Islam Makhachev reclaims top spot in UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings

NEW YORK: Islam Makhachev has reclaimed the top spot in the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings after defeating Jack Della Maddalena to capture the welterweight title. In women’s rankings, Valentina Shevchenko remains No.1, according to the official rankings.

The promotion’s annual event took place in New York, where both Makhachev and Weili Zhang competed for their second UFC titles. Zhang narrowly missed out on the women’s flyweight belt against Valentina Shevchenko. Makhachev dominated UFC welterweight champion Della Maddalena, winning decisively by unanimous decision and achieving his goal of holding titles in two different weight classes. Following the rankings, Makhachev replaced lightweight champion Ilia Topuria at the top after vacating his previous belt in June.

While in the women’s rankings, Valentina Shevchenko of Kyrgyzstan remains No. 1 following her successful flyweight title defence against Weili. Zhang, who relinquished her strawweight title in October to challenge Shevchenko, dropped to third place behind bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison. In the welterweight division, Britain’s former champion Leon Edwards fell five spots to ninth after being knocked out by Carlos Prates.

The loss marked Edwards’ third consecutive defeat, pushing him outside the top contenders for the title. Meanwhile, the biggest riser was Ecuador’s Michael Morales, who finished Sean Brady in the first round and moved up to third in the welterweight rankings.

With his position in the top three, Morales will now be closely watching upcoming fights, including Ireland’s Ian Machado Garry, ranked sixth, and Belal Muhammad, ranked second, who face off in Qatar on Saturday, potentially shaping the next challenger for Makhachev’s title. Web Desk