Nowhere to rise for Volkanovski and Yan, but Reyes and Volkov move up

          • Brett OkamotoOct 27, 2026, 09:00 AM ET
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              Brett Okamoto has reported on mixed martial arts and boxing at ESPN since 2010. He has covered all of the biggest events in combat sports during that time, including in-depth interviews and features with names such as Dana White, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz, Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and Georges St-Pierre. He was also a producer on the 30 for 30 film: "Chuck and Tito," which looked back at the careers and rivalry of Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. He lives in Las Vegas, and is an avid, below-average golfer in his spare time.
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          Two of the greatest performances at UFC 333 earned no reward in ESPN's divisional MMA rankings.

          Both featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, who knocked out Movsar Evloev in Saturday's main event, and men's bantamweight titlist Petr Yan, who won a trilogy fight against Merab Dvalishvili in the co-main, were already ranked No. 1 in their divisions, so there was nowhere for them to rise in those top 10s.

          Evloev, who lost for the first time in his career, and Dvalishvili, an ex-champ who dropped his second straight to Yan, maintain their No. 2 rankings.

          Other fights on the Abu Dhabi card did affect rankings. Light heavyweight Dominick Reyes was the lone fighter to defeat someone ranked higher than him, knocking out sixth-ranked light heavyweight Azamat Murzakanov. Reyes moves from No. 7 to the top five, and Murzakanov falls to Reyes' former spot.

          Heavyweight saw a trickle-down succession of movement, partly due to a fight result. Alexander Volkov, who beat unranked Rizvan Kuniev, moves up one position to No. 3, largely because former UFC champion Tom Aspinall, previously ranked second, has been removed from the top 10 as ineligible because he has not fought in over a year. The other ranked heavyweights each move up one spot, and Kuniev enters the rankings at No. 10.

          The other ranking change is at men's flyweight, where Lone'er Kavanagh climbs one position to No. 6 after handing unranked Ramazan Temirov his first loss.

          Here are the ESPN pound-for-pound MMA rankings and a list of current UFC champions in all weight classes.

          Results are current; rankings as of Oct. 27. To be eligible for the rankings, a fighter must have competed over the past 12 months or must have an upcoming fight booked. Fighters who have been dropped for inactivity can be reinstated only after they compete.

          HEAVYWEIGHT (up to 265 pounds)

          LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT (up to 205 pounds)

          MIDDLEWEIGHT (up to 185 pounds)

          WELTERWEIGHT (up to 170 pounds)

          LIGHTWEIGHT (up to 155 pounds)

          FEATHERWEIGHT (up to 145 pounds)

          MEN'S BANTAMWEIGHT (up to 135 pounds)

          MEN'S FLYWEIGHT (up to 125 pounds)

          WOMEN'S BANTAMWEIGHT (up to 135 pounds)

          WOMEN'S FLYWEIGHT (up to 125 pounds)

          STRAWWEIGHT (up to 115 pounds)