The latest installment of Bleacher Report’s Monthly Men’s MMA Rankings is here for April 2015. March did not sport too many events, with just two UFC events and relatively sparse showings from both World Series of Fighting and Bellator…but boy, plenty wound up happening.
UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis and Bellator bantamweight champion Joe Warren were both unseated, which shook up the rankings for each division in a big way. Outside those two bouts, fighters changing weight classes has impacted our panelists’ ballots in three separate divisions.
You can check out our rules and eligibility requirements for different fighters here. Here are the special notes for this month:
- Dustin Poirier is removed from consideration at featherweight due to his move to lightweight.
- Kelvin Gastelum is removed from consideration at welterweight due to his move to middleweight.
- WSOF middleweight champion David Branch is removed from consideration at middleweight after joining the WSOF light heavyweight title tournament.
- Notable fighters currently ineligible to be ranked include Anderson Silva, Nick Diaz, Hector Lombard and Ali Bagautinov.
Flyweight
@BR_MMA flyweight division rankings for April 2015. pic.twitter.com/ET79xR8JgG
— Steven Rondina (@srondina) April 3, 2015
UFC 185 had an interesting pair of flyweight bouts that sent two of the division’s hottest prospects in very different directions. Sergio Pettis looked brilliant in his UFC flyweight debut for about seven minutes before a left hook ended his night. Higher up on the card, Olympic gold medalist Henry Cejudo‘s impressive showing against Henry Cejudo vaulted him into the top 10, and established him as one of the hottest fighters in the lower weight classes.
Bantamweight
@BR_MMA bantamweight division rankings for April 2015. pic.twitter.com/I7PZnjLOvR
— Steven Rondina (@srondina) April 3, 2015
Joe Warren fell out of the bantamweight top 10 with his loss to Marcos Galvao at Bellator 135. Galvao eked his way into the 10th spot, but there is a rock-paper-scissors situation among Bellator‘s top bantamweights at the moment that could reasonably favor any of the division’s three most recent champions.
Featherweight
@BR_MMA featherweight division rankings for April 2015. pic.twitter.com/5tF6oynsFX
— Steven Rondina (@srondina) April 3, 2015
No major featherweight bouts went down in March, but look for major changes following an action-packed April.
Lightweight
@BR_MMA lightweight division rankings for April 2015. pic.twitter.com/1BA1juRmYJ
— Steven Rondina (@srondina) April 3, 2015
Anthony Pettis‘ thorough beating from Rafael dos Anjos, as expected, shook up the top of the lightweight rankings, with Khabib Nurmagomedov jumping into the top spot on some ballots. Over in WSOF, Justin Gaethje put on an entertaining performance that was good enough to keep the belt around his waist, but not quite enough to move him into the top 10.
Welterweight
@BR_MMA welterweight division rankings for April 2015. pic.twitter.com/se2EE7qGfN
— Steven Rondina (@srondina) April 3, 2015
What was supposed to be a slugfest between Johny Hendricks and Matt Brown wound up being a return to form for Hendricks, and a brutal indictment of Brown. A week later, Demian Maia showed that he still has the tools to win fights against solid competition, but did not quite strike fear into the hearts of his welterweight brethren.
Middleweight
@BR_MMA middleweight division rankings for April 2015. pic.twitter.com/uHNRkwcOlV
— Steven Rondina (@srondina) April 3, 2015
As with the featherweight division, 185 pounds was stagnant during March, but has a huge April to look forward to.
Light Heavyweight
@BR_MMA light heavyweight division rankings for April 2015. pic.twitter.com/dZtrDZMtAP
— Steven Rondina (@srondina) April 3, 2015
There are plenty of fighters that are poised to jump into the light heavyweight rankings…but UFC castoff Thiago Silva is no longer a part of that lot, courtesy of a knockout at the hands of the completely unknown Teddy Holder.
Heavyweight
@BR_MMA heavyweight division rankings for April 2015. pic.twitter.com/9cLwiMjjEX
— Steven Rondina (@srondina) April 3, 2015
Alistair Overeem’s odd path towards a heavyweight title berth continued by beating the heck out of Roy Nelson. Overeem, for the most part, avoided danger and showed the potent striking skills that once made him one of the scariest heavyweights in the game.
Top-5 Fighters Fighting in April
- Chad Mendes vs. Ricardo Lamas (UFC Fight Night 63)
- Lyoto Machida vs. Luke Rockhold (UFC on Fox 15)
- Ronaldo Souza vs. Yoel Romero (UFC on Fox 15)
- Ben Askren vs. Luis Santos (One FC: Valor of Champions)
- Demetrious Johnson vs. Kyoji Horiguchi (UFC 186)
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