Dricus Du Plessis cemented himself as the best middleweight on earth in the main event of last weekend's UFC 305 card in Perth, Australia, submitting Israel Adesanya with a rear-naked choke in the fourth round.

The win, which marked the South African's first successful title defense, also solidified his status as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world, and perhaps even more significantly, signaled that Adesanya's time among the sport's best fighters may be over.

Keep scrolling to see where Du Plessis and Adesanya stand in B/R's MMA power rankings in the wake of Saturday's action-packed UFC 305 card in Australia.

10. Tom Aspinall

Interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall made himself undeniable with a 60-second knockout win over long-time contender Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 in Manchester last month.

The Brit is now 8-1 in the UFC. His lone loss in the promotion came after a fluky leg injury in a 2022 fight with Blaydes, and he has counterbalanced that setback with quick stoppage wins over the likes of Serghei Spivac, Alexander Volkov, Marcin Tybura and Sergei Pavlovich.

Jon Jones may still hold the division's undisputed title, but his only win in the weight class was a submission of Ciryl Gane well over a year ago, so there's no question Aspinall is the true king.

If Jones wants to change that perception—and return to pound-for-pound relevance—he needs to get off social media and fight.

9. Belal Muhammad

Almost nobody believed Belal Muhammad could beat Leon Edwards at UFC 304.

Not only was Edwards riding wins over the likes of Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington, but he was also soundly in control of his first fight with Muhammad—until it was derailed by a second-round eye poke.

Muhammad proved everyone wrong in their rematch, using pressure, takedowns and ground control to defeat Edwards by unanimous decision and win the welterweight title.

Throw in his recent wins over the likes of Gilbert Burns, Sean Brady and Stephen Thompson, and there's little question he's one of the best fighters on the planet.

The only question is how long he can hang onto the belt in a division that is swarming with dangerous contenders.

8. Max Holloway

Max Holloway has been appearing on pound-for-pound lists for years.

The former featherweight champion is one of the greatest fighters in the division's history, maybe even the best outright.

While he lost the belt with a decision defeat Alexander Volkanovski in 2019, and twice failed to reclaim it from the Australian, he has beaten every other featherweight contender he's come across, including top-flight foes such as Calvin Kattar, Yair Rodriguez, Arnold Allen and "The Korean Zombie" Chan Sung Jung.

Holloway's most recent fight occurred at lightweight on the landmark UFC 300 card in April, when he challenged Justin Gaethje for the UFC's novelty "BMF" belt. Despite being a big underdog heading into the clash, he dominated in the Octagon and ultimately knocked his opponent out cold with a wild flurry in the final second of their five-round contest.

It was one of the greatest performances we've seen in the Octagon, and one that ensured his place on pound-for-pound lists everywhere for the time being.

Holloway is now set to challenge Ilia Topuria for the featherweight title at UFC 308 in October, and he will rocket up this list if he reclaims the belt.

7. Zhang Weili

Zhang Weili's decision victory over Yan Xiaonan at UFC 300 was largely overshadowed by the many stunning moments on the card, namely Holloway and Pereira's knockouts of Gaethje and Jamahal Hill, respectively.

However, it was an excellent performance from the champ, and one that cemented her as the best female fighter in the world right now.

With her win over Yan, and other recent triumphs over the likes of Amanda Lemos and Esparza, Zhang proved she is going to be very difficult to dethrone. However, there are some interesting challenges on the way, notably undefeated wrestler Suarez, who will hopefully get a title shot before the year is out.

Whatever the future holds, Zhang is clearly the sport's pound-for-pound queen as we near the end of the summer.

6. Alexander Volkanovski

Volkanovski spent several years as one of the UFC's top pound-for-pound fighters and will go down as one of the best in MMA history, but he has been struggling lately.

In February 2023, after years of dominance at featherweight, he hiked up to lightweight to challenge Islam Makhachev for a second belt. He was a big underdog heading into the bout, and ultimately came up short by unanimous decision after giving the lightweight champion one of the toughest tests of his career.

After that loss, he returned to featherweight and scored a lopsided stoppage win over a tough challenger in Rodriguez. That was followed by a short-notice lightweight rematch with Makhachev, which ended far worse than their first fight, as he was knocked out with a first-round head kick.

Volkanovski's most recent fight came in February, when he attempted to defend his belt against unbeaten challenger Topuria. Unfortunately for him, the fight ended in disaster, as he was knocked out in Round 2 and lost the title.

