Alex Pereira placed on a star-making efficiency in the primary occasion of UFC 303 over the weekend. It elevated him within the ESPN pound-for-pound rankings.
Pereira’s second-round TKO of Jirí Procházka enabled him to stay mild heavyweight champion, and the best way he did it — taking the struggle on quick discover, then fully shutting down a former champ who had given him issues of their first assembly seven months in the past — enhanced the Brazilian’s standing as maybe the UFC’s biggest present star.
Pereira already was No. 3 in our males’s rankings, however with Saturday’s masterful victory, he leapfrogged UFC welterweight champ Leon Edwards into the second spot within the prime 10. Pereira even garnered a few first-place votes from panelists who beforehand had him at No. 2.
It is going to be fascinating to see the place the ceiling is for Pereira, who turns 37 subsequent weekend. He is a former two-division kickboxing world champ who, in simply 9 journeys contained in the Octagon, has dominated two UFC weight lessons. How else can he impress?
For the ESPN divisional MMA rankings, click on right here.
Word: Outcomes are present; rankings as of July 2. To be eligible for the rankings, a fighter will need to have competed over the previous 12 months or will need to have an upcoming struggle booked. Fighters who’ve been dropped for inactivity may be reinstated solely after they compete.
Males’s pound-for-pound rankings
1. Islam Makhachev 
UFC light-weight champion
File: 26-1
Final: W (Sub5) vs. Dustin Poirier, June 1, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
2. Alex Pereira 
UFC mild heavyweight champion
Earlier rating: 3
File: 11-2
Final: W (TKO2) vs. Jirí Procházka, June 29, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
3. Leon Edwards 
UFC welterweight champion
Earlier rating: 2
File: 22-3, 1 NC
Final: W (UD) vs Colby Covington, Dec. 16, 2023
Subsequent: July 27 vs. Belal Muhammad
4. Ilia Topuria
UFC featherweight champion
File: 15-0
Final: W (KO2) vs. Alexander Volkanovski, Feb. 17, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
5. Sean O’Malley
UFC bantamweight champion
File: 18-1, 1 NC
Final: W (UD) vs. Marlon Vera, March 9, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
6. Alexandre Pantoja
UFC flyweight champion
File: 28-5
Final: W (UD) vs. Steve Erceg, Might 4, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
7. Alexander Volkanovski
UFC featherweight
File: 26-4
Final: L (KO2) vs. Ilia Topuria, Feb. 17, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
8. Israel Adesanya
UFC middleweight
Earlier rating: Tied for 8
File: 24-3
Final: L (UD) vs. Sean Strickland, Sept. 9, 2023
Subsequent: TBD
9. Max Holloway
UFC featherweight
File: 26-7
Final: W (KO5) vs. Justin Gaethje, April 13, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
10. Dricus Du Plessis
UFC middleweight champion
File: 21-2
Final: W (SD) vs. Sean Strickland, Jan. 20, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
Different fighters receiving votes: Merab Dvalishvili, Aljamain Sterling and Sean Strickland.
How our panel voted
Brett Okamoto: 1. Islam Makhachev; 2. Leon Edwards; 3. Alex Pereira; 4. Israel Adesanya; 5. Ilia Topuria; 6. Alexandre Pantoja; 7. Sean O’Malley; 8. Alexander Volkanovski; 9. Max Holloway; 10. Aljamain Sterling.
Andreas Hale: 1. Makhachev; 2. Pereira; 3. Edwards; 4. Topuria; 5. O’Malley; 6. Pantoja; 7. Volkanovski; 8. Holloway; 9. Adesanya; 10. Dricus Du Plessis.
Megan Anderson: 1. Makhachev; 2. Edwards; 3. Pereira; 4. O’Malley; 5. Volkanovski; 6. Topuria; 7. Holloway; 8. Du Plessis; 9. Adesanya; 10. Pantoja.
Carlos Contreras Legaspi: 1. Makhachev; 2. Pereira; 3. Edwards; 4. Topuria; 5. O’Malley; 6. Adesanya; 7. Volkanovski; 8. Pantoja; 9. Du Plessis; 10. Holloway.
Ian Parker: 1. Pereira; 2. Makhachev; 3. Topuria; 4. Edwards; 5. O’Malley; 6. Holloway; 7. Du Plessis; 8. Pantoja; 9. Adesanya; 10. Sean Strickland.
