It’s not often two major championships change hands on the same night, but that’s what went down this past Saturday at UFC 306.
The historic event at Sphere in Las Vegas saw Merab Dvalishvili claim the UFC bantamweight title from Sean O’Malley by unanimous decision in the main event, while Valentina Shevchenko recaptured the women’s flyweight title with a unanimous decision over Alexa Grasso in their historic trilogy fight.
Dvalishvili and Shevchenko were both entered fight week as No. 2 in their respective divisions against the No. 1. That changed with the result, and now the new UFC titleholders have their rightful No. 1 spots.
There were also other results that impacted the rankings, such as Diego Lopes’ dominant win over Brian Ortega in the featherweight division.
Check out all the latest pound-for-pound and divisional USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings above.
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.