Pound For Pound Rankings
Already considered one of the greatest fighters of all-time, Jones said he wants to turn his attention to heavyweight and says he has no intention of returning to 205 pounds.
Adesanya rolled the dice in a move to light heavyweight but came up short against Jan Blachowicz and says he’ll now return to 185 pounds and prove his dominance as UFC champion.
Ngannou claimed the UFC heavyweight title with a brilliant win over Stipe Miocic and is looking for a quick turnaround, targeting a summer date for his first title defense.
Miocic apologized for deviating from the gameplan against the dangerous Francis Ngannou, a mistake that cost him the UFC heavyweight title.
It wasn’t as convincing as the first time around, but Volkanovski picked up a second win over Max Holloway and says he wants to continue taking out top contenders.
Poirier continues to be one of the most exciting fighters in the game, and his grit is immeasurable – qualities he hopes will net him another UFC title shot in the near future.
Holloway delivered a record-breaking destruction of Calvin Kattar and now looks like he’ll get a chance to regain the UFC featherweight title later this year.
Khabib Nurmagomedov proved to be too much for Gaethje at UFC 254, but ‘The Highlight’ could very well get another title shot in the very near future.
Blachowicz realizes there are some that doubt his legitimacy as UFC champion, but his win over a previously undefeated Israel Adesanya went a long way toward silencing those critics.
Costa was frustrated after suffering the first loss of his career and will now face another monster in Robert Whittaker in his trail back to a title shot.
Honorable Mentions
USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings, March 30: Francis Ngannou joins pound-for-pound list
With his scintillating win over Stipe Miocic to claim the UFC’s heavyweight title, Francis Ngannou is making moves in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings.
With his second-round knockout, Ngannou (16-3 MMA, 11-2 UFC) earned UFC gold and ascends to No. 1 in latest heavyweight rankings, trading places with Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC), who falls to No. 2. Meanwhile, “The Predator” also enters the pound-for-pound list for the first time, entering the list in a big way by debuting at No. 6.
But the main event wasn’t the only contest at this past weekend’s UFC 260 that impacted the rankings. Take a look at the newest welterweight list, as well, after Vicente Luque (20-7-1 MMA, 13-3 UFC) picked up a “Fight of the Night” win over Tyron Woodley (19-7-1 MMA, 9-6-1 UFC) – and check out all of the divisions ahead of the return of Bellator this weekend. April is sure to bring a ton of movement with an absolutely loaded schedule of events.
Ranking Criteria
The rankings take into account a fighter’s wins/losses, quality of competition, finishing rate/dominance and frequency of fights.
Fighters are no longer eligible to be ranked after they’ve been inactive for 24 months, either due to injuries, drug/conduct suspensions, contract disputes or self-imposed hiatuses.
Fighters serving drug/conduct suspensions are eligible to be ranked, so long as they’re not inactive for more than 24 months.
To the best of our ability, fighters will be ranked in their primary weight class. Catchweight fights and bouts outside the fighter’s primary weight class can have a positive or negative impact on the ranking. However, non-titleholders can be ranked in only one weight class at a given time, and in most cases, they won’t be ranked in a new weight class until they’ve had their first fight at that weight.