The UFC 290 tournament went quiet, which had a significant impact on the ratings.
The main point is that the featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski returned to the first line in the UFC rankings, regardless of weight categories, after another, already fifth, title defense. But his leadership isn’t down to one man: Heavyweight title holder Jon Jones is also ranked No. 1 in P4P. The third is the Russian Islam Makhachev.
How Volkanovski eliminated Rodriguez:
Khabib’s perfect mastery. Volkanovski retained the title
How fair is this arrangement? Volkanovski is a very active champion. In this sense, only Aljamain Sterling can argue with him. However, many experts and fans agree that the Australian should have lost the front row after losing to Islam Makhachev, who was second at the time. Another thing is that for some reason the UFC placed the Russian so high after the victory over Charles Oliveira. And they became victims of their own actions. But that is another point.
And what do the fans think about the dual power of Volkanovski and Jones?
“There is no logic in ranking,” abuhatem writes on Reddit.
“Islam, the guy who beat two of the top ten became champion and hasn’t lost in almost a decade. He only the third. The P4P rankings in MMA are a joke,” says Acceptable-Ad1930.
“He should definitely be taller than John. But Wolf #1, that makes a lot of sense. Even if you disagree, it’s impossible not to see the argument,” adds BittenAtTheChomp.
“Islam over Adesanya is crazy,” says RrobablyPetarded.
It is believed that the ranking is not based on an overall resume, but rather on how good a fighter is at the moment, based on recent wins. Jones in three years has only one victory over Gan, while the Russian is in a more advantageous position in this regard. Yes, and he withstood some serious competition.
The problem is that the qualification does not have clear rules. It seems necessary to look at recent successes, but at the same time, Jones stayed in the top 10 for a long time during his downtime. And, probably, in the case, after all, he never lost. It is considered so.
On the other hand, the American was proclaimed champion in two divisions. What many failed, including Volkanovski and his friend Israel Adesanya. Maybe that’s why the positions were evened out? On the one hand, there are constant defenses, on the other – a duel, but in a different weight and in a dominant style.
The other day, Jones was recognized as the best fighter of the year by ESPN, where he also beat Islam Makhachev and Amanda Nunes, who deserved the award, especially after their retirement. They also felt that one Jones fight was enough.
It seems that the main element for the ranking position is the last victory. I wonder if Islam will go up at least one notch if, for example, it takes over Oliveira again.
By the way, in the top 15, lightweight representatives have the lead: Makhachev, Oliveira and Dustin Poirier. Also, in February, Volkanovski was demoted to this weight class.
In general, it would be nice to deal with this topic after the revenge of Makhachev and Volkanovski. The winner gets the front row, and Jones, most likely, retires after the duel with Miocic. Since this topic is so important for a Russian and an Australian, which they periodically talk about in the media.
Will Makhachev and Volkanovski have a rematch?
Volkanovski only needs Makhachev. There are almost no rivals in the featherweight division
True, in the near future it is not worth waiting for revenge, since Alex will have an operation, it will take him a couple of months to recover.
