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
Christian Colombo #123 (52)
Denmark’s Colombo moved up 52 spots after fighting to a draw with Jarjis Danho in his UFC debut. He is now undefeated in seven-straight bouts since falling to current UFC fighter Viktor Pesta in 2012.
Middleweight
Mauricio Alonso #152 (97)
Alonso last fought in the main event of Dragon House 23. There, he scored a unanimous-decision victory over Justin Baseman. The Brazilian fighter holds a 12-7 record as a professional. In his only really big show experience, he fell to Nick Pica on the undercard of Bellator 142 – Dynamite last September.
Welterweight
Ismail Naurdiev #273 (285)
Austrian fighter Naurdiev is now riding a six-fight winning streak after defeating Daniel Skibinski at World Free Fight Challenge 20 on Aug. 27. The 20-year-old fighter trains with Thaiboxing MMA Salzburg.
Lightweight
Anatoly Lyagu #380 (154)
In his last outing, Lyagu took a decision victory over Alexey Sotnikov in his native Ukraine. He now holds a 4-1 record after making his professional debut in 2014.
Featherweight
Daniel Henry #141 (28)
Henry is a Scottish fighter who has spent his last six bouts fighting for EFC is South Africa. In his last bout, he took home a second-round knockout over Wade Groth at EFC Worldwide 53. Henry holds a 9-2 record as a professional.
Bantamweight
Eduardo de Souza Silva #109 (67)
Silva bounced back with a victory over Elifrank Cariolano at Jungle Fight 90. Prior to that, the Brazilian had fallen to Matheus Mattos also under the Jungle Fight banner. With the win, Silva’s professional record improved to 12-4.
Flyweight
Tadaaki Yamamoto #138 (67)
On last weekend’s Shooto card, Yamamoto defeated Taku Kajikawa via first-round knockout. The Japanese fighter is now riding a four-fight winning streak that dates back to 2015.
This week there was not any major movement in the light heavyweight, strawweight, women’s featherweight, women’s bantamweight, women’s strawweight, women’s flyweight or women’s atomweight divisions.
Richard Mann currently runs the data-driven MMA blog StrikeScoreMMA.com