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Brett Okamoto
What professional athlete faces more pressure than a UFC champion?
Think about it. The second a UFC belt goes around a champion’s waist, a massive target is added to their back. A UFC champion is expected to face the scariest, most confident challenger in their sport over and over again. One after another. Often, they are expected to do it in a timeframe that best suits the UFC, rather than themselves. And for every fight, they’re asked to invest countless hours into promoting the event, in addition to all of the physical and mental preparation. A loss results in the surrender of a title, (likely) bodily harm and a pay reduction in their next appearance.
Heavy lies the crown, wouldn’t you say? And although every UFC champion feels that, some inevitably feel it more. As the UFC moves on with its 2026 schedule, ESPN ranked the promotion’s 11 titleholders from least to most pressure to retain the belt, based on the quality of opponents chasing them and the goals they are pursuing.
11. Alexander Volkanovski, featherweight
If any UFC champion is playing with house money in 2026, it is Volkanovski. How does one even attempt to add to a legacy as complete as his? He has more than proven his skill, work ethic, heart and championship mentality. In my book, he’s the greatest featherweight of all time, which is truly saying something, considering the résumés of José Aldo and Max Holloway. There is no pressure on «The Great» anymore, because there is no result inside the Octagon that would change the way he’s viewed. Any loss wouldn’t change his legacy, and any win wouldn’t add much to it. He is already first-ballot, «one of the best to ever do it,» Hall of Fame-worthy.
10. Alex Pereira, light heavyweight
Similar to Volkanovski, Pereira’s legacy is untouchable going into 2026. In addition, he also has an extra dose of star power going for him. As backward as it might sound, sometimes the biggest UFC stars face the least amount of pressure because opportunities are going to come their way, win or lose. Say, Pereira was to lose his light heavyweight championship in the first half of this year. What would the result mean for him moving forward? He likely would move up in weight quickly to fight for the heavyweight championship, which is what he wants anyway. He’s already cleaned out the biggest names of his division — in some cases twice. There is little pressure for Pereira to maintain his title, and he might even vacate it if it means he can be a heavyweight.
9. Joshua Van, men’s flyweight
Van competed so far ahead of schedule in 2025. After claiming a UFC title in December at 24 years old, he could literally lose the belt, fall into a three-fight skid, take a year off, battle his way back to the belt … and still be in his 20s. Of course, there’s pressure to back up his four-win year in 2025 and to prove his quick championship win over Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 323 wasn’t a fluke. But when you’re on top of the world before 25, there’s simply less pressure to get everything right.
8. Valentina Shevchenko, women’s flyweight
Shevchenko faced obvious pressure in 2024 and 2025. In 2024, she needed to put the Alexa Grasso rivalry behind her, after going 0-1-1 in their first two meetings. They met in October 2024, and Shevchenko dominated, claiming Grasso’s belt in a five-round unanimous decision. In 2025, it was the pressure of facing her pound-for-pound, championship equal Zhang Weili, who vacated the strawweight title to challenge Shevchenko at flyweight. Once again, she dominated at UFC 323 in November. Heading into 2026, there aren’t any obvious, high-pressure storylines for Shevchenko to face. That said, she does have a couple of new, young challengers in Natalia Silva and Erin Blanchfield.
7. Khamzat Chimaev, middleweight
Chimaev is a unique case, as he’s been his entire career. On one hand, he’s a first-time champion, who won the title in August after years of minimal activity. But the reality is the belt doesn’t mean as much to Chimaev as it might for others. In fact, he’s already talking about giving it up. He told ESPN last year that he anticipates making one title defense before moving to light heavyweight. For Chimaev to get the «superfights» he wants, it would be nice for him to continue winning — but it’s not even 100% necessary. He’s a superstar who is going to have options, regardless of whether he holds the middleweight title. Any pressure Chimaev feels in 2026 will likely come from within.
6. Petr Yan, men’s bantamweight
There will be pressure in Yan’s next fight, for sure. He’s 1-1 against Merab Dvalishvili, and the trilogy is expected next. He lost badly to Dvalishvili in their first meeting in 2023. He got revenge and the belt in December’s rematch, but it must be mentioned that it was Dvalishvili’s fourth fight of 2025. The trilogy will be for all the marbles, which carries a lot of pressure. But if Yan manages to beat Dvalishvili in back-to-back fights, he’ll be back to the clear bantamweight champion, pound-for-pound candidate he was in 2021. There’s pressure in that role, of course, but not as much as the kind he faced to get back to the top over the past several years.
5. Ilia Topuria, lightweight
On one hand, the stakes have never been higher for Topuria, who is looking to return from what will probably be a yearlong layoff since he won the lightweight championship last June. Throughout his career, Topuria’s confidence has been so high that it’s felt as if he’s immune to pressure. Remember, this is the guy who celebrated his victory over Charles Oliveira the night before the fight. But circumstances are a little different going into 2026. He has been away from MMA since December while attending to issues in his personal life. He could return at one of the biggest events in UFC history at the White House card on June 14, and he would likely be a massive betting favorite (which comes with its own type of pressure). Topuria is insulated from much of the anxiety that can affect others because of his confidence and satisfaction with what he’s already accomplished, but he is certainly in a unique position for his next bout.
4. Mackenzie Dern, strawweight
The pressure on Dern is straightforward. She won a UFC belt in 2025, but she didn’t beat a sitting champion to do it. No one can take that belt away from Dern, but if Zhang returns to 115 pounds and immediately takes back the belt she vacated to challenge Shevchenko last year, Dern’s status as a champion will feel like something of an asterisk in the timeline. Dern is 32, at the top of her game and popular with the fanbase, so her future is bright, champion or not. If and when she faces Zhang in a five-round championship matchup, the pressure to validate herself as a champion will be there.
3. Tom Aspinall, heavyweight
There’s a chance Aspinall never fights again, depending on his recovery from multiple eye surgeries. If he does defend his UFC title, the stakes will be enormous. Aspinall is a professional, but this injury ordeal has all become personal to him now — because how could it not? He’s been deeply affected by the gravity of the injuries to his eyes, as well as the public’s (and UFC’s) reactions to those injuries. Whenever Aspinall straps on a pair of gloves from here on out, it will be personal. And that can translate into the highest-pressure situations of all.
2. Islam Makhachev, lightweight
Undefeated retired champion Khabib Nurmagomedov always says that greatness comes at a cost. It requires living and breathing martial arts. Makhachev will try to not only defend a welterweight championship in 2026, which is difficult enough, but he will also try to continue building one of the greatest careers in UFC history. He has a chance to surpass his mentor and teammate, Nurmagomedov, and perhaps even the great Jon Jones when it’s all said and done. You can say that about any champion to an extent, but it goes to another level with Makhachev, who sees anything less than perfection as failure. On a fight-by-fight basis, no other fighter in the game is under as much pressure as Makhachev.
1. Kayla Harrison, women’s bantamweight
Despite what I just said about Makhachev, Harrison is the UFC champion facing the most immediate pressure to perform. As unfair as it is, her entire career has somewhat been defined by 1. whether she would face Amanda Nunes and 2. the outcome of that fight. Everything she did in the PFL and even her undefeated run in the UFC so far has all been great, but it all came under the assumption and anticipation that it would lead to a fight against Nunes. And when the fight finally was booked, Harrison was forced out to undergo neck surgery at age 35. There are now real question marks around whether the fight will happen at all and whether Harrison will look the same after her neck injury. Considering the competitor she is, Harrison will invest 100% of herself into still conquering Nunes. It’s a story to watch unfold all year.
