Rankings Shakeup: Francis Ngannou is again, however is he MMA’s No. 1 heavyweight once more?

Francis Ngannou was the undisputed greatest heavyweight on this planet when he left the UFC. Now that he’s formally a PFL champion, does he regain the highest spot?

That’s the query posed to the MMA Combating rankings panel following Ngannou’s emotional knockout of Renan Ferreira within the Battle of the Giants essential occasion, which marked Ngannou’s first MMA battle since January 2022. “The Predator” made probably the most of his time away from the cage, reserving profitable boxing matches in opposition to Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, however he wasn’t lively in MMA and that meant an automated elimination from our heavyweight record.

In his absence, Jon Jones bulldozed Ciryl Gane to assert the belt vacated by Ngannou, and a surge of contenders made their mark, most notably present interim UFC champion Tom Aspinall. Jones—additionally at present out of the rankings as a result of inactivity—is about to battle Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 in November, however Aspinall already has one up on “Bones” as he has already recorded a profitable heavyweight title protection, one thing Jones is but to do.

Due to that, Aspinall is our No. 1 for now, although two panelists noticed match to shift their allegiance to the returning Ngannou. Not solely that, he positioned excessive sufficient on the opposite ballots to leap all the way in which to the No. 2 spot, forward of a number of notable names. It goes to point out that Ngannou’s mystique stays as robust as ever and so long as he continues to ship on battle evening, his place within the heavyweight hierarchy is safe.

Try the most recent version of the MMA Combating heavyweight rankings and tell us the place you rank Ngannou within the ballot beneath.