Eddie Maisonet III: 1. Makhachev; 2. Pereira; 3. Edwards; 4. Pantoja; 5. Adesanya; 6. Volkanovski; 7. Topuria; 8. O’Malley; 9. Holloway; 10. Du Plessis.
Jeff Wagenheim: 1. Pereira; 2. Makhachev; 3. Edwards; 4. Topuria; 5. Holloway; 6. O’Malley; 7. Pantoja; 8. Volkanovski; 9. Merab Dvalishvili; 10. Du Plessis.
Ladies’s pound-for-pound rankings
1. Zhang Weili
UFC strawweight champion
File: 25-3
Final: W (UD) vs. Yan Xiaonan, April 13, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
2. Alexa Grasso
UFC flyweight champion
File: 16-3-1
Final: Cut up draw vs. Valentina Shevchenko, Sept. 16, 2023
Subsequent: TBD
3. Valentina Shevchenko
UFC flyweight
File: 22-4-1
Final: Cut up draw vs. Alexa Grasso, Sept. 16, 2023
Subsequent: TBD
4. Cris Cyborg
Bellator featherweight champion
File: 27-2, 1 NC
Final: W (TKO1) vs. Cat Zingano, Oct. 7, 2023
Subsequent: TBD
T-5. Manon Fiorot
UFC flyweight
Earlier rating: 6
File: 12-1
Final: W (UD) vs. Erin Blanchfield, March 30, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
T-5. Kayla Harrison
UFC bantamweight
File: 17-1
Final: W (Sub2) vs. Holly Holm, April 13, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
7. Raquel Pennington
UFC bantamweight champion
File: 16-8
Final: W (UD) vs. Mayra Bueno Silva, Jan. 20, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
8. Larissa Pacheco
PFL featherweight champion
File: 23-4
Final: W (UD) vs. Marina Mokhnatkina, Nov. 24, 2023
Subsequent: TBD
T-9. Tatiana Suarez
UFC strawweight
File: 10-0
Final: W (Sub2) vs. Jessica Andrade, Aug. 5, 2023
Subsequent: TBD
T-9. Yan Xiaonan
UFC strawweight
File: 17-4, 1 NC
Final: L (UD) vs. Zhang Weili, April 13, 2024
Subsequent: TBD
Different fighters receiving votes: Erin Blanchfield, Rose Namajunas, Seika Izawa, Amanda Lemos and Julianna Peña.
How our panel voted
Brett Okamoto: 1. Zhang Weili; 2. Alexa Grasso; 3. Valentina Shevchenko; 4. Manon Fiorot; 5. Cris Cyborg. 6. Tatiana Suarez; 7. Rose Namajunas; 8. Erin Blanchfield; 9. Kayla Harrison; 10. Larissa Pacheco.
Andreas Hale: 1. Zhang; 2. Grasso; 3. Shevchenko; 4. Cyborg; 5. Fiorot; 6. Harrison; 7. Suarez; 8. Raquel Pennington; 9. Pacheco; 10. Namajunas.
Megan Anderson: 1. Zhang; 2. Grasso; 3. Shevchenko; 4. Cyborg; 5. Fiorot; 6. Pennington; 7. Harrison; 8. Yan Xiaonan; 9. Blanchfield; 10. Julianna Peña.
Carlos Contreras Legaspi: 1. Zhang; 2. Grasso; 3. Harrison; 4. Shevchenko; 5. Cyborg; 6. Pennington; 7. Pacheco; 8. Fiorot; 9. Suarez; 10. Blanchfield.
Ian Parker: 1. Zhang; 2. Grasso; 3. Shevchenko; 4. Cyborg; 5. Harrison; 6. Yan; 7. Suarez; 8. Pennington; 9. Pacheco; 10. Fiorot.
Eddie Maisonet III: 1. Zhang; 2. Grasso; 3. Shevchenko; 4. Pacheco; 5. Cyborg; 6. Harrison; 7. Fiorot; 8. Blanchfield; 9. Amanda Lemos; 10. Seika Izawa.
Jeff Wagenheim: 1. Zhang; 2. Grasso; 3. Cyborg; 4. Shevchenko; 5. Fiorot; 6. Pennington; 7. Yan; 8. Harrison; 9. Blanchfield; 10. Izawa.
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