The fights held at UFC 263 had a significant impact on the UFC rankings. The main beneficiaries were champions Israel Adesanya and Brandon Moreno.
Adesanya, the middleweight champion, added one more defense of his belt and got rid of the bad taste in his mouth of the loss to Jan Blachowicz at light heavyweight. Moreno dethroned Brazilian Deiveson Figueiredo by submission. These victories helped them to advance in the promoter’s rankings.
Adesanya rises in pound-for-pound rankings and Moreno appears for the first time
Other weekend winners such as Belal Muhammad, Paul Craig, and Lauren Murphy also reaped the rewards of their performances over the weekend. Here’s a rundown of the major movements in the rankings.
Pound for Pound – Adesanya moves up to #3 and drops Alexander Volkanovski to #4. Charles Oliveira moves up one spot and is now #10. The same happened to Robert Whittaker who is now #11. Brandon Moreno appears for the first time, occupying the #12 spot. While Deiveson Figueiredo drops from #10 and leaves the ranking.
Fullweight – No changes.
Semi-Fullweight – Paul Craig moves up two spots and is now at #12. Misha Cirkunov drops to #13, and Jimmy Crute drops to #14.
Middleweight – Jared Cannonier moves up to #3 due to the loss of Vettori who is now #4.
Welterweight – Belal Muhammad moves up three rungs to #9 after defeating Demian Maia. The Brazilian drops only to #11 and knocks Li Jingliang down to #12.
Lightweight – Brad Riddell enters the rankings for the first time, at #13. The loss costs Drew Dober to drop out of the rankings.
Featherweight – Movsar Evloev moves up one spot and is now #13 after defeating Hakeem Dawodu. Shane Burgos moves up to #14 and Alex Caceres is listed at #15.
Bantamweight – No change.
Flyweight – Brandon Moreno is the new champion, Deiveson Figueiredo is now the #1 contender.
Women’s Rankings
Pound for Pound – Aspen Ladd and Katlyn Chookagian swap the #10 and #11 spots. Lauren Murphy enters at #13 after defeating Calderwood. Yan Xiaonan and Julianna Pena drop to #14 and #15 respectively.
Bantamweight – Pannie Kianzad moves up to #10 and drops Lina Lansberg to #11.
Flyweight – No change. Interestingly, Lauren Murphy moved up in the pound-for-pound rankings, but not in her division. Strawweight – No change.
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