MMA Pound-for-Pound Rankings: Dricus du Plessis, Raquel Pennington rocket up the list

Welcome to essentially the latest update to the MMA Battling pound-for-pound rankings, where every month our esteemed panel kind through the noise to answer to one query: Who’re the supreme overall male and female MMA combatants on this planet?

With the first UFC pay-per-peep of 2024 within the books, how has the initiating of the MMA calendar affected the worldwide pound-for-pound panorama? Let’s recall a look.

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Dricus du Plessis is basically the latest UFC middleweight champion to flip the pound-for-pound rankings upside down.

For the fourth time in a row, the middleweight belt modified palms at its earliest likely change this previous weekend at UFC 297. This time it turned into as soon as du Plessis who seized the throne with a razor-end split decision over Sean Strickland. Precise because it did when Alex Pereira, Israel Adesanya, and Strickland all did the same earlier than him, the South African’s ascent brought on barely chaos within the males’s pound-for-pound ranks, as du Plessis vaulted up 9 spots to the No. 10 discipline, sending Strickland tumbling inspire down to a nonetheless reliable No. 15.

The wide query now: Who will abet as du Plessis’ first title protection? Each of his seemingly suggestions are ranked — No. 17 Adesanya and No. 18 Khamzat Chimaev — so the new UFC middleweight champ may possibly possibly well furthermore comprise a swift stand up this list if he’s succesful of ultimately bring some stability to one among the sport’s most unstable divisions over the final 14 months.

Having a look ahead, all eyes now flip toward Feb. 17 at UFC 298, where No. 2 Alexander Volkanovski seeks to continue defying Father Time when the oldest champion below 170 pounds in UFC history places his belt inspire on the line towards undefeated Ilia Topuria.

Most up-to-date outcomes for ranked combatants (outdated ranking shown): No. 19 Dricus du Plessis def. No. 10 Sean Strickland

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked combatants: No. 2 Alexander Volkanovski vs. Ilia Topuria (UFC 298, Feb. 17)

Warring parties furthermore receiving votes (series of ballotappearances shown): Jiri Prochazka (4), Johnny Eblen (3), Shavkat Rakhmonov (3), Brandon Moreno (2), Vadim Nemkov (1), Jamahal Hill (2), Robert Whittaker (2), Magomed Ankalaev (1), Jan Blachowicz (1), Merab Dvalishvili (1), A.J. McKee (1), Belal Muhammad (1), Usman Nurmagomedov (1)

Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Shots

MMA Battling

Eventually, some motion!

It’s been a sloggy couple of months for the girls’s pound-for-pound ranks, but Raquel Pennington ultimately injected some life inspire into this list by dominating Mayra Bueno Silva and ascending as the first UFC girls’s bantamweight champion of the put up-Nunes period. Mighty bask in du Plessis did on the males’s facet, Pennington rocketed up 9 spots to with ease slot in at No. 9 on our rankings, while Silva tumbled down to No. 17 in defeat.

Also of bid, RIZIN dapper atomweight champion Seika Izawa continued her precise climb, leaping up three spots to No. 14 after defeating Miyuu Yamamoto on Fresh Year’s Eve. While she may possibly possibly well furthermore merely no longer be a family name to western followers, Izawa is widely regarded as the tip atomweight in MMA, and at age 26, she may possibly possibly well furthermore be a fixture on this list for many future years.

As for what’s next, the upcoming slate is every other time light on bouts featuring the tip girls within the sport, on the opposite hand UFC 298 does comprise one nugget, as No. 20 Amanda Lemos faces off towards Macknezie Dern in a battle to reenter the strawweight title mix.

Most up-to-date outcomes for ranked combatants (outdated ranking shown): No. 18 Raquel Pennington def. No. 11 Mayra Bueno Silva, No. 17 Seika Izawa def. Miyuu Yamamoto

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked combatants: No. 20T Amanda Lemos vs. Mackenzie Dern (UFC 298, Feb. 17)

Warring parties furthermore receiving votes (series of ballotappearances shown): Mark Fairtex (5), Lauren Murphy (2), Ketlen Vieira (1), Maycee Barber (1), Katlyn Chookagian (1), Irene Aldana (1), Virna Jandiroba (1), Marina Rodriguez (1)

Lastly, a refresher on some floor tips:

• The eight-particular person voting panel contains MMA Battling staffers Shaun Al-Shatti, Alexander Okay. Lee, Guilherme Cruz, Mike Heck, E. Casey Leydon, Steven Marrocco, Damon Martin and Jed Meshew.
• Updates to the rankings will seemingly be done following every UFC pay-per-peep. Warring parties will seemingly be eradicated from the rankings within the event that they attain no longer compete within 18 months of their latest bout.
• Have to nonetheless a fighter yelp their retirement, our panel will trust whether or no longer that fighter may possibly possibly well furthermore merely nonetheless all of a sudden be eradicated from the rankings or procure their discipline till extra learn about (let’s do it this form: we’d comprise taken Khabib Nurmagomedov out of our rankings a lot quicker than the UFC did).

As a reminder, the thought of pound-for-pound supremacy is continuously going to inherently be subjective. In case you’re debating whether or no longer somebody bask in Justin Gaethje must be ranked above somebody bask in Max Holloway, there’s no correct moral answer. In diverse words: It’s no longer serious industrial, folk.

Thoughts? Questions? Concerns? Sort your notify heard within the comments below.