He doesn't have a fight booked currently, but he will need to win his next one if he hopes to keep his place on this list.

5. Dricus Du Plessis

Du Plessis has arguably never looked better than he did in his win over Adesanya in the UFC 305 main event.

One way or the other, it was the biggest win of his career, as Adesanya has long been considered one of the sport's best fighters.

In victory, the South African is now on a 10-fight streak. His last eight wins have occurred in the Octagon, where he has beaten the likes of Darren Till, Derek Brunson, Robert Whittaker and Sean Strickland.

With such an impressive streak behind him, there's no denying Du Plessis is one of the very best fighters competing in MMA today. The only question is how long he can hang onto the middleweight belt, with the likes of Strickland, Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev all in position for title shots.

4. Sean O'Malley

Sean O'Malley has been one of the most hyped fighters on the UFC roster since he signed with the promotion in 2017.

While his naysayers always doubted he would ever reach the top of the bantamweight division, he proved them wrong last August, when he knocked out long-time champion and pound-for-pound star Aljamain Sterling to claim the crown for himself.

O'Malley has defended the title once since then, dominating Marlon "Chito" Vera to a unanimous decision in the main event of UFC 299 in March.

Chito was not the top contender in the bantamweight division at the time, but he held the distinction of being the only person to beat O'Malley before, so it was an important win for the bantamweight champion, and one that cemented him as one of the sport's best fighters.

O'Malley will next face one of the toughest tests of his career in streaking wrestler Merab Dvalishvili. The bout will headline the UFC's anticipated debut in The Sphere in Las Vegas on September 14.

3. Ilia Topuria

Topuria became the undisputed UFC featherweight champion when he knocked out Volkanovski at UFC 298 this past February. It was far and away the biggest win of his undefeated career, but it is really the only accomplishment on his resume that puts him in the pound-for-pound conversation.

While there is no questioning his ability, he will need to start taking out other big names if he hopes to climb this list.

The good news is that he is now set to defend his belt against featherweight great Holloway at UFC 308, set for this October in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

If he wins this fight—particularly with a finish—he'll make himself even more undeniable.

2. Alex Pereira

It would be fair to call Pereira the MVP of the UFC right now. The former two-division kickboxing champion from Brazil has fought three times since November, and each time was a short-notice title fight that he won by knockout.

First, he claimed the vacant heavyweight belt with a knockout of Jiri Prochazka at UFC 295. Then he defended the belt with a first-round knockout of former champ Hill at UFC 300 in April.

Most recently, he defended the belt for a second time in a short-notice rematch with Prochazka in the main event of last weekend's UFC 303 card, again winning by second-round KO.

It has been the continuation of an incredibly impressive run for Pereira. He has gone 8-1 since joining the UFC in November 2021. Seven of those fights have been against former, current or future UFC champions, and the only one he lost was to Adesanya, who had already been beaten three times across kickboxing and MMA competition by that point.

Nobody would have believed it when he arrived in the UFC, but he is clearly one of the best mixed martial artists in the world at the moment.

Pereira is now set to defend his belt against fellow knockout artist Khalil Rountree at UFC 307 in Salt Lake City on October 5. While most would agree the champ should have been matched up with No. 1 contender Magomed Ankalaev instead, a victory over Rountree will still strengthen his position as one of the sport's pound-for-pound kings.

1. Islam Makhachev

There's still a strong argument for undisputed heavyweight champion Jones being the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in MMA.

However, the former light heavyweight champion hasn't fought since he claimed the vacant heavyweight belt with a quick submission over an easy style matchup in Ciryl Gane last March, and that was his first fight since he scraped by Dominick Reyes in a light heavyweight title fight in February 2020.

Great as Jones is, he just hasn't been active enough to be included in the pound-for-pound conversation at the moment.

Islam Makhachev, on the other hand, has been actively defending his lightweight belt against very strong competition, which is why he gets our No. 1 spot, and the long-absent Jones isn't even included on our list.

Makhachev won the vacant lightweight belt with a submission of the great Charles Oliveira in 2022. He then defended it twice against featherweight legend Volkanovski—first with a decision, then a knockout—and then delivered a third defense against future Hall of Famer Dustin Poirier at UFC 302 this past June.

These are the kinds of dominant wins over world-class foes that Jones used to deliver, but the kind we haven't seen from him in about half a decade.

Makhachev isn't currently booked to fight, but he is expected to take on top contender Arman Tsarukyan next.