As expected, Jon Jones is the UFC kingpin once again.
What an event UFC 285 turned out to be. Many fighters made the most of big opportunities (with almost all over them being betting favorites other than Alexa Grasso), and there were a lot of nice finishes. This caused quite a rankings ripple.
As expected, Jon Jones pushed Islam Makhachev out of top spot on the P4P list and now sits on the throne. His quick and dominant finish of Ciryl Gane will lead to some debate over whether he should be there right away, but – well, he is. And of course, Grasso picked up a massive upset over Valentina Shevchenko to claim the UFC women’s flyweight title.
Dricus Du Plessis and Shavkat Rakhmonov really arrived on the scene as well.
Here’s a look at the changes this week.
Men’s P4P – Jones back on top. The next ten fighters dropped one spot. With Gane out, 12-15 stayed the same.
Heavyweight – The title was vacant so not much changed other than Jones taking the champion spot. Stipe Miocic moved into a tie for top contender with Gane. Jailton Almeida flip-flopped with Alexandr Romanov for 13 and 14.
Light Heavyweight – No changes.
Middleweight – Du Plessis made a huge step forward, rising four spots to six (and that actually bumped Paulo Costa one to five). Brunson dropped three to eight. Roman Dolidze and Jack Hermansson drop one each to nine and ten.
Welterweight – Rakhmonov picks up the biggest win of his career and up three to the six spot. Wonderboy, Neal, Sean Brady and Vicente Luque all fall one spot to seven through ten. Michael Chiesa falls one to 13.
Lightweight – No changes.
Featherweight – No changes.
Bantamweight – No changes.
Flyweight – Adrian Yanez is up one to 12, pushing Chris Gutierrez to 13.
Women’s P4P – Grasso comes out of nowhere to end up at number two on the list. Shevchenko drops a spot to three, as does nearly everyone else. Taila Santos drops two to 12. Marina Rodriguez drops two to 14. Holly Holm holds on at 15.
Women’s Bantamweight – Mayra Bueno Silva is up two spots into the top 10. Miesha Tate is down to 11 (and coincidentally was booked against Bueno Silva today) and Julia Avila is now 12.
Women’s Flyweight – As with P4P, a change on top makes everyone else drop a spot. Valentina is still the number one contender. Amanda Ribas entered the list at eight following a win over Viviane Araujos. Araujos drops two to nine.
Women’s Strawweight – Ribas changing divisions means Virna Jandiroba and Michelle Waterson and up to eight and nine. Ribas is 10 but will fall off soon. Tatiana Suarez takes over 12, making Angela Hill the 13 contender now. Tabatha Ricci enters at 15 following a win over Tecia Torres.