Pound For Pound Rankings
Adesanya notched his fifth title defense by defeating Jared Cannonier, via unanimous decision.
Volkanovski defeated Max Holloway for the third time, this was his fourth defense of his UFC featherweight title.
Despite a multitude of distractions and some serious injuries, Ngannou was able to unify the UFC’s heavyweight titles and will now look to work through a contentious contract dispute.
Oliveira, despite missing the official championship weight limit, put on a championship to defeat Justin Gaethje at UFC 274.
Miocic apologized for deviating from the gameplan against the dangerous Francis Ngannou, a mistake that cost him the UFC heavyweight title.
Freire recaptures the Bellator featherweight title for the third time, as he defeats the previously undefeated McKee, now evening their rivalry to 1-1.
Figueiredo is once again the UFC flyweight champion after a narrow win over Brandon Moreno, and the two may very well be heading towards a fourth consecutive matchup.
Bader dominated his opponent from start to finish utilizing his main strengths, wrestling and ground and pound.
Poirier was incredibly disappointed after failing to win the UFC lightweight title but would still seem to have big fights ahead, should he choose.
Sterling unified his undisputed bantamweight title when he defeated interim champion, Petr Yan.
Prochazka wins a thriller in the fifth round at UFC 275 to claim the first UFC title for the Czech Republic.
Honorable Mentions
The former champion met with his third loss vs. Alexander Volkanovski.
Teixeira loses his light heavyweight title in the last 30 seconds of his first title defense at UFC 275.
Covington soundly defeats his former friend and roommate to stay a title contender in the welterweight division.
USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings, July 12: How high does Rafael Fiziev climb at lightweight?
The first signature victory of Rafael Fiziev’s career has him making a major move in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie lightweight rankings.
Fiziev pushed his winning streak to six this past Saturday at UFC on ESPN 39 where he knocked out former champion Rafael dos Anjos in the main event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Fiziev entered the fight ranked No. 14 at 155 pounds, with RDA at No. 5. Coming out of UFC on ESPN 39, Fiziev moved up to No. 6, with dos Anjos dropping behind him to No. 7. Beneil Dariush benefits from Fiziev’s performance by moving up to No. 5.
Check out the latest rankings update following UFC on ESPN 39 in the dropdown menus above.
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.