UFC 280 was inarguably the biggest and most important card for the promotion this year.
The pay-per-view event not only saw a new champion get crowned at lightweight but seemingly also found their new top bantamweight contender causing some significant shuffle in the rankings.
Islam Makhachev is No.3 in the UFC P4P rankings
The latest UFC rankings update on their official website shows that the new lightweight titleholder Islam Makhachev has entered the pound-for-pound list at No.3. Ahead of him are middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and P4P king Alexander Volkanovski. Khabib Nurmagomedov called out ‘The Great’ on Makhachev’s behalf at UFC 280 and pushed for a fight in Australia next year for the lightweight strap and the No.1 pound-for-pound spot.
Former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira has dropped four spots and is currently ranked at No.7 in the list, while Leon Edwards and Jiri Prochazka have gained a spot each. Other fighters who have dropped a spot in the pound-for-pound rankings are Francis Ngannou, Deiveson Figueiredo, Jon Jones, Max Holloway, and surprisingly, Aljamain Sterling. Dustin Poirier lost three spots as well.
Sean O’Malley climbs 10 spots, Conor McGregor drops again
Sean O’Malley, who was previously ranked No.11 in the bantamweight division, jumped 10 spots after his controversial win over Petr Yan. He is now the No.1 contender in the division and seemingly next in line to challenge Aljamain Sterling for the 135-pound belt.
However, many MMA personalities, including Dana White, felt that Petr Yan won the fight and the judges made a mistake in giving the win to O’Malley. Several UFC fighters spoke up against the decision right after the bout was over and called the scoredcard a “robbery.”
Veteran referee John McCarthy said in a new Weighing In clip that he was impressed with O’Malley’s performance, but believes Yan deserved the victory and that ‘Sugar’ is not yet ready to face the champion.
Watch McCarthy’s comment below from 5:15 mark:
T.J. Dillashaw, who lost to Sterling in the co-main event title fight, dropped three spots to No.5.
Among the other UFC 280 fighters was Beneil Dariush, who has gained two spots and is now No. 4 in the lightweight rankings. His opponent Mateusz Gamrot, despite losing, has gained one spot. Belal Muhammad has gone up by one spot in the welterweight rankings, while Nikita Krylov has climbed two spots in the light heavyweight division.
Conor McGregor has slid down by yet another spot in the lightweight rankings and is currently at No.13.