Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Gilbert Burns’ dominant win over Tyron Woodley sent him rocketing up the 170-pound rankings.
The UFC’s return to Nevada brought around some good action, and helped to elevate a couple of fighters in their divisions. Obviously the biggest change came due to the main event, with Gilbert Burns dominating former 170-pound champion Tyron Woodley on his way to a wide decision victory. That propelled Burns into the enviable position as number one contender at welterweight.
Other than that though, there wasn’t much going on in terms of relevancy coming out of UFC on ESPN 9. Here’s a look at all the changes this week.
Men’s P4P – Woodley’s loss bounced him from the P4P list. This allowed Francis Ngannou to move up one spot to 14, and saw Dominick Reyes enter this list for the first time at 15.
Heavyweight – Junior dos Santos dropped from a tie for four to take over five on his own. Augusto Sakai’s close win over Blagoy Ivanov led him into the top ten for the first time, up three spots. Aleksei Oleinik and Shamil Abdurakhimov fell a spot each to 11 and 12. Sergei Pavlovich and former champ Fabricio Werdum are up one each to 13 or 14. Ivanov dropped three to the end of the list at 15.
Light Heavyweight – Jon Jones hasn’t dropped the belt yet. No changes this week.
Middleweight – No changes.
Welterweight – Burns is up five big spots to number one contender. Woodley dropped three spots for four. Leon Edwards and Stephen Thompson dropped one each to five and six. Anthony Pettis is up one to 14, dropping Conor McGregor to 15.
Lightweight – Cowboy Cerrone and Islam Makhachev flip-flopped the 12 and 13 spots, as did Beneil Dariush and Drew Dober with 14 and 15.
Featherweight – Arnold Allen fell from a tie for 11 with Dan Ige to take over 12 on his own.
Bantamweight – No changes.
Flyweight – Brandon Royval’s win over Tim Elliott helped him jump close to the top ten after one UFC fight. He enters at 11, dropping Elliott, Jordan Espinoza, Raulian Pavia, and David Dvorak one each to 12 through 15.
Women’s P4P – Nina Ansaroff drops from a tie for 14 to 15 on her own.
Women’s Bantamweight – No changes.
Women’s Flyweight – No changes.
Women’s Strawweight – No changes.