MMA pound-for-pound rankings: Where do Merab, Pereira land in the top 10?

Merab Dvalishvili and Alex Pereira enactment connected spectacular performances successful the 2 title fights astatine UFC 320 connected Saturday. But their displays of mastery couldn't person been much different.

In recapturing the airy heavyweight title, Pereira got the occupation done successful the blink of an eye, knocking down Magomed Ankalaev successful the main event's opening minute, past pummeling him with 2 twelve unanswered punches and elbows earlier the referee jumped successful to extremity the beatdown astatine 1 minute, 20 seconds. In getting vengeance against the combatant who had dethroned him successful March, Pereira was brutal, businesslike and quick.

Dvalishvili, by contrast, worked the full scheduled 5 rounds successful defending his bantamweight rubric against Cory Sandhagen. But the champion was successful power for the full 25 minutes, landing 20 takedowns, the 2nd astir successful a UFC combat (and astir successful a rubric bout). The domineering Dvalishvili extended his UFC takedown grounds to 117 -- he's the lone combatant with much than 100 -- and extended his winning streak to 14 successful a row.

Along with their antithetic roads to victory, Dvalishvili and Pereira besides are having antithetic impacts connected the latest ESPN pound-for-pound rankings. Dvalishvili remains astatine No. 3, due to the fact that with Ilia Topuria and Islam Makhachev up of him successful the men's apical 10, there's small accidental for upward mobility. Pereira, connected the different hand, rises 4 spots to get backmost into the apical five.

The women's rankings stay arsenic they were, but alteration apt volition travel aboriginal this period aft Virna Jandiroba and Mackenzie Dern conscionable for the vacant strawweight rubric astatine UFC 321. At that Oct. 25 event, Tom Aspinall volition marque his archetypal defence of the undisputed heavyweight title, facing Ciryl Gane.

For the ESPN divisional MMA rankings, click here.

Note: Results are current; rankings are arsenic of Oct. 8. To beryllium eligible for the rankings, a combatant indispensable person competed implicit the past 12 months oregon indispensable person an upcoming combat booked. Fighters who person been dropped for inactivity tin beryllium reinstated lone aft they compete.

Men's pound-for-pound rankings

1. Ilia Topuria  

UFC lightweight champion
Record: 17-0
Last: W (KO1) vs. Charles Oliveira, June 28
Next: TBD

After knocking retired 2 of the top featherweights successful UFC past (Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway) successful 2024, it was going to beryllium pugnacious for Topuria to apical that successful 2025. He moved up to lightweight with the extremity of challenging Makhachev, but with Makhachev moving up a division, Topuria alternatively captured the vacant rubric by knocking retired Oliveira acold astatine UFC 317. -- Andreas Hale

2. Isla...