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UFC Card Placement Rankings: Who the UFC Books Highest

Published: June 24, 2026 · Good Fights

Longtime MMA analyst Chael Sonnen gives young fighters the same advice: ignore the rankings, mind your placement on the card. Fighting high on the card means more media coverage and more fan attention, and attention is opportunity. The promotion books its biggest draws last, so where you sit on the poster is the clearest read on how the UFC values you. So, for fans and fighters alike, here are the UFC placement on the card rankings.

Each fighter's number is their average card placement across their last three fights. A 1.0 means they main-evented all three. A 2.0 means co-main, and higher numbers sit further down the card, so lower is better. When fighters are tied, whoever fought most recently ranks higher.

There is one wrinkle worth fixing. A main event is a main event, but headlining a numbered pay-per-view is a bigger deal than headlining a Saturday Fight Night, and mixing the two on one list pushes Fight Night main-eventers above pay-per-view co-mains. So the boards are split in two: pay-per-view fighters and Fight Night fighters, with each fighter sorted into whichever card type they have fought most over their last three bouts. The pay-per-view list is the A-side of the roster, the names the promotion saves for its biggest shows. The Fight Night list is everyone the UFC builds on its weekly cards.

Only currently active fighters are listed, meaning at least two bouts in the last two years.

Pound-for-pound: pay-per-view fighters

The fighters the UFC books highest on its numbered pay-per-views, across every division:

  1. Ilia Topuria (Lightweight): 1
  2. Sean Strickland (Middleweight): 1
  3. Jack Della Maddalena (Welterweight): 1
  4. Charles Oliveira (Lightweight): 1
  5. Max Holloway (Lightweight): 1
  6. Alexander Volkanovski † (Featherweight): 1
  7. Islam Makhachev (Welterweight): 1
  8. Dricus Du Plessis (Middleweight): 1
  9. Justin Gaethje (Lightweight): 1.3
  10. Alex Pereira (Heavyweight): 1.3
  11. Khamzat Chimaev (Middleweight): 1.3
  12. Merab Dvalishvili † (Bantamweight): 1.3
  13. Alexandre Pantoja † (Flyweight): 1.7
  14. Tom Aspinall † (Heavyweight): 1.7
  15. Khalil Rountree Jr. (Light Heavyweight): 1.7
  16. Magomed Ankalaev (Light Heavyweight): 1.7
  17. Kai Kara-France † (Flyweight): 1.7
  18. Jamahal Hill † (Light Heavyweight): 1.7
  19. Sean O'Malley (Bantamweight): 2
  20. Tatsuro Taira (Flyweight): 2

A few notes on the A-side:

  • Eight fighters average a perfect 1.0, having main-evented each of their last three pay-per-views. They are separated only by recency, so Ilia Topuria, out most recently, leads.
  • This list is dominated by champions and former champions in the big-money divisions. The lighter weight classes barely appear, because flyweight and bantamweight rarely headline a pay-per-view.

Pound-for-pound: Fight Night fighters

The same measure for the fighters the UFC features on its weekly Fight Night cards:

  1. Manel Kape (Flyweight): 1
  2. Gilbert Burns (Welterweight): 1
  3. Israel Adesanya (Middleweight): 1
  4. Gabriel Bonfim (Welterweight): 1.3
  5. Belal Muhammad (Welterweight): 1.3
  6. Song Yadong (Bantamweight): 1.3
  7. Carlos Ulberg (Light Heavyweight): 1.3
  8. Lerone Murphy (Featherweight): 1.3
  9. Caio Borralho (Middleweight): 1.3
  10. Anthony Hernandez (Middleweight): 1.3
  11. Amir Albazi † (Flyweight): 1.3
  12. Petr Yan † (Bantamweight): 1.3
  13. Mackenzie Dern (Women’s Strawweight): 1.3
  14. Reinier De Ridder † (Middleweight): 1.3
  15. Cory Sandhagen (Bantamweight): 1.3
  16. Nassourdine Imavov † (Middleweight): 1.3
  17. Robert Whittaker (Light Heavyweight): 1.3
  18. Zhang Mingyang (Light Heavyweight): 1.7
  19. Brandon Moreno (Flyweight): 1.7
  20. Brandon Royval (Flyweight): 1.7

The Fight Night list tells a different story:

  • Manel Kape tops it at a perfect 1.0. He has main-evented three straight Fight Nights without ever headlining a pay-per-view, the clearest example of a fighter the UFC trusts to carry a free show but not yet a paid one.
  • Splitting the lists also puts the champions back on top of their own divisions. On a combined board, Kape's 1.0 sat above flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja; separated out, Pantoja leads the pay-per-view flyweights where he belongs.
  • Some big names land here by circumstance. Israel Adesanya, a former champion, shows up on the Fight Night side because his recent bouts happened to fall on those cards, and Belal Muhammad and Cory Sandhagen are contenders the promotion has been routing through Fight Nights.

