Following a huge PPV event, the pound-for-pound rankings have seen some major changes after UFC 262. The new lightweight champion, Charles Oliveira, picked up a huge win that has seen him make the P4P list for the first time in his career.
Charles Oliveira defeated Michael Chandler to claim the lightweight title, which had been vacated by Khabib Nurmgaomedov following his last win over Justin Gaethje.
McGregor falls out of the pound-for-pound rankings
With Charles Oliveira’s rise from not being ranked in the P4P list to the 11th position, a former top-15 fighter has been forced out. That fighter is none other than the ‘Notorious’ Conor McGregor.
McGregor is coming off a loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 257. Prior to that fight, he defeated Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone in 2020 and picked up suffer a loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018.
McGregor’s lack of activity, combined with just one win in his last three fights, has seen the sport’s biggest star fall out of the P4P rankings completely. However, McGregor will face Poirier again for a trilogy bout in July. A win would likely see him rebound back into the top-15.
New faces at the top of the UFC lightweight division
Charles Oliveira has climbed to the top of the pack at 155-lbs following his win at UFC 262. However, Beneil Dariush also moved up the divisional rankings, having defeated Tony Ferguson via unanimous decision.
Coming into UFC 262, Dariush was ranked ninth while Ferguson was fifth in the rankings. There has been a significant climb up the rankings for Dariush, who is now third while Ferguson has dropped down to the sixth position.
Conor McGregor benefits from Ferguson’s loss
While McGregor has dropped out of the P4P rankings, his stock at lightweight has surprisingly gone up. With Oliveira moving from third place to the champion slot, and Ferguson falling to sixth in the rankings, there were two spots in the top-five of the lightweight division that needed filling.
One of those was taken by the now third-ranked Beneil Dariush. The other has been taken by Conor McGregor. The Irishman has now been pushed up the fifth place. Should he beat Poirier at UFC 262, he may be next in line for a shot at the newly-crowned champ Charles Oliveira.
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