UFC featherweight rankings: Volkanovski defends against unbeaten Evloev with the top 15 unmoved

Alexander Volkanovski defends the UFC featherweight title against the unbeaten number one contender, Movsar Evloev, at UFC 333 on 24 October 2026. Nobody in the top 15 has moved since the last ranking, so the belt fight is also the whole story of the division right now.

UFC featherweight champion: Volkanovski at 38

Volkanovski is 28-4-0 and, at 38, the oldest fighter in the rankings. Evloev is 20-0-0 and 32, ranked number one. The champion has finished 57 per cent of his wins, the challenger 35 per cent, the lowest rate in the rankings. Finish rate here means the share of a fighter's wins that ended inside the distance.

That contrast is the fight: a champion who finishes a little more than half of his wins against an unbeaten challenger who finishes barely a third of his.

UFC featherweight rankings

Rank	Fighter	Record
Champion	Alexander Volkanovski	28-4-0
1	Movsar Evloev	20-0-0
2	Diego Lopes	28-8-0
3	Lerone Murphy	17-1-1
4	Aljamain Sterling	26-5-0
5	Jean Silva	18-3-0
6	Arnold Allen	21-4-0
7	Pat Sabatini	22-5-0
8	Pavel Andrusca	9-0-0
9	Youssef Zalal	18-6-1
10	Kevin Vallejos	18-1-0
11	Joanderson Brito	20-5-1
12	Melquizael Costa	26-8-0
13	Steve Garcia	19-6-0
14	Aaron Pico	14-5-0
15	Jamall Emmers	23-8-0

The list is international. Six of the ranked fighters are from the United States and three from Brazil: Silva, Brito and Melquizael Costa. The United Kingdom has Lerone Murphy and Arnold Allen, and Evloev is from Russia, Volkanovski from Australia, Andrusca from Moldova, Zalal from Morocco and Vallejos from Argentina.

Who finishes fights in the featherweight rankings

The finishers are spread through the list. Jean Silva, number five, has finished 89 per cent of his wins, Diego Lopes at number two 86 per cent, Joanderson Brito 85 per cent and Kevin Vallejos 83 per cent. Brito backed that up on 19 September at UFC 331, when he stopped Giga Chikadze with punches in round 1 after 1:57.

Silva added a submission of Jose Miguel Delgado in round 3 at Noche UFC on 12 September. At the other end sit the contenders who tend to go long: Lerone Murphy at 47 per cent, Aljamain Sterling at 42 per cent and Evloev at 35.

Two fighters are 24 years old. Pavel Andrusca is 9-0-0 at number eight, and Kevin Vallejos is 18-1-0 at number ten. Andrusca earned his place with a unanimous decision over Nathaniel Wood on 5 September.

The last 12 months at featherweight

The division fought 69 bouts in the last 12 months and 40 of them ended in a finish. The most recent ones fit that pattern: Andre Fili stopped Kai Kamaka III with a kick in round 2 after 0:22 on 10 October, and Marcus McGhee beat Anthony Romero with punches at 4:58 of round 1 at UFC 332. Sean King needed only 0:36 to finish Jessie Rosas with a slam at Noche UFC.

What is booked

The title fight leads UFC 333 on 24 October 2026. Further down that card, ranked number 14 Aaron Pico meets Losene Keita, who won by punch in round 1 at 2:54 on 5 September, and Bolaji Oki fights Daniel Santos.

Featherweight then stays busy: Francis Marshall faces Dakota Hope and Julian Erosa meets Lee Jeong-yeong on 31 October, and Murtazali Magomedov fights José Mauro Delano on 7 November. The next ranking will show what the title fight on 24 October changes at the top.