The divisions

Each division is split the same way, pay-per-view fighters first, then Fight Night fighters. The number is average card placement, so lower is higher up the card. A dagger (†) means the fighter's division was inferred from their recent opponents, because their own weight-class field was blank in the data.

Heavyweight

Pay-per-view (11)

  1. Alex Pereira: 1.3
  2. Tom Aspinall †: 1.7
  3. Curtis Blaydes: 2.7
  4. Alexander Volkov: 3.3
  5. Jailton Almeida †: 3.7
  6. Sergey Spivak †: 4.3
  7. Aleksandar Rakic: 4.7
  8. Josh Hokit: 5.7
  9. Chris Barnett †: 10
  10. Denzel Freeman †: 12
  11. Lukasz Brzeski †: 13

Fight Night (28)

  1. Ciryl Gane: 2
  2. Derrick Lewis: 2.7
  3. Tallison Teixeira: 2.7
  4. Jairzinho Rozenstruik †: 2.7
  5. Sergei Pavlovich: 3
  6. Rizvan Kuniev: 3
  7. Waldo Cortes-Acosta †: 3.3
  8. Ante Delija: 4.7
  9. Tai Tuivasa: 5.3
  10. Shamil Gaziev: 5.7
  11. Vitor Petrino: 7
  12. Sean Sharaf: 7.7
  13. Jhonata Diniz: 8
  14. Mario Pinto: 8
  15. Marcus Buchecha: 8.3
  16. Steven Asplund: 8.5
  17. Marcin Tybura: 8.7
  18. Thomas Peterson: 8.7
  19. Brando Pericic: 9
  20. Louie Sutherland: 9
  21. Ryan Spann: 9
  22. Valter Walker: 9.3
  23. Kennedy Nzechukwu †: 9.7
  24. Don'tale Mayes †: 10.3
  25. Guilherme Pat: 10.5
  26. Mick Parkin: 11
  27. Martin Buday: 11.3
  28. Mohammed Usman †: 12

Light Heavyweight

Pay-per-view (12)

  1. Khalil Rountree Jr.: 1.7
  2. Magomed Ankalaev: 1.7
  3. Jamahal Hill †: 1.7
  4. Paulo Costa: 2
  5. Jiri Prochazka: 2.3
  6. Dominick Reyes: 3.3
  7. Jan Blachowicz: 4.3
  8. Azamat Murzakanov: 4.7
  9. Bogdan Guskov: 5.3
  10. Jim Crute †: 5.7
  11. Nikita Krylov: 6
  12. Marcin Prachnio †: 10.7

Fight Night (28)

  1. Carlos Ulberg: 1.3
  2. Robert Whittaker: 1.3
  3. Zhang Mingyang: 1.7
  4. Johnny Walker: 3.3
  5. Alonzo Menifield: 3.7
  6. Anthony Smith †: 3.7
  7. Dustin Jacoby: 4.3
  8. Volkan Oezdemir †: 4.3
  9. Ion Cutelaba: 5
  10. Austen Lane: 5
  11. Iwo Baraniewski: 5.3
  12. Modestas Bukauskas: 5.3
  13. Brendson Ribeiro: 5.7
  14. Oumar Sy: 6
  15. Julius Walker: 6
  16. Billy Elekana: 6.3
  17. Navajo Stirling: 6.7
  18. Ivan Erslan: 6.7
  19. Junior Tafa: 7
  20. Tuco Tokkos: 7
  21. Kevin Christian: 8
  22. Rodolfo Bellato: 8.3
  23. Raffael Cerqueira †: 8.3
  24. Bruno Lopes: 9
  25. Ibo Aslan †: 9.3
  26. Diyar Nurgozhay: 10
  27. Magomed Gadzhiyasulov †: 11
  28. Uran Satybaldiev: 11.5

Middleweight

Pay-per-view (21)

