UFC divisional rankings: Max Holloway remains top featherweight contender with impressive Fight Night win

MMA

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Max Holloway has taken a lot of pride in his claims of being the best boxer in the UFC. This past Saturday night, Holloway had to rely on more than his boxing to survive a five-round war with Yair Rodriguez in the main event of UFC Fight Night. Holloway, the former featherweight champion, won a unanimous decision in one of the best fights of the year.

With the win, Holloway remains No. 2 at featherweight in the CBS Sports UFC Divisional Rankings, one spot behind champion Alexander Volkanovski. That said, Holloway seemed to suggest during his post-fight interview that he had more interest in facing Dustin Poirier or Conor McGregor than pursuing a third fight with Volkanovski, who won both of their prior meetings by close decision.

Rodriguez’s impressive performance meant he did not slip in the rankings. In fact, he moved up one spot to No. 4, a result of Zabit Magomedsharipov’s inactivity. Magomedsharipov has not fought in more than two years and his MMA future is uncertain due to health concerns, as a result, he has been removed from the rankings.

Saturday’s UFC Fight Night features two fights featuring CBS Sports ranked fighters.

  • Women’s bantamweight: No. 9 Ketlen Vieira vs. No. 10 Miesha Tate
  • Welterweight: No. 8 Michael Chiesa vs. Sean Brady

Rankings are compiled following the submission of ballots by Brent Brookhouse, Brian Campbell and Brandon Wise. Without further ado, here’s where things stand ahead of Saturday’s card.

For Brian Campbell’s updated Pound for Pound Rankings, click here.

Flyweight

Fighter

Record

1. Brandon Moreno (c)

19-5-2

2. Deiveson Figueiredo

20-2-1

3. Askar Askarov

14-0-1

4. Matt Schnell

15-6

5. Alexandre Pantoja

23-5

6. Kai Kara-France

22-9

7. Joseph Benavidez

28-8

8. Alex Perez

24-6

9. Brandon Royval

12-6

10. Jussier Formiga

23-8

Bantamweight

Fighter

Record

1. Petr Yan

16-2

2. Aljamain Sterling (c)

19-4

3. TJ Dillashaw

17-4

4. Rob Font

19-4

5. Cory Sandhagen

14-4

6. Jose Aldo

30-7

7. Merab Dvalishvili

14-4

8. Pedro Munhoz

19-6

T9. Cody Garbrandt

12-4

T9. Jimmie Rivera

23-5

Featherweight

Fighter

Record

1. Alexander Volkanovski (c)

22-1

2. Max Holloway

23-6

3. Brian Ortega

15-2

4. Yair Rodriguez

13-3

5. Giga Chikadze

14-2

6. Korean Zombie

17-6

7. Calvin Kattar

22-5

8. Edson Barboza

22-10

T9. Josh Emmett

16-2

T9. Shane Burgos

14-3

Lightweight

Fighter

Record

1. Dustin Poirier

28-6

2. Charles Oliveira (c)

31-8

3. Justin Gaethje

23-3

4. Islam Makhachev

21-1

5. Beneil Dariush

21-4-1

6. Rafael dos Anjos

30-13

7. Michael Chandler

22-7

8. Dan Hooker

20-11

9. Gregor Gillespie

14-1

10. Tony Ferguson

25-6

Welterweight

Fighter

Record

1. Kamaru Usman (c)

20-1

2. Leon Edwards

19-3

3. Colby Covington

16-3

4. Gilbert Burns

20-4

5. Vicente Luque

21-7-1

6. Stephen Thompson

16-5-1

7. Jorge Masvidal

35-15

8. Michael Chiesa

18-5

T9. Neil Magny

25-8

T9. Khamzat Chimaev

10-0

Middleweight

Fighter

Record

1. Israel Adesanya (c)

21-1

2. Robert Whittaker

23-5

3. Marvin Vettori

18-5-1

4. Derek Brunson

23-7

5. Jared Cannonier

14-5

6. Paulo Costa

13-2

7. Jack Hermansson

22-6

8. Sean Strickland

24-3

9. Kelvin Gastelum

16-8

10. Darren Till

18-4-1

Light heavyweight

Fighter

Record

1. Glover Teixeira (c)

33-7

2. Jiri Prochazka

28-3-1

3. Jan Blachowicz

28-9

4. Aleksandar Rakic

14-2

5. Anthony Smith

36-16

6. Thiago Santos

22-9

7. Magomed Ankalaev

15-1

8. Dominick Reyes

12-3

9. Johnny Walker

18-6

10. Nikita Krylov

26-8

Heavyweight

Fighter

Record

1. Francis Ngannou (c)

16-3

2. Stipe Miocic

20-4

3. Ciryl Gane

10-0

4. Curtis Blaydes

15-3

5. Derrick Lewis

25-8

6. Alexander Volkov

34-9

7. Marcin Tybura

22-7

8. Chris Daukaus

12-3

9. Jairzinho Rozenstruik

12-3

10. Tai Tuivasa

12-3

Women’s strawweight

Fighter

Record

1. Rose Namajunas (c) 

11-4

2. Weili Zhang

21-3

3. Carla Esparza

18-6

4. Marina Rodriguez

14-1-2

T5. Yan Xiaonan

13-2

T5. Joanna Jedrzejczyk

16-4

T7. Mackenzie Dern

11-1

T7. Tatiana Suarez

8-0

9. Amanda Ribas

11-2

10. Jessica Andrade

22-9

Women’s flyweight

Fighter

Record

1. Valentina Shevchenko (c)

22-3

2. Jessica Andrade

22-9

3. Jennifer Maia

19-7-1

4. Lauren Murphy

15-5

5. Maycee Barber

9-2

Women’s bantamweight

Fighter

Record

1. Amanda Nunes (c)

21-4

2. Germaine de Randamie

10-4

3. Holly Holm

14-5

4. Julianna Pena

10-4

5. Irene Aldana

13-6

6. Aspen Ladd

9-2

7. Yana Kunitskaya

14-6

8. Julia Avila

9-2

9. Ketlen Vieira

11-2

10. Miesha Tate

19-7

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