UFC fighter rankings: Curtis Blaydes cracks top five at heavyweight

UFC 221 wasn’t the most relevant of cards, especially with all the shuffling over the middleweight title. In the end, there wasn’t even a title awarded after the headliner because Yoel Romero didn’t make weight for his fight. But one person that did make a big impression was co-main event winner Curtis Blaydes.

With a grinding win over Mark Hunt, Blaydes cracks the top five of the UFC’s heavyweight division rankings after five straight victories (one of which was flipped to an NC because of weed of all things).

Here’s a look at the few changes this week coming out of the Perth PPV.

P4P - Tony Ferguson moved up into a tie for the nine spot with Cris Cyborg. Robert Whittaker is up into a tie for 11 with Cody Garbrandt.

Heavyweight - As mentioned, Blaydes is up four spots to five. Hunt, Derrick Lewis, Alexander Volkov, and Marcin Tybura all fell one spot from six-nine respectively. Tai Tuivasa makes his rankings debut at 15 following a UFC 221 win.

Light Heavyweight - Tyson Pedro is up one to 12, passing Gadzhimurad Antigulov.

Middleweight - Luke Rockhold’s loss dropped him from two to three at middleweight. This allowed Jacare Souza to move up one into the two slot.

Welterweight - No changes.

Lightweight - No changes.

Featherweight - Jeremy Stephens moved into a tie for seven with Chan Sung Jung.

Bantamweight - No changes.

Flyweight - No changes.

Women’s Bantamweight - Marion Reneau is up one to eight, bumping Ronda Rousey (why is she still ranked?) into a tie for nine with Leslie Smith.

Women’s Flyweight - No changes.

Women’s Strawweight - No changes.