  1. Sean Strickland: 1
  2. Dricus Du Plessis: 1
  3. Khamzat Chimaev: 1.3
  4. Joe Pyfer: 3
  5. Ozzy Diaz: 6
  6. Kelvin Gastelum: 6
  7. Marvin Vettori: 6
  8. Armen Petrosyan †: 6
  9. Vicente Luque: 6.3
  10. Gregory Rodrigues: 6.3
  11. Roman Kopylov: 6.7
  12. Torrez Finney †: 7
  13. Cameron Rowston †: 7
  14. Abusupiyan Magomedov †: 7
  15. Ateba Abega Gautier †: 7.3
  16. Donte Johnson: 8.3
  17. Gerald Meerschaert: 9
  18. Cody Brundage: 9.3
  19. Marco Tulio: 9.3
  20. Brunno Ferreira: 9.7
  21. Baisangur Susurkaev: 13

Fight Night (51)

  1. Israel Adesanya: 1
  2. Caio Borralho: 1.3
  3. Anthony Hernandez: 1.3
  4. Reinier De Ridder †: 1.3
  5. Nassourdine Imavov †: 1.3
  6. Jared Cannonier: 2
  7. Roman Dolidze: 2.3
  8. Cesar Almeida: 3
  9. Brendan Allen: 3.3
  10. Sharabutdin Magomedov †: 3.3
  11. Jack Hermansson †: 3.7
  12. Dustin Stoltzfus †: 4
  13. Abdul Razak Alhassan †: 4
  14. Paul Craig †: 4.3
  15. Bo Nickal: 4.7
  16. Ikram Aliskerov: 4.7
  17. Edmen Shahbazyan: 5.3
  18. Christian Leroy Duncan: 5.3
  19. Michal Oleksiejczuk: 5.3
  20. Nursulton Ruziboev: 5.3
  21. Marc-Andre Barriault: 5.7
  22. Jun Yong Park †: 5.7
  23. Michel Pereira: 6.3
  24. Dusko Todorovic: 6.7
  25. Andre Muniz †: 6.7
  26. Jose Daniel Medina: 7
  27. Robert Bryczek: 7.3
  28. Robert Valentin: 7.3
  29. Andre Petroski: 7.7
  30. Rodolfo Vieira: 7.7
  31. Mansur Abdul-Malik: 7.7
  32. Ryan Loder †: 7.7
  33. Zachary Reese: 8
  34. Kyle Daukaus: 8.3
  35. Zach Reese: 8.3
  36. Dylan Budka †: 8.3
  37. Ihor Potieria †: 8.3
  38. Yousri Belgaroui: 8.5
  39. Nick Klein †: 8.5
  40. Brad Tavares: 8.7
  41. Andrey Pulyaev: 8.7
  42. Eryk Anders: 9
  43. Sedriques Dumas: 10
  44. Jacob Malkoun: 10.3
  45. Ismail Naurdiev: 10.7
  46. Antonio Trocoli: 11
  47. Eric McConico: 11.3
  48. Azamat Bekoev: 11.3
  49. Tresean Gore: 11.3
  50. Jackson McVey: 11.7
  51. Wes Schultz: 13

Welterweight

Pay-per-view (15)

  1. Jack Della Maddalena: 1
  2. Islam Makhachev: 1
  3. Leon Edwards †: 2
  4. Sean Brady: 2.7
  5. Carlos Prates: 2.7
  6. Stephen Thompson †: 3.7
  7. Kevin Holland: 4
  8. Geoff Neal: 4
  9. Yaroslav Amosov: 8
  10. Francisco Prado: 8.3
  11. Oban Elliott: 9
  12. Adam Fugitt †: 9
  13. Charles Radtke: 10
  14. Jonathan Micallef: 11
  15. Austin Vanderford †: 11.5

Fight Night (47)

  1. Gilbert Burns: 1
  2. Gabriel Bonfim: 1.3
  3. Belal Muhammad: 1.3
  4. Ian Garry †: 1.7
  5. Joaquin Buckley: 2
  6. Santiagio Ponzinibbio †: 2.3
  7. Carlston Harris: 3
  8. Mike Malott: 3
  9. Michael Page: 3
  10. Michael Morales †: 3
  11. Daniel Rodriguez: 3.7
  12. Randy Brown: 4.3
  13. Jake Matthews: 4.7
  14. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos †: 4.7
  15. Muslim Salikhov: 5
  16. Uros Medic: 5
  17. Chidi Njokuani: 5.7
  18. Neil Magny †: 5.7
  19. Sam Patterson: 6
  20. Chris Curtis: 6
  21. Danny Barlow †: 6
  22. Ange Loosa †: 6
  23. Joel Alvarez: 6.3
  24. Charlie Radtke †: 6.3
  25. Nicolas Dalby: 6.7
  26. Alex Morono †: 6.7
  27. Jeremiah Wells: 7
  28. Niko Price: 7
  29. Kevin Jousset †: 7
  30. Carlos Leal: 7.3
  31. Themba Gorimbo: 7.7
  32. Michael Chiesa: 7.7
  33. Khaos Williams: 8.3
  34. Nikolay Veretennikov: 8.3
  35. Jacobe Smith: 8.3
  36. Jose Souza: 8.5
  37. Kiefer Crosbie †: 8.5
  38. Ramiz Brahimaj: 8.7
  39. Court McGee †: 8.7
  40. Preston Parsons †: 8.7
  41. Punahele Soriano: 9
  42. Ko Seok-hyun †: 9.5
  43. Daniil Donchenko: 10.5
  44. Andreas Gustafsson: 10.5
  45. Philip Rowe †: 11
  46. Rinat Fakhretdinov †: 11
  47. Max Griffin: 11.3

