Best UFC middleweights

119 ELO points separate Israel Adesanya from Sean Strickland at the top of the UFC Middleweight ranking, after 1088 duels.

Adesanya's dominance shows in both his ELO score of 1501 and his 81% win rate across 84 duels. The gap between him and Strickland at #2 is the sharpest in the ranking, nearly double the distance between Strickland and Robert Whittaker in third, who trails by 31 points. Whittaker edges out Jared Cannonier by 62 points to secure the bronze position, while Paulo Costa rounds out the top 5 with 1225 ELO points and a 58% win rate over 111 duels. At the bottom, Uriah Hall sits at #11 with 988 ELO points and a 32% win rate over 101 duels, while Jack Hermansson just above him holds 1041 points with a 35% win rate across 102 duels. These positions suggest voters have clear preferences when ranking Middleweight fighters.

This ranking draws from 1088 duels submitted by 49 players, comparing 11 Middleweight contenders. Updated on 11 October 2026, it captures which fighters resonated most with the community during this period. Whether Adesanya's lead holds or challengers close the gap depends on further votes. Head to VAINKEURZ to cast your own duels and shape the Middleweight hierarchy.

Updated on October 11, 2026

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.

How our rankings are made →