Hello everyone, and welcome back to another week of UFC rankings. With UFC Edmonton behind us, we now look ahead to UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi.
This week’s main event features two championship fights, giving us plenty to sink our teeth into. The main event pits Alexander Volkanovski against Movsar Evloev as he puts his title on the line, while the co-main event features the rubber match between Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili.
That being said, let’s get to this week’s rankings and see who made it. Have a great day, everyone, and may the fights be with you.
MORE: UFC Edmonton results, video highlights for Joaquin Buckley vs Mike Malott
Ranks 10-6
10. Justin Gaethje:
Justin Gaethje defeated Ilia Topuria at UFC Freedom 250 to become the sole Lightweight Champion in the world. Gaethje is still ranked ninth, following this huge upset of the god-like Topuria. There’s a lot of talk that Gaethje could step down and retire as champion, but there are rumblings that Arman Tsarukyan could be his opponent before that happens.
9. Joshua Van:
Joshua Van moved up to ninth spot after he defended his title against Alexandre Pantoja, who also recorded five takedowns in the process. A lot of people felt that this was Pantoja’s pathway to success, which ended up coming up short for him. However, later in the fight, Van started to dominate the striking exchanges by the end of the fight, which led to the judges studying with the champ.
8. Max Holloway:
Max Holloway defeated Conor McGregor in under two minutes at UFC 329, after McGregor tried a spinning kick, which resulted in tearing up his knee. Now that Holloway officially won, he should be looking for either a title shot or another big-name fighter to put to sleep. For now, Holloway can take any match that comes his way since he didn’t even break a sweat against McGregor.
7. Charles Oliveira:
Charles “Do Bronx” Oliveira finally has a fight to talk about, and it’s against Diego Lopes at UFC 335 on December 12th. This will not only be the main event for the card, but this match will also be for the BMF Championship as well. With Lopes’s recent success leading him to this match, you can expect a war, but if this fight hits the ground, Lopes could find himself locked up by one of the greatest finishers in MMA history.
6. Alex Pereira:
Alex Pereira will be taking on Sergei Pavlovich in the co-main event at UFC 335 in Las Vegas. With this being the last card of the year, this fight is going to have a lot of implications for the heavyweight division going into 2027. With how great Pavlovich has looked recently, Poatan should be worried, especially after being knocked out by Ciryl Gane. CHAMA!
Top 5
5. Ilia Topuria:
Ilia Topuria has slipped to fifth on this list after losing badly to Justin Gaethje at UFC Freedom 250. It wasn’t just how he lost, but how his god-like complex got in the way of his goals. Since then, he’s back to ranting on X, making himself look more lost than we already thought he was. Topuria has also been pushing for a rematch that Gaethje isn’t interested in at all.
4. Merab Dvalishvili:
Merab Dvalishvili will be facing Petr Yan at UFC 333 on October 24th, this week. This fight is going to be exciting to see, since all of us have been patiently waiting for Dvalishvili to win back his belt. That is usually easier said than done, and he’ll have to take down Yan more this time if he wants his Bantamweight Championship back. Regardless, after Dvalishvili said he wants to rip his head off, you can only assume this match may get bloody.
3. Sean Strickland:
Sean Strickland remains at the third spot as he continues to enjoy his time as champion. However, after Dricus Du Plessis defeated Kamaru Usman, DDP feels that a third match with Strickland is in order, since he’s already beaten him twice. However, Strickland recently took to social media to talk about his pay and his desire for more money for his next title defense. This could get hairy, but in the end, I see Strickland eventually defending his title early next year.
2. Alexander Volkanovski:
Alexander “The Great” Volkanovski will be fighting Movsar Evloev at UFC 333 this Saturday, in Abu Dhabi. This exciting clash will take place as the main event as we see a battle between an up and coming star in Evloev, to the greatness we know at Volkanovski. Stylistically, both are similar in their approach, but with a ton of tricks up the trunk for Volk, he could easily retain. For now, we’ll have to wait, but you can bet that this fight is going to be one for the ages.
1. Islam Makhachev:
Islam Makhachev is still the number-one pound-for-pound fighter in the world, and there’s no doubt about it. After dismantling Ian Machado-Garry at UFC 330, the champ can now sit back and enjoy the rest of the year, with some time off. I say that because I don’t see Makhachev fighting again till early spring if we’re lucky. Till then, we get to talk about a bunch of rumors and hope that maybe we’ll see Lord Makhachev sooner rather than later. SMESH!
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