These are the UFC Power Rankings heading into the weekend:
1. Ilia Topuria:
Ilia Topuria is now the new pound-for-pound fighter in the world after knocking out Charles Oliveira in the first round, on Saturday. From the go, both fighters met in the middle of the ring with the action hitting the mat soon after. For a moment, it looked like Oliveira was about to lock in an ankle lock with Topuria going for a ground and pound. At that moment, both fighters decided to stand back up which led to Topuria getting the knock out within six strikes. Now that we have a new number one fighter, it’s up to the former one to fight his way back to the top.
2. Islam Makhachev:
Islam Makhachev falls to second, after Topuria’s convincing win over Oliveira. This isn’t really a knock on Makhachev but more or so how impressive Topuria was. That being said, Makhachev should be thirsty to fight Jack Della Maddalena as soon as possible since he’s been running his mouth about Topuria on social media. For now, we’ll have to wait for an announcement from Dana White as to when this fight with JDM will happen.
3. Dricus Du Plessis:
Dricus Du Plessis moves up to the third spot while gearing up for his next fight against Khamzat Chimaev. That fight will take place at UFC 319, which is in Chicago. A lot of people may disagree with this ranking since both fighters under him deserve this spot. However, anyone who can dominate Sean Strickland the way DDP has done deserves this spot. You can make an argument for Merab Dvalishvili and I would agree with you; however, DDP is a great fighter and until he’s dethroned, he had this spot.
4. Merab Dvalishvili:
Merab Dvalishvili defeated Sean O’Malley via submission this past weekend at UFC 316. This extended his winning streak to 13 as he broke down Sean easily and cemented his legacy like we talked about in the Fight Club of Pain. Now the champ can rest while he waits for his next challenger to step up. I’m sure we’ll know the frontrunner soon enough but for now, Dvalishvili moves into the fourth spot.
5. Alexandre Pantoja:
Alexandre Pantoja dismantled Kai Kara-France within two rounds giving us those fireworks I talked about for weeks. Not only did Pantoja out-class Kara-France on their feet, he also took him down immediately and held him there for most of the fight. That’s when the opportunity to choke out Kara-France, finally presented itself, leading to Pantoja tapping him out.
6. Alexander Volkanovski:
Alexander “The Great” Volkanovski makes his debut as my sixth ranked fighter this week. Volk should have been on this list after long time ago but now that he’s here let’s talk about what he did to Diego Lopes. In their fight, Volkanovski kept the fight on their fight in which many people thought was a stupid decision. Instead he threw down with Lopes before taking him down and winning the fight. I’m sure we’ll hear about what’s next for Volk soon enough but for now we’ll welcome to the party that Jon Jones ducked out of.
7. Tom Aspinall:
Tom Aspinall finally received his answer from Jones about their fight and it was answered with his retirement. That means Ciryl Gane becomes the matchup that everyone wants to see. Tom also mentioned that he wouldn’t mind fighting Jailton Almeida and Alexander Volkov, who he has beaten before. However, with so many people talking about how Tom can’t handle Gane, you can bet that when this fight goes down, Tom will bring the pain.
8. Magomed Ankalaev:
Magomed Ankalaev has since settled into being the champion since defeating Alex Pereira. Ankalaev has said that the contract is all but signed, but we’re waiting on this match until Pereira is ready. Once it’s officially announced, you can bet that we’ll all be ready to see if Poatan can bring the pain, this time around. Till then we all wait for Uncle Dana to give us the word.
9. Jack Della Maddalena:
After defeating Belal Muhammad I removed him from the list until there’s a clear path for a rematch or title bout. Unfortunately for JDM, Makhachev is coming for him so he better get ready because Islam is nothing like Muhammed. He’ll run right through you if you stand there and if it goes to the mats, it’s most likely over. However, the champ does have a fighting chance and defending Belal’s takedowns aren’t easy. Hopefully this fight gets signed soon but I would be surprised to see this one around the holidays.
10. Alex Pereira:
Alex Pereira looks like he’ll be getting a rematch with Magomed Ankalaev as soon as he’s ready. Alex did say that he didn’t feel ready when asked about 317 but that doesn’t mean he isn’t ready to throw kana at Ank. Alex recently said “No one knows he’s champion,” after Ankalaev decided to talk trash after turning down the rematch a few weeks back. Since then Alex has been enjoying his time off while he gets ready for his rematch with Ank. He even grew his hair back and has been leaving videos of his training recently which could spell trouble for Ankalaev once the date is set. CHAMA!