Lightweight

Pay-per-view (29)

  1. Ilia Topuria: 1
  2. Charles Oliveira: 1
  3. Max Holloway: 1
  4. Justin Gaethje: 1.3
  5. Dan Hooker †: 2
  6. Paddy Pimblett: 2
  7. Rafael Fiziev: 2.3
  8. Renato Moicano: 2.7
  9. Brian Ortega: 2.7
  10. Michael Chandler: 3
  11. Benoit St. Denis †: 3
  12. Beneil Dariush: 3.7
  13. King Green: 4
  14. Daniel Zellhuber: 4
  15. Quillan Salkilld: 4.3
  16. Bobby Green †: 4.7
  17. Michael Johnson: 5.7
  18. Mateusz Rebecki: 6.3
  19. Terrance McKinney: 7.3
  20. Edson Barboza: 7.3
  21. Jamie Mullarkey †: 7.7
  22. Grant Dawson: 8
  23. Jalin Turner †: 8
  24. Jim Miller: 8.3
  25. Chase Hooper: 8.3
  26. Mairon Santos †: 8.3
  27. Matheus Camilo: 9
  28. Drakkar Klose †: 9
  29. Viacheslav Borshchev †: 9.7

Fight Night (50)

  1. Mauricio Ruffy: 3.3
  2. Mateusz Gamrot: 3.3
  3. Chris Duncan: 3.3
  4. Ignacio Bahamondes: 4
  5. Kurt Holobaugh †: 4.3
  6. Jeremy Stephens: 4.7
  7. Esteban Ribovics: 4.7
  8. Tofiq Musayev: 4.7
  9. Drew Dober: 4.7
  10. Tom Nolan: 5
  11. Kyle Nelson: 5
  12. Nasrat Haqparast †: 5
  13. Manuel Torres: 5
  14. Myktybek Orolbai Uulu †: 5.3
  15. Matt Frevola †: 5.3
  16. Fares Ziam: 5.7
  17. Rafa Garcia: 5.7
  18. Mason Jones: 5.7
  19. Elves Brenner †: 5.7
  20. Alexander Hernandez: 6
  21. Axel Sola: 6
  22. Nazim Sadykhov: 6
  23. Ludovit Klein: 6
  24. Carlos Diego Ferreira †: 6
  25. Jared Gordon: 6.3
  26. Gauge Young: 6.3
  27. Rhys McKee †: 6.3
  28. Thiago Moises: 6.7
  29. Ismael Bonfim: 6.7
  30. Chris Padilla: 7
  31. Jai Herbert: 7.3
  32. Bolaji Oki: 7.3
  33. Jordan Vucenic †: 7.5
  34. Mike Davis †: 7.7
  35. Timothy Cuamba †: 8
  36. Kyle Prepolec †: 8
  37. Rong Zhu †: 8
  38. Trey Ogden: 9.3
  39. Austin Hubbard †: 9.3
  40. Nikolas Motta †: 9.3
  41. Darrius Flowers: 9.7
  42. Tommy Gantt: 10
  43. Rolando Bedoya †: 10
  44. Yanal Ashmoz †: 10
  45. Evan Elder †: 10
  46. Hayisaer Maheshate †: 10.7
  47. Guram Kutateladze †: 11
  48. Kody Steele: 12
  49. Francis Marshall: 12
  50. Dom Mar Fan: 12.5

Featherweight

Pay-per-view (13)

  1. Alexander Volkanovski †: 1
  2. Jean Silva †: 3.3
  3. Josh Emmet †: 3.3
  4. Arnold Allen: 3.7
  5. Aaron Pico: 4
  6. Patricio Pitbull: 4.3
  7. Dan Ige: 4.3
  8. Cub Swanson: 4.7
  9. Daniel Santos: 6.7
  10. Jose Miguel Delgado: 6.7
  11. Ricky Turcios: 8.3
  12. Yoo Joo-sang †: 9
  13. Gaston Bolanos: 13

