight belt, depending on the recovery timeline for Pantoja’s injured arm. There was also some major movement in the lightweight Top 15 after UFC 323, as Manuel Torres debuts at #13 after upsetting Grant Dawson and Fares Ziam finally joins the rankings following his sixth-straight win.

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Maycee Barber did not move up in the women’s flyweight rankings for defeating Karine Silva but did join the women’s pound-for-pound list at #15, and Payton Talbott also cracked the bantamweight Top 15 and debuts at #12 after sending former two-division UFC titleholder Henry Cejudo into retirement.

This article first appeared on MMA on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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