Pound For Pound Rankings
Volkanovski defeated Max Holloway for the third time, this was his fourth defense of his UFC featherweight title.
Usman suffers his first loss in the UFC, after getting knocked out in his title fight vs. Leon Edwards at UFC 278.
Johnson captures another major belt to add to his collection, this time the ONE Championship flyweight title, as he defeated Adriano Moraes at ONE On Prime Video 1: Moraes vs. Johnson 2
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.
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.
Edwards captures the UFC welterweight title at UFC 278, by knocking out Kamaru Usman in the fifth round of their title fight.
Bader dominated his opponent from start to finish utilizing his main strengths, wrestling and ground and pound.
Prochazka wins a thriller in the fifth round at UFC 275 to claim the first UFC title for the Czech Republic.
Honorable Mentions
The 31-year-old former middleweight champion has solidified himself as the clear No. 2 in the division, as he and Adesanya are simply above the competition.
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, Oct. 4: Yan Xiaonan shakes up strawweight
UFC, Bellator, and ONE Championship all had events causing changes in the Oct. 4 edition of the USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings.
The main event of UFC Fight Night 211 saw Yan Xiaonan defeat Mackenzie Dern in a 25-minute clash of styles. Yan entered the contest at No. 9, but her win shakes up the division, claiming Dern’s No.5 position, and bumping her defeated opponent to No. 6.
Bellator 286 was capped by a featherweight title fight, where Patricio Freire defeated Adam Borics by unanimous decision. Freire’s victory moves him past Max Holloway to take the No. 2 spot at featherweight.
At ONE on Prime Video 2, Jing Nana Xiong picked up another hard-fought win over Angela Lee to defend the strawweight title in their trilogy bout. As a result, Xiong moves up one spot to take No. 12 among women’s strawweights.
Check out all the latest pound-for-pound and divisional USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings below.
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.