The UFC has just updated their Top 15 rankings following 298 in Anaheim, but who are the biggest winners and losers from the update?
Not including Ilia Topuria’s debut in the pound-for-pound rankings, 27 UFC fighters saw their Top 15 markers being updated following UFC 298 last weekend – 10 of whom fought in Anaheim.
Undoubtedly the biggest ‘winners’ of the weekend were Ilia Topuria, the new featherweight world champion, and Merab Dvalishvili, who is now next in line to fight for the bantamweight championship – but where else did the rankings change and for whom?
Top 15 divisional rankings updated after UFC 298 in Anaheim
In terms of changes to their rankings, the ‘winners’ of UFC 298 were Ilia Topuria (+3), Ian Machado Garry (+4), and Miranda Maverick (NR) – the only substantial ‘loser’ in terms of rankings was Henry Cejudo (-3).
Pound-for-pound: Ilia Topuria debuted in the men’s pound-for-pound rankings at #6, bumping up both Leon Edwards and Alex Pereira by one place.
Alexander Volkanovski slipped to #7, with Sean O’Malley, Dricus Du Plessis, Alexandre Pantoja, and Israel Adesanya losing one place each – Sean Strickland dropped two places.
Bantamweight: Merab Dvalishvili improved to #1 in the division and was guaranteed the next title shot by Dana White at the post-fight press conference – Cory Sandhagen, Petr Yan, and Marlon Vera all moved up one place each.
Aljamain Sterling dropped to #2 but will likely be removed from the rankings with his upcoming featherweight debut at UFC 300, as Henry Cejudo dropped to #6.
Featherweight: Ilia Topuria now sits atop the division’s throne, rising from #3 in the immediate aftermath of clinching that shiny gold belt in the UFC 298 main event. Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway, and Yair Rodriguez all dropped one place.
Welterweight: Ian Machado Garry improved four places to land as the #6 welterweight in the world, and improving his undefeated record to 14-0 in the process. Sean Brady, Stephen Thompson, Geoff Neal, and Vicente Luque all drop one place in return.
Middleweight: Anthony Hernandez moved up to #13, Jack Hermansson was given a one-place boost, as was Brendan Allen – Robert Whittaker retains his #3 spot with a decision win over Costa, who drops to #7. Chris Curtis and Caio Borralho also seeing minor drops near the end of the Top 15 rankings.
Heavyweight: Marcos Rogerio de Lima moved up one place to #14, albeit due to his opponent being a very short-notice replacement for the injured Justin Tafa. Rodrigo Nascimento is the one who swaps with de Lima and is now the #15 ranked heavyweight in the UFC.
Women’s strawweight: Amanda Ribas improved her rankings by one place and is now in #7, whilst Amanda Lemos stays at #3 and Mackenzie Dern drops one place to #8.
Women’s flyweight: Miranda Maverick enters the Top 15 at #14 with her big win at UFC 298. Jasmine Jasudavicius drops down to #15.
Divisions that didn’t see any rankings movement at all were the men’s flyweight, lightweight, and light heavyweight; the women’s pound-for-pound rankings and Top 15 bantamweights also saw no changes.