MMA Pound-for-Pound Rankings: Is Alex Pereira a top-5 fighter after second UFC title win?

Welcome to the latest update to the MMA Fighting pound-for-pound rankings, where every month our esteemed panel sort through the noise to answer one question: Who are the best overall male and female MMA fighters in the world?

Heading into UFC 295, all we knew is that the stage was set at Madison Square Garden for two new champions to emerge. Those champions turned out to be Alex Pereira and Tom Aspinall, who rode their knockout power to wins over Jiri Prochazka and Sergei Pavlovich, respectively.

Saturday’s results guaranteed that MMA Fighting’s Pound-for-Pound rankings would be shaken up yet again, but just how high did Pereira and Aspinall go?

Alex Pereira has proven he can be MMA’s No. 1 middleweight. And now he’s No. 1 at light heavyweight. But does he have a case to be the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world?

The Brazilian’s record-setting pace to two-division champion status certainly puts him in the conversation, but in the end our panel stopped just shy of placing him the top 5, with votes having him as high as fifth and as low as 11th.

If you’re arguing in favor of Pereira being higher, you’d point to his stunning rise to the top of two divisions with less than a dozen pro MMA fights under his belt, as well as an absurd strength of schedule. Pereira’s UFC wins now include Prochazka, Jan Blachowicz, Israel Adesanya, and Sean Strickland, all former or current titleholders in or around their primes. And three of those names he put away inside the distance.

The argument against would point to Pereira’s thin body of work inside the octagon. As impressive as he’s been in the marquee matchups he’s earned, it looks a little strange to see his name higher than fighters with far more extensive records such as Demetrious Johnson, Aljamain Sterling, Max Holloway, Kamaru Usman, and even Adesanya. Let’s not forget that Adesanya actually knocked Pereira out cold in their most recent meeting and yet finds himself seven spots behind Pereira in our rankings. MMA is funny sometimes.

So for now, No. 6 sounds about right for Pereira, with only a lineup of some of the game’s most decorated fighters ahead of him. The fact that he’s even made it this far is a testament to his extraordinary abilities.

Just a few spots down is our new No. 1 heavyweight, UFC interim champion Tom Aspinall. The English star makes his pound-for-lound debut, and like Pereira, climbs over several established names all the way up to No. 11.

That may seem a tad high, but it’s hard not to be excited about a heavyweight who just slayed the boogeyman of his division, capped off a comeback from a devastating injury, and is a few months shy of his 31st birthday. If Aspinall is serious about being a fighting champion, the UFC heavyweight record of three straight title defenses is well within reach.

Much of that will depend on whether he’s given a chance to defend his interim title and if that interim status is eventually upgraded in the absence of undisputed champion Jon Jones. “Bones” and rival Stipe Miocic have insisted that they only plan to fight one another after their UFC 295 booking was postponed due to a Jones injury that could put him on the shelf until mid-2024.

Aspinall deserves the right to face one of those men if they’re able, but if those matchups never materialize, it’s the next generation of heavyweights that Aspinall will have to work through to continue to build his budding legacy.

Lastly, a refresher on some ground rules:

• The eight-person voting panel consists of MMA Fighting staffers Shaun Al-Shatti, Alexander K. Lee, Guilherme Cruz, Mike Heck, E. Casey Leydon, Steven Marrocco, Damon Martin and Jed Meshew.
• Updates to the rankings will be completed following every UFC pay-per-view. Fighters will be removed from the rankings if they do not compete within 18 months of their most recent bout.
• 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).

As a reminder, the notion of pound-for-pound supremacy is always going to inherently be subjective. When you’re debating whether someone like Kamaru Usman should be ranked above someone like Max Holloway, there is no true right answer. In other words: It’s not serious business, folks.

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