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
Brock Lesnar #6
Technically Lesnar does not qualify for this list since he was not ranked going into last week. However, he returned from an extended layoff and scored a victory over Mark Hunt at UFC 200. The win earned him the 6th spot in the heavyweight rankings. Lesnar was last ranked #7 in 2013. Besides Lesnar, there was no major movement in the heavyweight division.
Light Heavyweight
Darren Stewart #82 (24)
Stewart scored a third-round knockout over Boubacar Balde at Cage Warriors FC 77 this past weekend. With the victory, Stewart improved his career record to 7-0 and moved up 24 spots in the light heavyweight rankings. The fight and the entire event is available on UFC Fight Pass.
Middleweight
Tim Williams #82 (50)
Since dropping a pair of bouts against UFC fighter Anthony Smith last year, Williams has picked up three wins in a row. In his last outing, he scored an upset over Nah-Shon Burrell at CFFC 59. He also holds victories over UFC veterans Andre Gusmao and Ron Stallings.
Welterweight
Matt Dwyer #109 (104)
This past weekend, Dwyer made his return to MMA for the first time since being released by the UFC. In his return fight, he took home a decision win over Jesse Ronson at XFFC 10. During his UFC run, the Canadian went 1-3 with his only win coming over William Macario at UFC Fight Night 61.
Lightweight
Joaquim Silva #107 (137)
Some seemed to question Silva’s status as a top prospect after he went to a tight decision with veteran journeyman Nazareno Malegarie in his UFC debut. However, Silva silenced the critics in a big way at the TUF 23 Finale. He defeated respected Andrew Holbrook via 34-second knockout and moved up 137 spots in the rankings.
Featherweight
Felipe Cruz #181 (78)
While Thiago Tavares did not get it done against Doo Ho Choi this weekend, his teammate did back in Brazil. Cruz won a decision victory over Richard Willians Fernandes Godoy Goncalves at Aspera FC 41 “Road to KSW.” The Florianopolis native is now 17-3 and undefeated since 2014.
Bantamweight
Mark Abelardo #189 (30)
Abelardo finished Jung Bum Choi with a second-round body kick at Pacific Xtreme Combat 54. The win moved him 30 spots in the bantamweight rankings. The New Zealand native is now 13-4 overall and 9-1 since 2014.
Flyweight
Riley Dutro #50 (22)
Also at PXC 54, Dutro defeated Shooto regular and One Championship veteran Kentaro Watanabe. The Hawaiian is now 4-0 since falling to Joey Miolla in 2013 and 8-3 overall.
Women’s Strawweight
Tatiana Suarez #16 (6)
Normally the threshold to make this list is 10, but we can make an exception since there are only 40 fighters ranked in this division. Suarez looked like a future contender in her one-sided victory over Amanda Cooper. The TUF winner is now 4-0 after making her debut in 2014.
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