UFC 216 ushered in a new arrival to the P4P rankings
UFC 216 may have been the most irrelevant PPV show the promotion has put on in years, especially in terms of the rankings. Yes, a new (interim) champion was crowned, and the top P4P fighter in the world pulled off an unreal submission finish. But an important heavyweight bout bit the dust just before the event, leaving Fabricio Werdum to beat someone out of his league in just over a minute. And there wasn’t much else that was going to make a rankings ripple.
Despite that, Tony Ferguson did make the P4P rankings for the first time. And there were minor changes in a few other divisions. So here’s a rundown of what happened.
P4P – Max Holloway takes over the three spot on his own. Jose Aldo dropped from a tie for nine with Dominick Cruz to take over 10 on his own. Ferguson entered the list at 13, dropping Amanda Nunes and Robert Whittaker one spot to 14 and 15 respectively.
Heavyweight – Curtis Blaydes moves up into a tie with Andrei Arlovski for the 12 spot.
Light Heavyweight – No changes.
Middleweight – Brad Tavares re-enters the list at 13. Thales Leites, the man Tavares beat, dropped out of the rankings from the 13 spot. Well that makes sense for once.
Welterweight – No changes.
Lightweight – Ferguson moves up to the one spot as interim champion, bumping Khabib Nurmagomedov to two. Edson Barboza is up to three, dropping Eddie Alvarez to four for whatever reason.
Featherweight – No changes.
Bantamweght – No changes.
Flyweight – John Moraga moved up one spot to 10 with his huge win over top prospect Magomed Bibulatov, dropping Tim Elliott to 11. Ian McCall is gone from the rankings due to his release, so a few fighters moved up. Alexandre Pantoja, Louis Smolka, and Bibulatov move up one to 12, 13, and 14 respectively. Ulka Sasaki enters at 15.
Woman’s Bantamweight – No changes.
Women’s Strawweight – No changes.