Justin Gaethje’s knockout of Dustin Poirier on Saturday on the Delta Middle in Salt Lake Metropolis, Utah, in the principle occasion of UFC 291 was arrange superbly and handed “The Spotlight” what could also be his most important victory.
It additionally put him again within the Yahoo Sports activities GBP Rankings, which have been up to date for the primary time since June 20. With two UFC pay-per-views in July, I selected to attend for each to be finalized to replace the rankings.
UFC featherweight champion Aleksandr Volkanovski was in third place, however he jumped to second place, swapping spots with light-weight champ Islam Makhachev after Volkanovski’s dominant win over Yair Rodriguez.
However a KO of Gaethje knocked Henry Cejudo out of the tenth place within the rankings. Though Cejudo misplaced to heavyweight champion Aljamin Sterling at UFC 288 in Could, he has fought properly after an absence of almost three years and has earned a spot on the planet rankings.
On Saturday, although, Gaethje and heavyweight Alex Pereira made a case for the spot. The revered Gaethje KO’d Poirier, whereas Pereira slipped previous former heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz within the co-main occasion of UFC 291.
Pereira is 2-1 in his final three bouts, beating former Middleweight Champion and former Heavyweight Champion over dropping to Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya.
Nonetheless, Gaethje was in for successful. He’s now 25-4 however is 7-2 in his final 9. He misplaced to Khabib Nurmagomedov, arguably one of many 5 best fighters in UFC historical past, and Charles Oliveira in a light-weight battle. However in that interval he defeated Poirier, Rafael Feziev, Michael Chandler, Tony Ferguson, Donald Cerrone, Edson Barboza and James Vick.
This does some work, and it places it in my rating at #10.
Nothing has modified on the ladies’s facet, however with so many prime fighters energetic within the subsequent couple of months, there ought to be a change there quickly as properly.
Pound-for-pound males’s MMA rankings as of August 1st
1. Jon Jones (27-1), UFC Heavyweight Champion. Earlier rating: 1.
2. Alexander Volkanovsky (25-2), UFC Featherweight Champion. Earlier rating: 3.
3. Islam Makhachchev (24-1) UFC Light-weight Champion. Earlier rating: 2.
4. Israel Adesanya (24-2), UFC Middleweight Champion. Earlier rating: 4.
5. Leon Edwards (21-3), UFC Welterweight Champion. Earlier rating: 5.
6. Khamzat Chimaev (12-0) UFC Middleweight/Middleweight contender. Earlier rating: 6.
7. Algemeen Sterling (23-3) UFC Bantamweight Champion. Earlier rating: 7.
8. Kamaru Usman (20-3), former UFC welterweight champion. Earlier rating: 8.
9. Charles Oliveira (33-9), former UFC light-weight champion. Earlier rating: 9.
10. Justin Gaethje (25-4), UFC BMF Champion. Earlier rating: NR.
Girls’s MMA rankings as of August 1
1. Juliana Peña (12-5), UFC bantamweight competitor. Earlier rating: 1.
2. Alexa Grasso (16-3), UFC Flyweight Champion. Earlier rating: 2.
3. Valentina Shevchenko (23-4), UFC flyweight competitor. Earlier rating: 3.
4. Zhang Weili (23-3), UFC strawweight champion. Earlier rating: 4.
5. Erin Blanchfield (11-1), UFC flyweight contender. Earlier rating: 5.
6. Manon Fiorot (10-1), UFC flyweight contender. Earlier rating: 6.
7. Tila Santos (19-2), UFC flyweight contender. Earlier rating: 7.
8. Amanda Lemos (13-2-1), UFC strawweight competitor. Earlier rating: 8.
9. Raquel Pennington (15-8), UFC bantamweight contender. Earlier rating: 9.
10. Larissa Pacheco (21-4), 2022 PFL Light-weight Champion. Earlier rating: 10.