There were tons of changes in the rankings in the wake of UFC 259.
UFC 259 was one of the deepest events of the year, and it shows in this week’s rankings. One new champ (no matter how it happened), a certain middleweight champ suffering the first loss of his MMA career, and a bunch of nice wins and new contenders made for a great few hours of entertainment.
The biggest winner is undoubtedly Jan Blachowicz, who has risen big time on the P4P list. Other benefactors include Askar Askarov, Aleksandar Rakic and Islam Makhachev.
Here’s a look at all the changes this week.
Men’s P4P – Adesanya fell three spots after the loss, down to six. This allowed three fighters – Kamaru Usman, Stipe Miocic, and Alexander Volkanovski – to move up one each to three through five. Blachowicz is up six big spots to eight. Max Holloway and Deiveson Figueiredo fall one each to nine and ten. Petr Yan is down two to 12. Robert Whittaker and Francis Ngannou drop one each to 13 and 14. Aljamain Sterling enters for the first time at 15.
Heavyweight – Last week’s removal of Alistair Overeem and Junior dos Santos continues to make waves here. Shamil Abdurakhimov is up one to seven. Walt Harris is up three to eight. Augusto Sakai is tied with him there. Marcin Tybura is up four spots to 11. Blaoy Ivanov is up two to 12. Tom Aspinall enters at 13. Sergei Pavlovich falls one to 14. Aleksei Oleinik re-enters at 15.
Light Heavyweight – Aleksandar Rakic and Thiago Santos flip-flopped the two and four spots following Rakic’s win.
Middleweight – No changes.
Welterweight – Sean Brady enters at 14 after submitting Jake Matthews.
Lightweight – Islam Makhachev is up three spots to 11 following his win over Drew Dober. Kevin Lee is down two to 13. Al Iaquinta is down one to 14.
Featherweight – No changes.
Bantamweight – New champ, obviously. Yan is the number one contender. Former champ Dominick Cruz is up two spots to nine, bumping Raphael Assuncao and Jimmie Rivera down to ten and 11 respectively. Kyler Phillips enters at 14 for his solid win over Song Yadong.
Flyweight – Askar Askarov is up one spot after taking out Joseph Benavidez. Alexandre Pantoja is up two to three. Joe B. drops three spots to five. Kai Kara France is up one to seven after KOing Rogerio Bontorin. Matt Schnell falls one to seven, with Bontorin down one to eight. Tim Elliott is up two to ten. David Dvorak and Rauliam Pavia drop a spot each to 11 and 12. Su Mudaerji rises one to 13. Amir Albizi falls one to 14.
Women’s P4P – No changes.
Women’s Bantamweight – Lina Lansberg and Macy Chiasson flip-flop the ten and 11 spots.
Women’s Flyweight – Four fighters – Andrea Lee, Antonina Shevchenko, Taila Santos, and Maycee Barber – are all up one each to 11 through 14. Gillian Robertson re-enters at 15.
Women’s Strawweight – Amanda Lemos enters at 14. Felice Herrig hangs on at 15.