On Saturday night at UFC 328, Alexander Volkov and Waldo Cortes-Acosta face off in a main card clash with big implications. The winner of their scrap will put their name in the title contender conversation this fall.
After three extremely tight contests, the Russian used his length and leg kicks to defeat the Dominican and earn his 14th win inside the Octagon and 40th overall. Let’s see where he lands in our new heavyweight rankings after UFC 328.
10. Tyrell Fortune (18-3)
Multiple-time wrestling champion Tyrell Fortune was a top prospect for Bellator in the final years of the promotion’s existence. But after two appearances in the PFL, he took his talents to the MMA regional scene to build his resume for a shot in the UFC.
Well, he got that opportunity in the Octagon in March 2026 and he made the most of it by scoring a big decision victory over ranked veteran Marcin Tybura. The win earned him a spot in our latest UFC Heavyweight Top 10.
9. Rizvan Kuniev (14-3-1)
PFL and Contender Series veteran Rizwan Kuniev joins our UFC heavyweight rankings after scoring the biggest win of his career with a hard-fought victory over Zelton Almeida during his debut in the Octagon in February 2025. While it wasn’t great, he proved he could compete with top-10 talent.
Sergei Spivak has been a consistent top-15-tier fighter at heavyweight for the past five years. While he has lost six times inside the Octagon, his most recent failures have come against elite competition such as Tom Aspinall, Waldo Cortes-Acosta and Cyril Gane. However, he has also achieved some big wins against big-name or ranked foes.
He scored another goal in February when he scored in a very hard-fought victory over talented finisher Ante Delija. Their latest win halted a potential losing streak and brings them back into our top 10.
7.Curtis Blades (19-6)
While Curtis Blaydes has suffered some tough losses during his career, he has remained a top-five tier heavyweight for most of the last decade, earning wins over fighters such as Junior dos Santos, Alexander Volkov, and Zelton Almeida during his tenure in the UFC.
However, in the UFC 327 scrap, where he was a huge favorite, the 35-year-old decided to engage Josh Hockitt in a brawl, and suffered a surprisingly upset loss. It’s hard to imagine that “Razor” will ever fight for UFC gold again.
6. Josh Hockitt (9-0)
Leading up to his scrap at UFC 327, few people knew who Josh Hockitt was. However, his bizarre antics during Fight Week brought the talented wrestler a lot of attention, but mostly for the wrong reasons. Nevertheless, on fight night, he still had an opportunity to earn top 10 status in a clash with Curtis Blaydes.
Although it was no technical performance, Hokit showed an impressive chin and courage as he shocked the MMA world by defeating Blaydes in Fight of the Night. His third consecutive win in the Octagon lands him in our latest Top 10 and on the radar of UFC fans around the world.
Dominican legend Waldo Cortes Acosta has quietly become a serious force in the heavyweight division. In his 13 bouts inside the Octagon, he has recorded 10 wins, including wins against some notable talents in the top 15, including against fan favorite Derrick Lewis at UFC 324.
In May, he got a chance to potentially become the No. 1 contender in a UFC 328 bout with Alexander Volkov. However, the Dominican was unable to figure out the Russian’s away game and suffered a disappointing decision loss.
4. Sergei Pavlovich (20-3)
Sergei Pavlovich has been an absolute crushing machine during most of his UFC career. After losing to Alistair Overeem in his debut match, he reeled off six consecutive wins and all of those wins came via devastating knockout. However, a string of two-match defeats halted all their momentum. But he has righted the ship in 2025 and has scored two decision wins. The most recent fight was against Waldo Cortés-Acosta in Shanghai.
3. Alexander Volkov (40-11)
Alexander Volkov has been a top-tier MMA heavyweight for a long time. Although he has been unable to earn a UFC title shot, he has remained a veteran in the top 10 over the years. Have been hovering around the title contenders conversation for the last few years.
However, at UFC 328, he may have locked up a title opportunity in the near future when he was able to outpoint and outpoint Dominican star Waldo Cortés-Acosta to earn a crucial unanimous decision victory.
2. Cyril Gane (13-2)
Cyril Gane is a superb athlete and one of the most technical heavyweight strikers in the game. This is the reason why he is constantly in the title discussion. However, his wrestling shortcomings remain a problem, and they were evident again in his UFC 310 bout with Alexander Volkov. Fortunately “Bon Gamine” was able to escape and win the decision.
This victory earned him a title opportunity at UFC 321. However, his good luck ran out against Volkov, and his chance to win UFC gold was halted after just a few minutes when he kicked champion Tom Aspinall in both eyes, ending the fight.
1. Tom Aspinall (14-3)
Englishman Tom Aspinall is the best heavyweight in the UFC. It became official when MMA GOAT Jon Jones decided to step away from the sport earlier this year. The Englishman has defeated many of the best fighters in the division over the past three years and is the undisputed leader in the eyes of most UFC fans.
After definitively avenging the only defeat of his UFC career in the summer of 2024, he made his first defense of the undisputed title in October. Unfortunately, a nasty blow from opponent Cyril Game ended the UFC 321 main event after just a few minutes. An immediate rematch in early 2026 appears likely.
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