Fight Night (51)

  1. Lerone Murphy: 1.3
  2. Youssef Zalal: 2.3
  3. Giga Chikadze: 2.7
  4. Melquizael Costa: 2.7
  5. Diego Lopes: 3
  6. Kevin Vallejos: 3
  7. Cortavious Romious †: 3
  8. Vinicius Oliveira: 3.3
  9. Steve Garcia: 3.7
  10. Aljamain Sterling: 3.7
  11. Marwan Rahiki: 4
  12. David Onama †: 4
  13. Calvin Kattar †: 4
  14. Andre Fili: 4.3
  15. Luke Riley: 4.5
  16. Nate Landwehr: 4.7
  17. Movsar Evloev: 4.7
  18. Morgan Charriere †: 4.7
  19. Christian Rodriguez: 5
  20. Isaac Dulgarian †: 5
  21. Melsik Baghdasaryan: 5.3
  22. Hyder Amil: 5.3
  23. Julian Erosa: 5.7
  24. Lucas Almeida †: 5.7
  25. Ricardo Ramos †: 6.3
  26. Gabriel Santos †: 6.3
  27. Harry Hardwick: 6.5
  28. Danny Silva: 6.7
  29. Patrick Sabatini †: 6.7
  30. Austin Bashi †: 6.7
  31. Darren Elkins †: 6.7
  32. Sean Woodson †: 6.7
  33. Robert Ruchala: 7
  34. Kaan Ofli: 7
  35. Seung Woo Choi †: 7
  36. William Gomis: 7.3
  37. Joanderson Brito: 7.7
  38. Dennis Buzukja: 7.7
  39. Bogdan Grad: 7.7
  40. Nathaniel Wood: 8
  41. Jamall Emmers †: 8
  42. Connor Matthews †: 8
  43. Michael Aswell: 8.3
  44. Muhammad Naimov †: 8.7
  45. Lee Jeong-yeong †: 9
  46. Yi Zha †: 9.7
  47. Kaue Fernandes †: 10
  48. Marcio Barbosa: 11
  49. Jordan Leavitt: 11.3
  50. Ramon Taveras: 11.3
  51. Zhu Kangjie: 14.7

Bantamweight

Pay-per-view (10)

  1. Merab Dvalishvili †: 1.3
  2. Sean O'Malley: 2
  3. Mario Bautista: 2.7
  4. Jose Aldo †: 2.7
  5. Henry Cejudo †: 3
  6. Umar Nurmagomedov: 3.7
  7. Payton Talbott †: 5
  8. Raul Rosas Jr.: 5.7
  9. Patchy Mix †: 6
  10. Cody Garbrandt: 8

Fight Night (59)

  1. Song Yadong: 1.3
  2. Petr Yan †: 1.3
  3. Cory Sandhagen: 1.3
  4. Rob Font: 2.7
  5. Marlon Vera: 2.7
  6. Aiemann Zahabi: 3
  7. Deiveson Figueiredo: 3
  8. David Martinez: 3
  9. Kai Asakura: 3.3
  10. Kyler Phillips: 3.3
  11. Montel Jackson: 4.3
  12. Jean Matsumoto: 4.3
  13. Bryce Mitchell: 4.7
  14. Davey Grant: 5
  15. Charles Jourdain: 5
  16. Said Nurmagomedov †: 5
  17. Santiago Luna: 5.3
  18. Raoni Barcelos: 6
  19. Cameron Smotherman: 6.7
  20. Daniel Marcos †: 6.7
  21. Malcolm Wellmaker: 7
  22. Victor Henry: 7.3
  23. Marcus McGhee: 7.3
  24. Adrian Yanez: 7.3
  25. Lee Chang-ho †: 7.3
  26. Toshiomi Kazama †: 7.3
  27. Da'Mon Blackshear †: 7.3
  28. Rafael Estevam: 8
  29. Vince Morales: 8.3
  30. Chris Gutierrez †: 8.3
  31. Ethyn Ewing: 8.7
  32. Miles Johns †: 8.7
  33. You Su-young †: 8.7
  34. Elijah Smith: 9
  35. Javid Basharat †: 9
  36. Bekzat Almakhan: 9
  37. Josias Musasa: 9
  38. Rei Tsuruya: 9.3
  39. Quang Le †: 9.3
  40. Brad Katona †: 9.3
  41. Farid Basharat: 9.7
  42. Colby Thicknesse: 9.7
  43. Jakub Wiklacz: 10
  44. Cody Durden: 10
  45. Xiao Long: 10
  46. Aleksandre Topuria †: 10
  47. Jesus Santos-Aguilar †: 10
  48. Ricky Simon: 10.3
  49. Kris Moutinho: 10.3
  50. Cody Haddon: 10.5
  51. Muin Gafurov †: 10.7
  52. Qileng Aori †: 10.7
  53. Saimon Oliveira †: 10.7
  54. John Castaneda: 11
  55. John Yannis: 11.3
  56. Caolan Loughran †: 11.3
  57. Jesus Aguilar: 11.5
  58. Luis Gurule: 11.7
  59. Luan Lacerda: 12.3

