PFL: Battle of the Giants and UFC Fight Night 245 each had their impacts on divisional rankings.
In PFL’s main event, former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, who never lost his title, returned to MMA and took out Renan Ferreira in short order with a brutal knockout.
As a result Ngannou shifts into the No. 1 heavyweight slot. He was previously at No. 2. He also moves into No. 3 in the pound-for-pound rankings.
Also, Anthony Hernandez took once step closer to middleweight title contention as he dominated Michel Pereira before a late-fight TKO finish.
Hernandez enters the rankings at No. 13.
Across the two cards, Paul Hughes, Raufeon Stots, Asu Almabayev, and Charles Johnson also picked up impactful victories. Each resulted in a bump-up in the rankings.
Check out all the latest pound-for-pound and divisional USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings.
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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.
