MMA Pound-for-Pound Rankings: The place does Belal Muhammad land after Leon Edwards stunner at UFC 304?

Welcome to the most recent replace to the MMA Preventing pound-for-pound rankings, the place each month our esteemed panel kind via the noise to reply one query: Who’re the most effective general female and male MMA fighters on the planet?

Let’s check out how issues stand following a wild week in Manchester for UFC 304.

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Photograph by Richard Sellers/PA Photographs by way of Getty Photographs

MMA Preventing

Belal Muhammad really did it.

The embattled welterweight’s lengthy and winding street to title competition lastly bore fruit at UFC 304, as Muhammad shocked the MMA world by dominating Leon Edwards en path to a unanimous resolution win to seize UFC gold. Muhammad’s résumé now takes fully new form together with his brilliance in Manchester behind him — his 11-fight run is the fourth-longest lively unbeaten streak within the present UFC, and Muhammad has a bunch of big-name scalps sitting on his mantelpiece, together with wins over Edwards, Gilbert Burns, Sean Brady, Stephen Thompson, Vicente Luque, and Demian Maia.

For his handiwork, Muhammad makes his debut on the pound-for-pound record at No. 5, sending the earlier No. 3 Edwards tumbling all the way in which down outdoors of the highest 10.

The opposite massive winner of UFC 304, MMA Preventing’s No. 1 ranked heavyweight Tom Aspinall, additionally makes one other bounce after demolishing Curtis Blaydes in simply 60 seconds to defend his interim UFC heavyweight title. After making brief work of yet one more high heavyweight, Aspinall leaps all the way in which from No. 12 to No. 6 — and paradoxically sufficient, leapfrogs over the person who continues to evade him at each flip, No. 7 Jon Jones.

Wanting forward, all eyes now flip to Perth, Australia, the place No. 8 Dricus du Plessis makes the primary protection of his UFC middleweight title on August 17 in a long-awaited grudge match towards returning No. 17 Israel Adesanya in the principle occasion of UFC 305.

Latest outcomes for ranked fighters (earlier rating proven): Belal Muhammad def. No. 3 Leon Edwards, No. 12 Tom Aspinall def. Curtis Blaydes

Upcoming bouts that includes ranked fighters: No. 8 Dricus du Plessis vs. No. 17 Israel Adesanya (UFC 305, August 17)

Fighters additionally receiving votes (variety of poll appearances proven): Merab Dvalishvili (5), Anatoly Malykhin (2), Patricio Pitbull (2), Khamzat Chimaev (1), Kamaru Usman (1), A.J. McKee (1), Johnny Eblen (1), Justin Gaethje (1), Kyoji Horiguchi (1) Usman Nurmagomedov (1)

Falling out of the rankings (earlier rating proven): No. 20 Merab Dvalishvili

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Photograph by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC by way of Getty Photographs

MMA Preventing

Virna Jandiroba continues to make her case.

The 36-year-old strawweight punctuated the most important assertion of her profession on July 20 when she submitted earlier No. 16 Amanda Lemos with a second-round armbar in her first UFC most important occasion. With 4 more and more spectacular wins in a row, Jandiroba has emerged as a real darkish horse within the UFC strawweight division, which stays dominated over by pound-for-pound No. 1 Weili Zhang.

Jandiroba debuts at No. 16 on our record after dispatching Lemos, and relying on how issues shake out, she might get her probability to vault a lot additional up the ladder quickly. With the well being of Tatiana Suarez nonetheless up within the air, Jandiroba seems to be in pole place to problem for Zhang’s strawweight title — and pound-for-pound throne — subsequent.

As for what’s forward, the upcoming rankings cycle is mild on marquee girls’s matchups, however there’s one date of consequence price circling when No. 14 Liz Carmouche and No. 17 Taila Santos collide on August 2 within the semifinals of PFL’s $1 million flyweight event. For the winner, a spot within the season closing awaits.

Latest outcomes for ranked fighters (earlier rating proven): No. 15 Rose Namajunas def. Tracy Cortez, Virna Jandiroba def. No. 16 Amanda Lemos

Upcoming bouts that includes ranked fighters: No. 14 Liz Carmouche vs. No. 17 Taila Santos (PFL 7, August 2)

Fighters additionally receiving votes (variety of poll appearances proven): Maycee Barber (5), Natalia Silva (3), Mayra Bueno Silva (1), Marina Rodriguez (1), Irene Aldana (1), Lauren Murphy (1), Ketlen Vieira (1)

Falling out of the rankings (earlier rating proven): No. 20 Mayra Bueno Silva

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Lastly, a refresher on some floor guidelines:

• The seven-person voting panel consists of MMA Preventing staffers Shaun Al-Shatti, Alexander Ok. Lee, Guilherme Cruz, Mike Heck, E. Casey Leydon, Damon Martin and Jed Meshew.
• Updates to the rankings might be accomplished following each UFC pay-per-view. Fighters might 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 manner: we’d have taken Khabib Nurmagomedov out of our rankings loads faster than the UFC did).

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

Ideas? Questions? Issues? Make your voice heard within the feedback under.