Flyweight

Pay-per-view (6)

  1. Alexandre Pantoja †: 1.7
  2. Kai Kara-France †: 1.7
  3. Tatsuro Taira: 2
  4. Joshua Van: 2.3
  5. Nyamjargal Tumendemberel: 10.5
  6. Clayton Carpenter: 11.3

Fight Night (42)

  1. Manel Kape: 1
  2. Amir Albazi †: 1.3
  3. Brandon Moreno: 1.7
  4. Brandon Royval: 1.7
  5. Steve Erceg: 2
  6. Kyoji Horiguchi: 3
  7. Tim Elliott: 4
  8. Ode Osbourne: 4
  9. Asu Almabayev: 4.7
  10. Kevin Borjas: 5.3
  11. Ronaldo Rodriguez †: 5.5
  12. Matt Schnell: 6
  13. Bruno Gustavo da Silva †: 6
  14. Su Mudaerji †: 6
  15. Edgar Chairez: 6.3
  16. Jose Johnson †: 6.3
  17. Imanol Rodriguez: 6.5
  18. Park Hyun-sung †: 6.7
  19. Charles Johnson: 7.3
  20. Felipe Bunes: 7.3
  21. CJ Vergara †: 7.3
  22. Ramazan Temirov: 8
  23. Andre Lima: 8.3
  24. Alex Perez: 8.3
  25. Joseph Morales †: 8.3
  26. Allan Nascimento: 8.7
  27. Lone'er Kavanagh †: 8.7
  28. Bruno Silva: 9.3
  29. Jose Ochoa: 9.3
  30. Felipe dos Santos †: 9.3
  31. Sumudaerji: 9.5
  32. Jafel Filho: 10
  33. Alibi Idiris: 10
  34. Tagir Ulanbekov †: 10
  35. Alessandro Costa: 10.3
  36. Azat Maksum †: 10.3
  37. Alden Coria: 10.5
  38. Mitch Raposo: 10.7
  39. Lucas Rocha: 10.7
  40. Carlos Hernandez †: 10.7
  41. Stewart Nicoll: 11
  42. Daniel Barez: 12.7

Women’s Bantamweight

Pay-per-view (1)

  1. Kayla Harrison †: 4.7

Fight Night (24)

  1. Norma Dumont: 6.3
  2. Joselyne Edwards: 7.3
  3. Macy Chiasson: 7.7
  4. Yana Kunitskaya †: 7.7
  5. Ketlen Vieira: 8.7
  6. Nora Cornolle: 9
  7. Tainara Lisboa †: 9
  8. Karol Rosa: 9.3
  9. Mayra Bueno Silva: 9.7
  10. Ailin Perez: 9.7
  11. Bia Mesquita: 10
  12. Daria Zheleznyakova †: 10
  13. Josiane Nunes †: 10
  14. Luana Santos: 10.3
  15. Melissa Mullins: 10.7
  16. Chelsea Chandler: 10.7
  17. Jacqueline Cavalcanti: 10.7
  18. Michelle Montague: 11
  19. Melissa Croden: 11
  20. Klaudia Sygula †: 11.3
  21. Priscila Cachoeira: 11.7
  22. Luana Carolina: 11.7
  23. Hailey Cowan: 12.3
  24. Alice Pereira: 13

Women’s Flyweight

Pay-per-view (9)

  1. Valentina Shevchenko †: 2
  2. Alexa Grasso: 2.7
  3. Natalia Silva †: 3.3
  4. Viviane Araujo †: 5.3
  5. Maycee Barber: 5.7
  6. Tracy Cortez: 5.7
  7. Jessica Andrade †: 5.7
  8. Karine Silva: 7.7
  9. Veronica Macedo †: 12.7

Fight Night (13)

