MMA Pound-for-Pound Rankings: Sean Strickland’s UFC 293 stunner breaks the system

Welcome to the newest replace to the MMA Combating pound-for-pound rankings, the place each month our esteemed panel type via the noise to reply one query: Who’re one of the best total female and male MMA fighters on the earth?

With UFC 293’s major occasion producing one of the stunning outcomes in latest reminiscence, we’ve ourselves a serious shakeup on the boys’s facet, one which few may have predicted.

The pound-for-pound rankings weren’t constructed to deal with this!

Frankly, you may blame Israel Adesanya for being the conduit via which not one, however two beforehand unranked fighters have made their method onto the P4P record. First, it was Alex Pereira, who needed to be ranked after a fifth-round end of Adesanya at UFC 281; now, it’s Sean Strickland demanding to have a quantity subsequent to his identify after an unbelievable upset of Adesanya at UFC 293 on Saturday. He debuts at No. 10 on our chart, forward of former UFC champions Pereira, Max Holloway, Jiri Prochazka, Aljamain Sterling, and various luminaries who personal superior information.

That’s what you earn once you beat Adesanya in essentially the most spectacular method doable. Strickland didn’t land a fortunate punch or simply bulldog his solution to victory, he legitimately out-struck and outworked “The Final Stylebender” for the overwhelming majority of the competition and appeared the a part of a fighter who’s now the UFC’s undisputed middleweight champion. As Strickland rises, Adesanya plummets a whopping 10 spots within the rankings.

Strickland’s division has a wholesome record of potential challengers, in order unbelievable as it’s to see his identify in the course of among the most embellished names in MMA proper now, will probably be much more unbelievable watching him climb additional up the charts if he can string collectively just a few title defenses.

Brace yourselves.

Current outcomes for ranked fighters (earlier rating proven): Sean Strickland def. No. 4 Israel Adesanya, No. 12 Max Holloway def. Chan Sung Jung

Upcoming bouts that includes ranked fighters: No. 2 Islam Makhachev vs. No. 5 Charles Oliveira (UFC 294, Oct. 21), No. 18 (tied) Khamzat Chimaev vs. Paulo Costa (UFC 294, Oct. 21)

Fighters additionally receiving votes (variety of poll appearances proven): Johnny Eblen (4), Brandon Moreno (4), Vadim Nemkov (4), Robert Whittaker (3), Jamahal Hill (2), A.J. McKee (2), Magomed Ankalaev (1), Jan Blachowicz (1), Merab Dvalishvili (1), Patchy Mix (1), Belal Muhammad (1), Usman Nurmagomedov (1)

Lastly, a refresher on some floor guidelines:

• The eight-person voting panel consists of MMA Combating staffers Shaun Al-Shatti, Alexander Ok. Lee, Guilherme Cruz, Mike Heck, E. Casey Leydon, Steven Marrocco, Damon Martin and Jed Meshew.
• Updates to the rankings will likely be accomplished following each UFC pay-per-view. Fighters will likely be faraway from the rankings if they don’t compete inside 18 months of their most up-to-date bout.
• Ought to a fighter announce their retirement, our panel will determine whether or not that fighter ought to instantly be faraway from the rankings or keep their place till additional discover (let’s put it this fashion: we’d have taken Khabib Nurmagomedov out of our rankings rather a lot faster than the UFC did).

As a reminder, the notion of pound-for-pound supremacy is all the time going to inherently be subjective. While you’re debating whether or not somebody like Kamaru Usman needs to be ranked above somebody like Max Holloway, there isn’t a true proper reply. In different phrases: It’s not critical enterprise, people.

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