UFC

USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings, Dec. 17: Joaquin Buckley, Manel Kape soar

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UFC on ESPN 63 took place Saturday in Tampa, Fla. and resulted in all sorts of movement in the USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings.

Most notably, main event victor Joaquin Buckley (21-6 MMA, 11-4 UFC) traded places in the welterweight rankings with the man he stopped on a cut, multitime UFC title challenger Colby Covington (17-5 MMA, 12-5 UFC). Buckley slides to Nov. 5 while Covington falls to No. 10.

Additionally, a big win for Manel Kape (20-7 MMA, 6-3 UFC) results in him bumping up into the No. 6 position in the flyweight rankings. That’s for a TKO win over Bruno Silva (14-6-2 MMA, 4-3 UFC).

Wins from Daniel Marcos, Miranda Maverick, and Invicta FC’s Jennifer Maia also had impact in the rankings.

Check out all the latest pound-for-pound and divisional USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings.

Be sure to visit the MMA Junkie Instagram page and YouTube channel to discuss this and more content with fans of mixed martial arts.

Ranking Criteria

The rankings take into account a fighter's wins/losses, quality of competition, finishing rate/dominance and frequency of fights.

Fighters are no longer eligible to be ranked after they've been inactive for 24 months, either due to injuries, drug/conduct suspensions, contract disputes or self-imposed hiatuses.

Fighters serving drug/conduct suspensions are eligible to be ranked, so long as they're not inactive for more than 24 months.

To the best of our ability, fighters will be ranked in their primary weight class. Catchweight fights and bouts outside the fighter's primary weight class can have a positive or negative impact on the ranking. However, non-titleholders can be ranked in only one weight class at a given time, and in most cases, they won't be ranked in a new weight class until they've had their first fight at that weight.

 

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