  1. Manon Fiorot †: 2.3
  2. Rose Namajunas †: 2.7
  3. Erin Blanchfield: 3.7
  4. Jasmine Jasudavicius: 5
  5. Miranda Maverick †: 7
  6. Gabriella Fernandes: 8.7
  7. JJ Aldrich: 10.7
  8. Dione Barbosa: 11
  9. Ernesta Kareckaite: 11
  10. Jamey-Lyn Horth: 12
  11. Juliana Miller: 13
  12. Carli Judice: 13.7
  13. Yuneisy Duben: 14

Women’s Strawweight

Pay-per-view (7)

  1. Zhang Weili †: 2
  2. Virna Jandiroba: 3.7
  3. Yan Xiaonan †: 3.7
  4. Iasmin Lucindo †: 4.7
  5. Tatiana Suarez: 6.7
  6. Marina Rodriguez †: 9
  7. Cong Wang †: 9.7

Fight Night (33)

  1. Mackenzie Dern: 1.3
  2. Amanda Ribas: 3.7
  3. Tabatha Ricci: 4.3
  4. Gillian Robertson: 5
  5. Amanda Lemos: 5
  6. Molly McCann †: 6
  7. Luana Pinheiro †: 6.7
  8. Lupita Godinez †: 7.3
  9. Karolina Kowalkiewicz †: 8
  10. Elise Reed †: 8
  11. Denise Gomes †: 8.3
  12. Angela Hill: 9.3
  13. Alexia Thainara: 10.3
  14. Bruna Brasil: 10.7
  15. Ravena Oliveira: 10.7
  16. Tecia Torres †: 10.7
  17. Alice Ardelean: 11.3
  18. Stephanie Luciano: 11.3
  19. Melissa Martinez †: 11.3
  20. Polyana Viana: 11.7
  21. Vanessa Demopoulos †: 11.7
  22. Julia Polastri: 12
  23. Victoria Dudakova †: 12
  24. Ketlen Souza: 12.3
  25. Loma Lookboonmee: 12.3
  26. Sam Hughes: 12.3
  27. Fatima Kline: 12.3
  28. Ariane Carnelossi: 13
  29. Piera Rodriguez: 13
  30. Shauna Bannon: 13.3
  31. Jaqueline Amorim: 13.7
  32. Nicolle Caliari: 13.7
  33. Talita Alencar: 13.7

All-time: who has lived at the top of the card

Because the data runs back to 1993, the same idea can be applied across whole careers. Counting career UFC main events:

  1. Anderson Silva: 18 (14 on pay-per-view)
  2. Jon Jones: 17, and every one of them was a numbered pay-per-view, the most in UFC history
  3. Israel Adesanya and Max Holloway: 15 each
  4. Stipe Miocic: 13
  5. Derrick Lewis and Dustin Poirier: 13 each

Ranked instead by career average card placement (minimum 12 UFC fights), the fighters the promotion almost never asked to open a show:

  1. Daniel Cormier: 1.5
  2. Chan Sung Jung (the Korean Zombie): 1.6
  3. Israel Adesanya: 1.7
  4. Justin Gaethje: 1.7
  5. Alex Pereira: 1.8
  6. Holly Holm: 2.0
  7. Mark Hunt: 2.0
  8. Jose Aldo: 2.0
  9. Conor McGregor: 2.3

The name to sit with is the Korean Zombie at 1.6. He never won a UFC title, and he headlined 10 of his 12 UFC fights, because he was box office every time out. Placement does not require a belt.

Conor McGregor lands lower on this list than his fame suggests, at 2.3, and that is the average doing its job. He debuted on the preliminary card in 2013 and fought twice more off the marquee before he started headlining everything. His main events all count as a 1.0; the early climb is what pulls the number up. Measure only his title years and he is a 1.0. The career number includes the road there.

You can watch a career rise and fall

Comparing the first third of a career to the last third traces the arc, the climb up the card and the slide back down, with no results attached.

The steepest climbs, prospect to headliner:

  • Colby Covington: 9.0 to 1.0
  • Islam Makhachev: 8.0 to 1.0
  • Khabib Nurmagomedov: 7.5 to 1.0
  • Cory Sandhagen: 8.4 to 1.2
  • Merab Dvalishvili: 9.0 to 1.4

The steepest slides, the hard part of the sport:

  • Keith Jardine: 2.3 to 8.8
  • Sean Sherk: 2.8 to 8.0
  • Karolina Kowalkiewicz: 3.2 to 8.2
  • Renan Barao, a dominant champion, from 3.2 to 7.4

A snapshot from 2020

Because every fight is dated, the board can be rebuilt for any past date. Run it for the summer of 2020 and the most-featured fighters come back as Daniel Cormier, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Robert Whittaker, Dustin Poirier, Alexander Gustafsson, Alistair Overeem, the Korean Zombie, and Junior dos Santos, with Kamaru Usman and Max Holloway just behind. The marquee of that era, recovered from placement alone. Division labels get unreliable the further back the data goes, so older snapshots read best as one overall most-featured list rather than a board split by weight class.

