MMA Divisional Rankings: Jack Della Maddalena explodes up the list, Julianna Pena exits due to inactivity

In the ever-shifting MMA landscape, ranking the world’s greatest fighters might seem like a fool’s errand, but that’s exactly what we’ve set out to do with the MMA Fighting Global Rankings. Here, our esteemed panel sorts out the movers and shakers from every division to provide you with the most definitive list of the best fighters on the planet.

With two UFC pay-per-views and all manner of craziness having taken place since our last January divisional update, it’s time to take a look at how things stand heading into UFC 300.

Updated pound-for-pound rankings can be found here.

Check out the complete March rankings below.

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Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images

Heavyweight

MMA Fighting

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 5 Curtis Blaydes def. No. 6 Jailton Almeida, Renan Ferreira def. No. 9 Ryan Bader, No. 4 LHW Vadim Nemkov def. Bruno Cappelozza (HW bout), No. 12 Anatoly Malykhin def. Reinier de Ridder (MW bout), No. 15 Jairzinho Rozenstruik def. Shamil Gaziev

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 8 Tai Tuivasa vs. No. 9 Marcin Tybura (UFC Vegas 88, March 16)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Linton Vassell (4), Ryan Bader (1), Alexandr Romanov (1), Waldo Cortes-Acosta (1)

Falling out of the rankings (previous ranking shown): No. 9 Ryan Bader

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Light Heavyweight

MMA Fighting

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 4 Vadim Nemkov def. Bruno Cappelozza (HW bout), No. 13 Anatoly Malykhin def. Reinier de Ridder (MW bout)

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 1 Alex Pereira vs. No. 4 Jamahal Hill (UFC 300, April 13), No. 2 Jiri Prochazka vs. Aleksandar Rakic (UFC 300, April 13), No. 5 Corey Anderson vs. Karl Moore (Bellator 302, March 22), No. 10 Phil Davis vs. Rob Wilkinson (PFL 2, April 12)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Azamat Murzakanov (2), Rob Wilkinson (2), Thiago Santos (1), Philipe Lins (1), Yoel Romero (1), Carlos Ulberg (1)

Falling out of the rankings (previous ranking shown): No. 4 Vadim Nemkov (moved to HW)

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Middleweight

MMA Fighting

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 4 Robert Whittaker def. No. 8 Paulo Costa, No. 5 Johnny Eblen def. Impa Kasanganay, No. 14 (tied) Nassourdine Imavov def. No. 12 Roman Dolidze, Anatoly Malykhin def. No. 13 Reinier de Ridder

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 7 Marvin Vettori vs. No. 9 Brendan Allen (UFC Vegas 90, April 6), No. 14 Fabian Edwards vs. Aaron Jeffery (Bellator 302, March 22)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Jack Hermansson (4), Impa Kasanganay (3), Michel Pereira (2), Reinier de Ridder (1), Caio Borralho (1), Paul Craig (1), Ikram Aliskerov (1), Kelvin Gastelum (1)

Falling out of the rankings (previous ranking shown): No. 13 Reinier de Ridder

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Welterweight

MMA Fighting

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 13 Jack Della Maddalena def. No. 5 Gilbert Burns, No. 6 Jason Jackson def. Ray Cooper III (catchweight bout), No. 7 Sean Brady def. No. 11 Vicente Luque, No. 12 Ian Machado Garry def. No. 9 Geoff Neal, No. 15 Michael Page def. Kevin Holland

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 13 Vicente Luque vs. Joaquin Buckley (UFC Atlantic City, March 30)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Magomed Magomedkerimov (3), Colby Covington (1), Andrey Koreshkov (1), Neil Magny (1), Rinat Fakhretdinov (1)

Falling out of the rankings (previous ranking shown): N/A

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Lightweight

MMA Fighting

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 5 (tied) Dustin Poirier def. No. 13 Benoit Saint Denis, No. 8 Mateusz Gamrot def. Rafael dos Anjos, No. 14 Renato Moicano def. Drew Dober, No. 15 A.J. McKee def. Clay Collard

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 3 Justin Gaethje vs. No. 3 FW Max Holloway (UFC 300, April 13), No. 2 Charles Oliveira vs. No. 4 Arman Tsarukyan (UFC 300, April 13), No. 12 Jalin Turner vs. No. 13 Renato Moicano (UFC 300, April 13)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Drew Dober (2), Alexander Shabliy (2), Drakkar Klose (2), Matt Frevola (1)

Falling out of the rankings (previous ranking shown): N/A

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Featherweight

MMA Fighting

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 3 (tied) Ilia Topuria def. No. 1 Alexander Volkanovski, Brian Ortega def. No. 4 Yair Rodriguez, No. 11 Aaron Pico def. Henry Corrales, No. 14 Dan Ige def. Andre Fili

