Advertisement

MMA pound-for-pound rankings: Israel Adesanya rises after devastating KO of Alex Pereira

Kevin Iole
Senior boxing/MMA columnist
·3 min read
4
MIAMI, FLORIDA - APRIL 08: Alex Pereira of Brazil and Israel Adesanya of Nigeria exchange strikes during their Middleweight fight at Kaseya Center on April 08, 2023 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
Israel Adesanya knocked Alex Pereira out cold to regain the UFC middleweight championship. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

There were no additions nor subtractions from the Yahoo Sports MMA pound-for-pound rankings, though the men’s order was shuffled a bit.

Israel Adesanya, who once was as high as No. 2 in the Yahoo Sports rankings, moved up to fourth from eighth after his devastating second-round knockout of former middleweight champion Alex Pereira on Saturday in the main event of UFC 287 in Miami, Florida.

That pushed welterweight champion Leon Edwards down a spot to fifth and welterweight/middleweight contender Khamzat Chimaev to sixth. Ex-welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and ex-lightweight champion Charles Oliveira each slid down one spot to accommodate Adesanya’s rise.

The rankings should be in for a big shuffle in May given that former two division champion Henry Cejudo is returning from retirement to challenge Aljamain Sterling for the bantamweight title.

Sterling has just missed out on making the Top 10, and a win over Cejudo or even a strong performance in a loss to the all-time great could see him jump in. Cejudo almost certainly will be ranked win or lose unless he gets completely dominated.

On the women’s side, nothing changed as none of the Top 10 fought and no one else made a case for themselves. Former champion Rose Namajunas is on the verge of losing her spot in the rankings because she hasn’t fought for 11 months. If she surpasses a year, she is ineligible to be ranked unless she has a fight lined up.

Namajunas last fought when she lost a split decision to Carla Esparza on May 7, 2022. The rankings will next be updated after UFC 288 on May 6, which means that unless Namajunas signs a fight between now and then, she’s on the verge of leaving the rankings.

Men’s MMA pound-for-pound rankings as of April 11

  1. Jon Jones (27-1), UFC heavyweight champion. Previous Ranking: 1.

  2. Islam Makhachev (24-1), UFC lightweight champion. Previous Ranking: 2.

  3. Alexander Volkanovski (25-2), UFC featherweight champion. Previous Ranking: 3.

  4. Israel Adesanya (24-2), former UFC middleweight champion. Previous Ranking: 8.

  5. Leon Edwards (21-3), UFC welterweight champion. Previous Ranking: 4.

  6. Khamzat Chimaev (12-0) UFC welterweight/middleweight contender. Previous Ranking: 5.

  7. Kamaru Usman (20-3), former UFC welterweight champion. Previous Ranking: 6.

  8. Charles Oliveira (33-9), former UFC lightweight champion. Previous Ranking: 7.

  9. Jiri Prochazka (29-3), former UFC light heavyweight champion. Previous Ranking: 8.

  10. Brandon Moreno (21-6-2), UFC flyweight champion. Previous Ranking: 9.

Women’s MMA pound-for-pound rankings as of April 11

  1. Amanda Nunes (22-5), UFC bantamweight/featherweight champion. Previous Ranking: 1.

  2. Julianna Peña (12-5), former UFC bantamweight champion. Previous Ranking: 2.

  3. Alexa Grasso (16-3), UFC flyweight champion. Previous Ranking: 3.

  4. Valentina Shevchenko (23-4), former UFC flyweight champion. Previous Ranking: 4.

  5. Zhang Weili (23-3), UFC strawweight champion. Previous Ranking: 5.

  6. Cris Cyborg (26-2), Bellator featherweight champion. Previous Ranking: 6.

  7. Rose Namajunas (11-5), former UFC strawweight champion. Previous Ranking: 7.

  8. Erin Blanchfield (11-1), UFC flyweight contender. Previous Ranking: 8.

  9. Manon Fiorot (10-1), UFC flyweight contender. Previous Ranking: 9.

  10. Taila Santos (19-2), UFC flyweight contender. Previous Ranking: 10.