Where placement and the official rankings disagree

Most of the time placement and the UFC's official rankings line up. Where they split is the interesting part.

Booked higher than they are ranked: Israel Adesanya, officially the #9 middleweight, is still booked like a top-five name. Derrick Lewis, the #11 heavyweight, is featured like a #5, because a knockout artist sells win or lose. And Miesha Tate, a former bantamweight champion ranked #15, still gets placed near the top of cards on her name alone.

Ranked higher than they are booked: Movsar Evloev is the cleanest case in the sport, undefeated and the #1 featherweight contender, yet near the bottom of the card-placement board, because he wins by decision and does not move tickets. Natalia Silva, the #1 women's flyweight, is unbeaten in the UFC and still kept to the middle of cards. Tatiana Suarez, the #2 strawweight and long considered one of the most avoided fighters in her division, rarely gets a featured slot. The rankings reward the resume. The card rewards the draw.

What moves a fighter up the card

Looking across the active roster, three things line up with placement, in order of strength. The biggest is simple tenure: the more UFC fights a fighter has, the higher they tend to be booked, because the promotion builds its cards around names the audience already knows. Winning is next, though by a smaller margin than most would guess. And how a fighter wins barely matters at all: finishers and decision fighters end up in nearly the same place, so the highlight-reel knockout is worth far less to a fighter's billing than fans assume.

The two levers that explain the rest sit outside the cage: money and attention. The pay structure is a cliff. A debuting prelim fighter makes around $12,000 to show and $12,000 to win, and a single $50,000 bonus can more than quadruple the night. Champions and headliners start near a $500,000 base and add pay-per-view points on top: Jon Jones reportedly made about $6.29 million in 2024 against a $2 million base. Those slots are where the money is, so the promotion guards them. Attention works the same way. Conor McGregor (around 46.5 million Instagram followers), Sean O'Malley (9.4 million), Israel Adesanya (8.3 million), and Paddy Pimblett (4.8 million) are all booked above where their records alone would put them, while an undefeated, top-ranked contender like Movsar Evloev, with a fraction of that following, gets buried down the card.

Climbing on personality

The clearest cases for the attention effect are the fighters who talked and performed their way up. Chael Sonnen, who built the placement-over-rankings idea in the first place, never won a UFC title yet main-evented the biggest cards in the sport on the strength of a microphone. Conor McGregor turned the same instinct into the most-featured run in modern memory: 11 of his 14 UFC fights were main events. Sean O'Malley built a headliner's profile out of a look, a podcast, and a steady stream of callouts. Paddy Pimblett is booked a notch above his ranking on personality and a large following. Colby Covington went from opening cards, a first-third average near 9.0, to main events at 1.0 on the back of a heel turn. Nate Diaz spent years as one of the promotion's biggest draws on pure Stockton attitude.

The newest example is Josh Hokit, a former All-American wrestler and ex-San Francisco 49ers fullback who arrived with a crossover story, a big personality, and a string of viral weigh-in and microphone moments, plus about 273,000 Instagram followers. On a thin record he is already landing on pay-per-view cards early in his run, the first version of the same path: attention first, placement follows.

Method

Average card placement is based on each fighter's last three card positions, averaged evenly. Fighters are split into a pay-per-view list and a Fight Night list by which card type they fought most over those three bouts. A few notes on the data:

  • Card order. A handful of older pay-per-views were stored upside down in the source data (main event listed last). Those are corrected here, mostly automatically (UFC cards are named after their main event, which tells you which end is the top) and by hand for a few stubborn ones.
  • Divisions. A fighter is placed in the weight class of their most recent fight, so movers land where they fight now (Alex Pereira shows at heavyweight because his last bout was there). Where the data carried no weight class, it was inferred from recent opponents, since matchmaking pairs same-division fighters. Those are the rows marked with a dagger.
  • Activity. Only fighters with at least two bouts in the last two years are ranked, so semi-retired names do not clog the boards.
  • What it is. This is one measure of how the promotion values a fighter as an attraction, which is a different question from who would win a fight. That gap is the whole point of the section on where placement and the rankings disagree.
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