MMA Pound-for-Pound Rankings: Does Alex Pereira have a case for No. 1?

Welcome to the newest replace to the MMA Preventing pound-for-pound rankings, the place each month our esteemed panel kind via the noise to reply one query: Who’re the most effective total female and male MMA fighters on this planet?

Let’s check out how issues stand following per week of chaos at UFC 303.

Alex Pereira continues to hold the UFC on his again.

MMA’s final anomaly as soon as once more saved the day at UFC 303, parachuting in on minimal discover and sending Jiri Prochazka to the land of wind and ghosts to defend his UFC mild heavyweight title and salvage what might’ve in any other case been a disastrous weekend for the game’s chief. Pereira has now pulled this feat off twice up to now three months, having ticked an identical field for UFC 300, and his one-of-a-kind résumé is starting to look fairly ridiculous.

Along with his newest conquest, Pereira even additional strengthens his grip on the No. 2 rating on our pound-for-pound record, even siphoning off one first-place vote from no-longer-unanimous high canine Islam Makhachev. However is there a pathway for the previous two-division GLORY king to rise to the very high of the record? That could be powerful in his present residence at mild heavyweight, but when Pereira (and Joe Rogan) can persuade UFC CEO Dana White to log out on a possible heavyweight transfer, and if “Poatan” in some way makes historical past by changing into UFC’s first three-division champ, his case for No. 1 could out of the blue turn into unassailable.

As for what’s forward, all eyes flip towards Manchester in July as No. 3 Leon Edwards and No. 12 Tom Aspinall defend their positions with rematches in opposition to extraordinarily powerful unranked foes — Belal Muhammad and Curtis Blaydes, respectively — in a celebration of English fisticuffs at UFC 304.

Current outcomes for ranked fighters (earlier rating proven): No. 2 Alex Pereira def. Jiri Prochazka

Upcoming bouts that includes ranked fighters: No. 3 Leon Edwards vs. Belal Muhammad (UFC 304, July 27), No. 12 Tom Aspinall vs. Curtis Blaydes (UFC 304, July 27)

Fighters additionally receiving votes (variety of poll appearances proven): Khamzat Chimaev (3), Anatoly Malykhin (2), Belal Muhammad (2), Kamaru Usman (2), Patricio Pitbull (2), A.J. McKee (1), Dustin Poirier (1), Johnny Eblen (1), Justin Gaethje (1), Kyoji Horiguchi (1) Usman Nurmagomedov (1)

Falling out of the rankings (earlier rating proven): No. 19 Khamzat Chimaev

Welcome to the pound-for-pound record, Macy Chiasson!

The TUF 28 queen scored her largest win so far on Saturday at UFC 303 when she carved a horror movie-esque gash into the brow of latest title challenger Mayra Bueno Silva. Chiasson had struggled break via in previous alternatives in opposition to elite competitors, however her bloody TKO stoppage of Silva was simply what the physician ordered, propelling her to a No. 19 spot on our pound-for-pound rankings and into the brink of title rivalry within the wide-open UFC ladies’s bantamweight division.

Wanting forward, July’s two largest ladies’s bouts are available back-to-back UFC headliners as No. 15 Rose Namajunas takes on Tracy Cortez in the primary occasion of UFC Denver, adopted by No. 16 Amanda Lemos taking middle stage in opposition to Virna Jandiroba at UFC Vegas 94.

Current outcomes for ranked fighters (earlier rating proven): No. 13 Liz Carmouche def. Kana Watanabe, Macy Chiasson def. No. 16 Mayra Bueno Silva, No. 19 Taila Santos def. Jena Bishop

Upcoming bouts that includes ranked fighters: No. 15 Rose Namajunas vs. Tracy Cortez (UFC Denver, July 13), No. 16 Amanda Lemos vs. Virna Jandiroba (UFC Vegas 94, July 20)

Fighters additionally receiving votes (variety of poll appearances proven): Maycee Barber (6), Virna Jandiroba (2), Natalia Silva (2), Marina Rodriguez (1), Irene Aldana (1), Lauren Murphy (1), Ketlen Vieira (1)

Falling out of the rankings (earlier rating proven): No. 20 Maycee Barber

Lastly, a refresher on some floor guidelines:

The seven-person voting panel consists of MMA Preventing staffers Shaun Al-Shatti, Alexander Okay. Lee, Guilherme Cruz, Mike Heck, E. Casey Leydon, Damon Martin and Jed Meshew.
Updates to the rankings will likely be accomplished following each UFC pay-per-view. Fighters will likely be faraway from the rankings if they don’t compete inside 18 months of their most up-to-date bout.
Ought to a fighter announce their retirement, our panel will determine whether or not that fighter ought to instantly be faraway from the rankings or preserve their place till additional discover (let’s put it this manner: we’d have taken Khabib Nurmagomedov out of our rankings quite a bit faster than the UFC did).

As a reminder, the notion of pound-for-pound supremacy is at all times going to inherently be subjective. Once you’re debating whether or not somebody like Justin Gaethje must be ranked above somebody like Max Holloway, there isn’t any true proper reply. In different phrases: It’s not severe enterprise, people.

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