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Israel Adesanya’s complete domination of Paulo Costa earned him some love from the UFC rankings panel.
UFC 253 had its ups and downs, but a new champion and a marvelous performance by Israel Adesanya in the main event have caused some ripples in the rankings. Adesanya has slowly creeped up the pound-for-pound list, and the best performance of his career now has him in elite air – right behind Khabib Nurmagomedov as the second best P4P fighter in the world.
Here’s a look at all the changes for this week.
Men’s P4P – Adesanya passes Stipe Miocic for the two spot, bumping the heavyweight king to three. Dustin Poirier moves past Justin Gaethje for spot number seven, relegating the interim welterweight champ to eight. Petr Yan is up one to ten. Conor McGregor falls one to 11. Deiveson Figuieredo is up two to 12. Tony Ferguson and Robert Whittaker fall one each to 13 and 14.
Heavyweight – Ciryl Gane is up one to 12. Blagoy Ivanov drops two to 14.
Light Heavyweight – Everything has changed. Obviously Jan Blachowicz is your new champ. Thiago Santos is the new number one contender. Dominick Reyes drop to two. Everyone else moves up a spot except for Magomed Ankalaev, who is up two to 11, and Ryan Spann, who stays at 12. Ovince Saint Preux re-enters the rankings at 15.
Middleweight – No changes.
Welterweight – No changes.
Lightweight – No changes.
Featherweight – For some reason, Shane Burgos moves up three spots and cracks the top ten, in a tie with Dan Ige. Sodiq Yusuff and Ryan Hall fell one spot each to 12 and 13.
Bantamweight – No changes.
Flyweight – Brandon Royval’s thrilling UFC 253 win over Kai Kara-France has him up to the seven spot after just two fights in the Octagon. Kara-France falls one to eight, and Rogerio Bontorin is down one as well to nine. Raulian Paiva drops one into a tie for 12.
Women’s P4P – No changes.
Women’s Bantamweight – No changes.
Women’s Flyweight – No changes.
Women’s Strawweight – No changes.