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 3 LW Justin Gaethje vs. No. 3 Max Holloway (lightweight bout, UFC 300, April 13), No. 8 Patricio Pitbull vs. Jeremy Kennedy (Bellator 302, March 22), No. 10 Calvin Kattar vs. No. 4 BW Aljamain Sterling (UFC 300, April 13)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Lerone Murphy (3), Edson Barboza (2), Chihiro Suzuki (2), Adam Borics (1)

Falling out of the rankings (previous ranking shown): No. 15 Lerone Murphy

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Bantamweight

MMA Fighting

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 2 Sean O’Malley def. No. 9 Marlon Vera, No. 4 Merab Dvalishvili def. No. 7 Henry Cejudo, No. 6 Petr Yan def. No. 12 Song Yadong, No. 10 Umar Nurmagomedov def. Bekzat Almakhan

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 10 FW Calvin Kattar vs. No. 4 Aljamain Sterling (featherweight bout, UFC 300, April 13), No. 11 Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Cody Garbrandt (UFC 300, April 13)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Kai Asakura (4), Mario Bautista (2)

Falling out of the rankings (previous ranking shown): No. 15 Kai Asakura

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Flyweight

MMA Fighting

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 8 Brandon Royval def. No. 3 Brandon Moreno, No. 11 Muhammad Mokaev def. No. 12 Alex Perez

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: N/A

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Tagir Ulanbekov (2), Askar Akarov (2), Azamat Kerefov (1), Kairat Akhmetov (1), Hiromasa Ougikubo (1)

Falling out of the rankings (previous ranking shown): No. 15 Askar Askarov

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Women’s Bantamweight

MMA Fighting

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): N/A

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 4 Holly Holm vs. Kayla Harrison (UFC 300, April 13), No. 8 Pannie Kianzad vs. No. 9 Macy Chiasson (UFC Vegas 88, March 16), No. 12 Nora Cornolle vs. No. 13 Melissa Mullins (UFC Vegas 90, April 6)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Joselyne Edwards (2), Montserrat Rendon (2), Julia Avila (1), Serena DeJesus (1), Claire Guthrie (1), Olga Rubin (1), Taneisha Tennant (1), Darya Zheleznyakova (1), Josiane Nunes (1)

Falling out of the rankings (previous ranking shown): No. 4 Julianna Peña (inactivity)

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Women’s Flyweight

MMA Fighting

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 10 Maycee Barber def. No. 7 Katlyn Cerminara, No. 15 Natalia Silva def. No. 11 Viviane Araujo

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 3 Erin Blanchfield vs. Nov. 5 Manon Fiorot (UFC Atlantic City, March 30), No. 6 Liz Carmouche vs. No. 15 Juliana Velasquez (PFL 1, April 4), No. 13 Amanda Ribas vs. Rose Namajunas (UFC Vegas 89, March 23)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Karine Silva (4), Ariane Lipski (3)

Falling out of the rankings (previous ranking shown): N/A

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Strawweight

MMA Fighting

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 6 (tied) Amanda Lemos def. No. 8 Mackenzie Dern

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 1 Zhang Weili vs. No. 3 Yan Xiaonan (UFC 300, April 13), No. 5 (tied) Jessica Andrade vs. No. 8 Marina Rodriguez (UFC 300, April 13), No. 7 Virna Jandiroba vs. No. 11 Loopy Godinez (UFC Atlantic City, March 30)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Loma Lookboonmee (4), Emily Ducote (2), Michelle Waterson-Gomez (2), Xiong Jingnan (2), Luana Pinheiro (1)

Falling out of the rankings (previous ranking shown): No. 15 Xiong Jingnan

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A refresher on the ground rules:

• Our eight-person voting panel consists of MMA Fighting staffers Shaheen Al-Shatti, Alexander K. Lee, Guilherme Cruz, Mike Heck, E. Casey Leydon, Steven Marrocco, Damon Martin, and Jed Meshew.
• Fighters will be removed from the rankings if they do not compete within 18 months of their most recent bout. Updates to the rankings are typically completed following each month’s UFC pay-per-view.
• Should a fighter announce their retirement, our panel will decide whether that fighter should immediately be removed from the rankings or maintain their position until further notice. (Let’s put it this way: We’d have taken Khabib Nurmagomedov out of our rankings a lot quicker than the UFC did.)
• Holding a promotion’s title does not guarantee that fighter will be viewed as the best in their promotion. Additionally, fighters who regularly compete or hold titles in multiple weight classes are eligible to be ranked in multiple lists.

Thoughts? Questions? Concerns? Make your voice heard in the comments below.