Fight Matrix updates the Current MMA Rankings once a week. As the deepest and most inclusive ranking system in the sport, fights all over the globe can have a major impact on the rankings. Let’s take a look at the biggest risers in the divisional rankings. The number in parenthesis is the number of spots that the fighter moved up from the last issued rankings. For the purpose of this article, fighters who were unranked in the previous ranking iteration are excluded.
Heavyweight
Daniil Arepyev #182 (38)
Lukasz Parobiec #203 (38)
Arepyev moved up 38 spots after earning credit for his April 30 victory over Denis Komkin. The Russian fighter is now 5-0 with five stoppage wins.
Parobiec earned his new ranking in somewhat unusual fashion. He earned a disqualification victory over Tom Aspinall on the BAMMA 25 undercard after receiving illegal downward elbows. The Berserkers Team representative is now 12-5 and 2-0 under the BAMMA banner.
Light Heavyweight
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira #15 (13)
There was not a lot of activity in the light heavyweight division. However, Nogueira made the most of his opportunity. On the same night that the promotion announced his brother’s entry into the UFC Hall of Fame, he scored a first-round knockout over Patrick Cummins. Per BestFightOdds.com, Nogueira had gotten as high as a +186 underdog in the lead up to the fight, and he had not tasted a victory in over three years.
Middleweight
Pavel Kusch #143 (81)
Since falling to ONE Championship veteran Rafael Silva in 2013, Kusch has won six-straight fights. Last Friday, he defeated Alik Tseiko at Number One Fight Show in Estonia via guillotine-choke submission. After the victory, Kusch’s ranking jumped up 81 spots.
Welterweight
Walter Gahadza #182 (110)
With a victory over TUF finalist Collin Fletcher at BAMMA 25, Gahadza moved up a whopping 110 rankings spots. The British fighter is now 2-0 since returning from a 23-month layoff this past March and 16-0 overall. This ranking might have to be taken with a bit of salt since Fletcher was disqualified only 16 seconds into the bout for using illegal downward elbows. Strangely enough, this means there were two significant rankings upset due to elbow disqualifications on the BAMMA 25 card (see above).
Lightweight
Jake Roberts #330 (256)
Roberts moved up 256 spots after receiving credit for his April 9 third-round TKO win over Bellator veteran Lloyd Woodard. “The North County Nightmare” is now 6-0 with five stoppages after making his professional debut in 2014.
Featherweight
Michael Tobin #265 (56)
Tobin scored a first-round armbar submission over Edwin Arana in the main event of Brace 40. “The Great White” has now won back-to-back fights since returning from a year-plus layoff last April. The fight and the entire Brace 40 event is available on UFC Fight Pass.
Bantamweight
Mika Hamalainen #165 (81)
Hamalainen moved up 81 spots after securing a second-round arm-triangle-choke submission against Valentin Deschamps. The Finish fighter has now built an 8-1 record since making his debut in 2012. The bout was part of Cage 35, which took place in Helsinki, Finland. In the main event, UFC veteran Anton Kuivanen fell to undefeated Brazilian prospect Felipe Silva.
Flyweight
Josh Paiva #85 (35)
Bellator undercards are rarely consequential. Do not tell that to Paiva. At Bellator 154, the former King of the Cage champion defeated Steve Gruber via submission. With the victory, his ranking jumped up 35 spots. The 25-year-old reportedly still works as a traveling nuclear plant inspector in between fights.
This week there was not any major movement in the strawweight, women’s featherweight, women’s bantamweight, women’s flyweight or women’s atomweight divisions.
Richard Mann currently runs the data-driven MMA blog StrikeScoreMMA.com