Dustin Poirier is now highly-ranked on the P4P list, while fellow new champ Israel Adesanya is nowhere to be seen.
UFC 236 crowned two new interim champions, and they’ve been treated very differently by the rankings panel. While the caliber of opponent was obviously different – Dustin Poirier was taking on a top-five P4P staple from another weight class, while Israel Adesanya met a guy not on this list – it’s a bit surprising that Poirier is now in the top 10 P4P, while Adesanya didn’t even make the cut.
Other than that, there are a few changes here and there, but nothing monumental. Here’s a look at all the changes this week:
P4P – Holloway’s loss, even at a different weight class, dropped him one spot to five. This allows Henry Cejudo to crack the top four. Poirier enters the list at eight. This bumps seven fighters – Conor McGregor, Robert Whittaker, Stipe Miocic, Tony Ferguson, Tyron Woodley, Rose Namajunas, and Cris Cyborg – down one spot each to nine through 15.
Heavyweight – No changes.
Light Heavyweight – Johnny Walker, Shogun Rua, and Misha Cirkunov are all up one spot to 12-14 respectively. Nikita Krylov re-enters the list at 15 after defeating Ovince Saint Preux at UFC 236. OSP crashes out of the rankings completely with the loss.
Middleweight – Like lightweight, new champ makes for some changes up top. Adesanya is the number one contender with the interim belt. Yoel Romero, Luke Rockhold, Jacare Souza, and UFC 236 runner-up Kelvin Gastelum all fall a spot each, to two through five.
Welterweight – No changes.
Lightweight – New champ means lots of changes. As interim champ, Poirier takes over the number one contender spot. This pushes Tony Ferguson down to two and Conor McGregor down to three. Edson Barboza is up one, into a tie for seven. Anthony Pettis re-enters the 155 rankings at nine, for some reason. Paul Felder, Gregor Gillespie, and Alexander Hernandez all make room for him by dropping a spot to 10-12. Charles Oliveira drops two spots to 14. Nate Diaz is barely holding on at 15.
Featherweight – No changes.
Bantamweight – No changes.
Flyweight – Alexandre Pantoja is up two spots to three after a big UFC 236 win over Wilson Reis. Deiveson Figueiredo and Reis fall one each to four and five. Alex Perez enters the rankings at 13 (?). Matt Schnell is in at 15.
Women’s Bantamweight – No changes.
Women’s Flyweight – It looks like the impending moves of Sijara Eubanks and Jessica-Rose Clark to Bantamweight have caused them to be removed from the 125 rankings. This allowed a few people to move up. Katlyn Chookagian and Liz Carmouche are up one spot to two and three. Joanne Calderwood, Alexis Davis, Roxy Modafferi, and Lauren Murphy are all up one each to five through eight respectively. Andrea Lee, Montana De La Rosa, and Mara Romero Borella are all up two each to 10 through 12 respectively. Antonia Shevchenko is up three into a tie for 12. Maycee Barber cracks the list at 14. Paige VanZant is back in at 15.
Women’s Strawweight – Carla Esparza is up one into a tie for nine. Randa Markos fell from a tie for 13 to taking over 14 on her own.