Paulo Costa, Yair Rodriguez and more: 5 UFC fighters who are arguably too highly ranked right now
February 2023 marks 10 years since the UFC introduced its rankings system. For the most part, they’ve been a big success, despite the odd complaint.
While the UFC’s rankings have added plenty to the promotion, every now and then it’s arguable that some fighters are ranked a little too highly.
Right now is no different. There are a handful of fighters who, while talented in their own right, probably don’t deserve their spot in the rankings, whether that’s in the top five or top 15.
Here are five UFC fighters who are arguably too highly ranked right now.
#5. Yair Rodriguez - No.2 in the UFC featherweight rankings
February 2023 will see a fight between Yair Rodriguez and Josh Emmett for the interim UFC featherweight title. It’s likely that Rodriguez will go in as a slight favorite.
If ‘El Pantera’ wins, then nobody will really be able to talk him down, but right now, is he arguably too highly ranked? It’s definitely a fair question.
Rodriguez is currently ranked at No.2 in the featherweight division, behind only Max Holloway and reigning champion Alexander Volkanovski. But while the Mexican is a massively talented and entertaining fighter, he doesn’t really have the record to back up his ranking.
Rodriguez has just one win in 2022. While it came over a highly rated fighter in Brian Ortega, it was also caused by a shoulder injury rather than anything ‘El Pantera’ did.
Brian Ortega's shoulder popped out 😰
Yair Rodriguez takes the win in the first-round but an unfortunate way to end a much anticipated fight.
#UFCLongIsland https://t.co/uGBO0wNIyJ
And while he pushed Holloway close in a losing effort in their 2021 bout, that fight was his first since October 2019, when he beat Jeremy Stephens.
Essentially, Rodriguez’s only relevant win is over 'The Korean Zombie', and that came all the way back in November 2018!
So should one victory since the start of 2020, via an injury, put ‘El Pantera’ at No.2 in his division? It’s difficult to justify, regardless of his talent.
#4. Dominick Reyes - No.13 in the UFC light heavyweight rankings
This week saw former UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson slip out of the rankings for the first time in seven years. It was a justifiable decision, given that ‘El Cucuy’ is on the back of a five-fight losing streak and hasn’t won since 2019.
However, if Ferguson was removed, then it begs the question as to why Dominick Reyes didn’t slip out of the light heavyweight rankings too. Instead, ‘The Devastator’ remains ranked at No.13.
Quite how this is remains somewhat of a mystery. Three years ago, Reyes was the hottest prospect in the division. He’d won his first six octagon bouts in a row and had beaten Volkan Oezdemir and Chris Weidman in impressive showings.
In fact, had the judges seen things slightly differently, he’d have dethroned Jon Jones for the light heavyweight title in February 2020.
Since that close loss, though, it’s been all downhill for ‘The Devastator’. After losing to Jan Blachowicz in a fight for the title vacated by Jones, he’s only fought twice. Those two fights – against Jiri Prochazka and Ryan Spann – have seen him knocked out violently.
SUPERMAN RYAN SPANN OH MY!!!!!!! 😱
@Superman_Spann leaves Dom Reyes LAYING. WOW. #UFC281 https://t.co/b6wh30EmAl
When you consider that his last win came over Weidman in October 2019, then, it’s hard to justify his continued presence in the top 15. Sure, light heavyweight is a thinner division than lightweight, but to see a fighter still ranked despite a four-fight losing streak over three years is still pretty crazy.
#3. Pedro Munhoz - No.9 in the UFC bantamweight rankings
When hot prospect Sean O’Malley was matched with Pedro Munhoz in July 2022, UFC fans rejoiced over the fact that ‘Sugar’ was finally going to be tested by an elite-level foe.
However, whether ‘The Young Punisher’ is elite at this point – and whether he still belongs in the top 10 at 135 pounds – is really up for debate.
A few years ago, there’s no denying that Munhoz was definitely a dark horse title contender at bantamweight. His wins over the likes of Rob Font and Cody Garbrandt were hugely impressive, after all.
However, since he broke into contention with that win over Garbrandt, the Brazilian has only won one more fight. That win came over Jimmie Rivera in February 2021 and Rivera was released by the UFC directly afterwards.
In between, Munhoz has suffered losses to Aljamain Sterling, Frankie Edgar, Jose Aldo and Dominick Cruz, while his bout with O’Malley ended in a no contest.
Munhoz vs. O'Malley ruled a no contest after an unintentional eye poke. #UFC276 https://t.co/Mfda0tF640
Sure, all of those fighters are or were highly rated, but the fact that a fighter who is currently 1-4-1 in his last six bouts remains ranked in the top 10 feels a little strange, especially when hot prospects like Chris Gutierrez and Adrian Yanez sit below him.
More bizarrely, Munhoz actually moved up one place in the most recent rankings update, making things stranger still.
#2. Darren Till - No.15 in the UFC middleweight rankings
While his status as the UFC’s biggest star has never been in question, many fans would scoff at the fact that Conor McGregor was still ranked in the top 15 at lightweight up to this month.
That’s because despite his star power, ‘The Notorious’ had only won one fight at 155 pounds, his knockout of Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight title back in 2016.
With that considered, it’s definitely worth questioning why Darren Till is currently ranked at No.15 in the middleweight division.
When he’s on form, ‘The Gorilla’ is a great fighter to watch. He’s a concussive striker with underrated technical ability and excellent finishing skills. However, the fact is that his biggest wins in the octagon all came at 170 pounds, where he beat the likes of Donald Cerrone and Stephen Thompson.
Since moving to 185 pounds in late 2019, he’s recorded just one victory, a tight split decision over Kelvin Gastelum in his divisional debut.
Darren Till picked one of the hardest fights he could find for his middleweight debut...
And he looked outstanding 🙌
Catch the highlights from The Gorilla's massive bounce-back win over Kelvin Gastelum at #UFC244 https://t.co/95QLc8gYu5
Outside of that, he’s lost three fights in a row. While he did well against Robert Whittaker, a loss in a close fight shouldn’t help in terms of the rankings.
Given that he only has one middleweight win to his name and that came more than three years ago, quite how Till remains ranked is a mystery of sorts, particularly after his loss to Dricus du Plessis this month.
#1. Paulo Costa - No.6 in the UFC middleweight rankings
Paulo Costa has found himself in the MMA news on plenty of occasions in recent weeks. Most recently, his planned fight with Robert Whittaker in February has been called off, reportedly because the Brazilian couldn’t come to terms with the UFC in terms of his pay.
‘The Eraser’ is an excellent, exciting fighter to watch, but whether he’s worth a major pay raise is a fair question for Dana White and company to ask. It’s also fair to ask whether he warrants his high ranking of No.6 in the middleweight division right now.
Three years ago, there was no denying that he was one of the hottest fighters in the division. The Brazilian was still unbeaten and had picked up the biggest win of his career by outpointing the dangerous Yoel Romero in the summer of 2019.
Since then, though, he’s only fought three times. In that time, he has only won once, edging out aging former champion Luke Rockhold, who retired directly after their fight.
A big win for @BorrachinhaMMA - how did you score that one? #UFC278 https://t.co/PRxM0hVTtD
Meanwhile, he hardly impressed in his losses to Israel Adesanya and Marvin Vettori, particularly as he failed to make weight for the latter bout.
Overall, then, while it’s probably fair to argue that ‘The Eraser’ does deserve a pay rise for his popularity and exciting style, he probably doesn’t deserve to be ranked quite so highly in the middleweight division.