Sherdog’s Official Mixed Martial Arts Rankings

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Alexandre Pantoja’s flyweight feeding frenzy shows no signs of slowing.

In the co-main event of UFC 296 on Saturday, “The Cannibal” took a unanimous decision over Brandon Royval to retain his 125-pound title. The story of the fight was the champ’s wrestling and grappling, as he grounded Royval seemingly at will, offering few opportunities for “Raw Dawg” to get his own offense untracked on the feet. Royval retains his No. 7 ranking in defeat, but he is now 0-2 against Pantoja and faces a difficult road to a flyweight title for as long as the Brazilian remains on the throne, while Pantoja likely awaits the most impressive winner of the upcoming Manel Kape-Matheus Nicolau and Amir Albazi-Brandon Moreno matchups for his next challenger.

Saturday saw some significant movement in the welterweight division, as in the main event Leon Edwards defended his Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight strap for the second time, outpointing Colby Covington across five surprisingly muted rounds. There was little of the frenetic pace and pressure that earned the challenger his “Chaos” nickname, as Covington fell victim to a classic mid-paced kickboxing performance from the champ. Covington falls from fourth to eighth in the welterweight rankings; while his last three losses have been in title fights, he has been less competitive each time out, and his only win in that time has been over a Jorge Masvidal in competitive free-fall.

Covington’s slide coincides with the continued rise of Shavkat Rakhmonov, who choked out Stephen Thompson UFC 296’s feature fight. By taking down “Wonderboy” repeatedly before taking his back and applying a rear-naked choke late in the second round, “Nomad” ran his career mark to a ridiculous 18-0 with 18 stoppages, the last six in the UFC. With the win, Rakhmonov rises from No. 8 to No. 6 in the welterweight poll, and while the mild-mannered Kazakhstani has been reticent about demanding a title shot, he politely pointed out his credentials in his post-fight interview on Saturday, and in a division jammed with aging contenders at the top, the promotion was likely listening closely.

In the main card opener, Josh Emmett snapped a two-fight skid in the most dramatic way imaginable, laying Bryce Mitchell out cold with a single overhand right in the first round. One of the greatest knockouts of 2023—and one of the scariest ever seen in the UFC Octagon—left “Thug Nasty” convulsing on the canvas, and it was several minutes before he could stand without assistance. While Mitchell stepped up on short notice for the injured Giga Chikadze, that should not detract too much from Emmett’s first knockout in over four years. The win leaves Emmett, who turns 39 in March, as a featherweight to be reckoned with, while Mitchell has now lost decisively in his two meetings with Top 10 foes. They hold steady at seventh and 12th in the latest poll.

On the UFC 296 undercard, Irene Aldana redeemed her own status as a top contender on Saturday, bloodying Karol Rosa in a last-minute “Fight of the Year” candidate. The ranked bantamweights engaged in a three-round slugfest, with Rosa appearing close to shutting things down in the first round with a barrage of unanswered low kicks that left Aldana limping on a visible swollen, bruised left leg. Rather than check the kicks, Aldana apparently decided that the best defense was a good offense, ramping up her punching volume and taking the final two rounds with a brutal head and body assault. The rousing victory puts some distance between Aldana and her miserable performance in June against now-retired champ Amanda Nunes and establishes her as a possible challenger for the belt next year once Raquel Pennington and Mayra Bueno Silva sort out the direction of the post-Nunes era. For now, Aldana and Rosa stay put at No. 6 and No. 10, respectively.

Finally, Ariane Lipski showed flashes of the aggression and confidence that earned her the “Queen of Violence” sobriquet coming out of KSW a few years ago, as she busted up Casey O'Neill on her way to a second-round submission victory. Lipski was consistently a step ahead of O’Neill on the feet, catching her with clean punches in the pocket, and made surprisingly quick work of the Scottish-Australian prospect on the ground. With the dominant performance, Lipski usurps O’Neill’s place on the women’s flyweight bubble.

Note: Previous rankings listed in brackets.