MMA Pound-for-Pound Rankings: UFC 300 winners and losers create chaos throughout the charts

Welcome to the most recent replace to the MMA Combating pound-for-pound rankings, the place each month our esteemed panel type by the noise to reply one query: Who’re the very best general female and male MMA fighters on the earth?

To say that the occasions of UFC 300 had an influence on the rankings can be an understatement. So the place did a few of Saturday evening’s greatest winners and losers land on our lists?

Alex Pereira is just about accountable for breaking the pound-for-pound rankings, so it’s solely becoming that he’s this near conquering them.

Following his first-round knockout of Jamahal Hill in Saturday’s predominant occasion, Pereira climbs two spots to the No. 2 spot. He’s properly behind Islam Makhachev on factors (the UFC light-weight champion remains to be our unanimous No. 1 choose), however far forward of schedule when you think about his dearth of professional MMA expertise.

We don’t have to rehash the absurdity of Pereira’s run to 2 UFC titles (and now his first profitable protection); merely put, there isn’t any equal to what “Poatan” has finished simply eight fights into his UFC profession. Usually, a climb like this up the pound-for-pound charts requires a champion placing collectively a prolonged title reign. As an alternative, now we have Pereira carving out his personal path by hammering high-level competitors in two weight courses and now threatening a 3rd if his suggestion of a transfer to heavyweight involves fruition.

It’s unlikely that Pereira ever turns into the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter on the earth, however then once more, all the pieces about his rise to prominence has been unlikely.

Brazil’s gentle heavyweight king isn’t our solely main mover this month, as fan favourite Max Holloway soars up seven spots to land at No. 11, and Arman Tsarukyan makes his debut at No. 14.

Holloway’s return to the cusp of the highest 10 ought to come as no shock as he scored probably the most memorable win not simply of UFC 300, however his complete wonderful profession, flattening Justin Gaethje with one second remaining of their combat within the midst of a breathless flurry. The “BMF” championship win all however ensures Holloway a shot at both the light-weight or featherweight titles, so we may see the previous UFC champion additional speed up his climb again up the ladder.

As for Tsarukyan, he cemented himself as the very best younger expertise at 155 kilos, successful a hard-fought cut up choice over Charles Oliveira. A rematch with Makhachev looms, as soon as the very best fighter on the earth settles his enterprise with Dustin Poirier at UFC 302 on June 1.

Current outcomes for ranked fighters (earlier rating proven): No. 4 Alex Pereira def. Jamahal Hill, Arman Tsarukyan def. No. 6 Charles Oliveira, No. 18 (tied) Max Holloway def. No. 14 (tied) Justin Gaethje, No. 18 (tied) Aljamain Sterling def. Calvin Kattar

Upcoming bouts that includes ranked fighters: No. 1 Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier (UFC 302, June 1), No. 6 Alexandre Pantoja vs. Steve Erceg (UFC 301, Might 4), No. 13 Patchy Combine vs. Magomed Magomedov (Bellator Champions Collection: Paris, Might 17), No. 17 Sean Strickland vs. Paulo Costa (UFC 302, June 1), No. 19 Khamzat Chimaev vs. Robert Whittaker (UFC Battle Evening, June 22)

Fighters additionally receiving votes (variety of poll appearances proven): Anatoly Malykhin (3), Shavkat Rakhmonov (3), Johnny Eblen (2), Justin Gaethje (2), Patricio Pitbull (2), Dustin Poirier (2), Kamaru Usman (2), Jan Blachowicz (1), A.J. McKee (1), Belal Muhammad (1), Usman Nurmagomedov (1), Vadim Nemkov (1), Jiri Prochazka (1)

She’s baaaaaaaaaaack.

Kayla Harrison’s lofty rating throughout her PFL days at all times felt precarious given the shortage of depth within the league’s roster that she ran by on the best way to match titles in 2019 and 2021. We knew we have been seeing a doubtlessly dominant fighter, however it additionally felt like one loss would supply a severe actuality examine.

When she suffered her first loss to Larissa Pacheco (after beating Pacheco the earlier two occasions they fought), it wasn’t lengthy earlier than Harrison was despatched plummeting down the pound-for-pound listing. A lukewarm win over Aspen Ladd did little to revive her buzz.

However wouldn’t it, a jump over to the UFC, a minimize right down to the 135-pound division (which she’d by no means competed at earlier than), and a win over longtime contender Holly Holm has Harrison proper again among the many prime feminine fighters on the earth. The 2-time Olympic judo champion jumps up eight spots, simply in need of the highest 10.

We don’t know the way constantly Harrison can hit 135 kilos (or if she even can, contemplating she wanted the non-title one-pound allowance this time round), but when she will get her probability at a belt, it’s onerous to not imagine that she gained’t end the story and doubtlessly put collectively a memorable UFC championship run. The place you at, Amanda Nunes?

Outdoors of UFC 300 (which additionally noticed Zhang Weili maintain onto her No. 1 rating with a win over Yan Xiaonan), flyweight contender Manon Fiorot made probably the most waves. The Frenchwoman handed blue-chipper Erin Blanchfield her first UFC loss in a combat that wasn’t notably shut, and she will be able to now name herself one of many 5 greatest pound-for-pound fighters on the earth.

Current outcomes for ranked fighters (earlier rating proven): No. 1 Zhang Weili def. No. 10 Yan Xiaonan, No. 8 Manon Fiorot def. No. 5 Erin Blanchfield, No. 11 Liz Carmouche def. No. 15 Juliana Velasquez, No. 13 Seika Izawa def. Si Yoon Park, No. 14 Rose Namajunas def. Amanda Ribas, No. 15 Jessica Andrade def. Marina Rodriguez, No. 16 Taila Santos def. Ilara Joanne, No. 19 Kayla Harrison def. No. 20 (tied) Holly Holm

Upcoming bouts that includes ranked fighters: No. 20 Stamp Fairtex vs. Denice Zamboanga (ONE 167, June 7)

Fighters additionally receiving votes (variety of poll appearances proven): Maycee Barber (5), Virna Jandiroba (2), Marina Rodriguez (2), Irene Aldana (1), Holly Holm (1), Lauren Murphy (1), Ketlen Vieira (1)

Lastly, a refresher on some floor guidelines:

The eight-person voting panel consists of MMA Combating staffers Shaun Al-Shatti, Alexander Ok. Lee, Guilherme Cruz, Mike Heck, E. Casey Leydon, Steven Marrocco, Damon Martin and Jed Meshew.
Updates to the rankings will likely be accomplished following each UFC pay-per-view. Fighters will likely be faraway from the rankings if they don’t compete inside 18 months of their most up-to-date bout.

Ought to a fighter announce their retirement, our panel will resolve whether or not that fighter ought to instantly be faraway from the rankings or keep their place till additional discover (let’s put it this manner: we’d have taken Khabib Nurmagomedov out of our rankings rather a lot faster than the UFC did).

As a reminder, the notion of pound-for-pound supremacy is at all times going to inherently be subjective. Whenever you’re debating whether or not somebody like Justin Gaethje needs to be ranked above somebody like Max Holloway, there isn’t any true proper reply. In different phrases: It’s not severe enterprise, of us.

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