UFC Rankings Update: Sean O'Malley moves up despite no contest, Tony Ferguson out of top 10 for first time in 7 years, Aljamain Sterling passes Dustin Poirier on P4P list
UFC 276 continues to have an effect on the UFC rankings this week, as well as the latest round of results from UFC Fight Night: dos Anjos vs. Fiziev.
A surprising change has involved bantamweight Sean O'Malley. 'Sugar' has seen himself climb one up one place as the new No.12 in the 135lb division despite his fight with Pedro Munhoz being ruled a no contest. Veteran Frankie Edgar has also moved one place to No.11, even though he's on a two-fight skid.
The final change at bantamweight will leave Ricky Simon feeling hard done by. The 29-year-old has fallen two places to No.13 despite being on a four-fight winning run.
Meanwhile, Tony Ferguson's four-fight losing streak has cost him his place in the lightweight top 10 for the first time since 2015, per Fight Matrix. 'El Cucuy' drops two places to No.11.
Elsewhere, Rafael Fiziev's fifth-round stoppage against Rafael dos Anjos this past weekend has been rewarded in the UFC rankings. 'Ataman' has climbed three places to No.7 in the lightweight division.
'RDA', meanwhile, has dropped one place, as has Mateusz Gamrot. The last change at 155lbs is Arman Tsarukyan, who's gained one place.
The men's pound-for-pound UFC rankings have also seen a major shake-up in the top 10. Max Holloway's loss to Alexander Volkanovski has seen him drop a further two places this week to the No.10 spot. Bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling has also swapped places with Dustin Poirier to reach a career-high No.6. Lastly, flyweight king Deiveson Figueiredo has climbed into the top 10, sitting at No.8.
There are also minor changes in the middleweight and featherweight divisions. British prospect Arnold Allen has fallen one place to No.6 at 145lbs, while Marvin Vettori has dropped one place to No.3 at 185lbs.
In the heavyweight division, Alexandr Romanov and Shamil Abdurakhimov swap places to No.12 and No.13, respectively. Women's bantamweight Karol Rosa also sees herself climb one place to No.12.
The final changes to the UFC rankings are in the women's flyweight division. Casey O'Neill, Erin Blanchfield and Tracey Cortez all moved up one place outside the division's top 10, while Cynthia Calvillo fell yet again, dropping down to No.12. Manon Fiorot is the only climber amongst the top 10, swapping places with Viviane Araujo.
Michael Bisping believes Alexander Volkanovski must defeat Charles Oliveira to be No.1 in the P4P UFC rankings
Alexander Volkanovski's stunning performance against Max Holloway at UFC 276 has had many fans believing that the Australian should be the No.1 pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC rankings..
UFC Hall of Famer and former middleweight champion Michael Bisping has had his say. He feels that the featherweight champion is likely only one win away from achieving that feat, which he thinks needs to come against Charles Oliveira.
He said in a YouTube video:
"First of all, Oliveira needs to be the next fight, in my humble opinion, for Alexander Volkanovski. That allows him to firmly establish himself, Volkanovski, as the pound-for-pound number one. Right now, that title does belong to Kamaru Usman."
Volkanovski has previously expressed his desire to move up a division. The 145lb champ is undefeated in the UFC and is open to the idea of taking the step up to 155lbs.
Should the 33-year-old find success at lightweight, he'll have followed a similar career path to that of UFC star Conor McGregor.
Catch Michael Bisping's video here: