Sherdog’s Official Mixed Martial Arts Rankings

---

Leon Edwards snatched victory from the jaws of defeat at UFC 278.

“Rocky” was well on his way to a unanimous decision loss to Kamaru Usman in Saturday’s headliner at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City when he unleashed the head kick that shocked the world. Edwards’ last-minute knockout of Usman gives the British welterweight some championship gold for his trophy case and allows him to ascend to the No. 1 spot in Sherdog’s latest divisional rankings at 170 pounds. Usman falls to No. 2 in defeat, but the story with Edwards likely has at least one more chapter to be written.

Elsewhere, Merab Dvalishvili continued his climb up the bantamweight poll with a three-round verdict over Jose Aldo at UFC 278. “The Machine” has won seven in a row at 135 pounds, and while he has made it clear he won’t fight teammate Aljamain Sterling, Dvalishvili is undeniably one of the world’s best bantamweights. His latest victory propels him to the No. 5 spot in the rankings, while Aldo drops to sixth.

Paulo Costa earned his first victory since 2019 by outlasting a faded Luke Rockhold in the UFC 278 co-main event. The win — and ability to make weight — bodes well for his future at 185 pounds, but he’ll need to keep his momentum going in order to make any progress in the middleweight rankings. For now, he remains in the fourth spot. Finally, Marcin Tybura ended Alexander Romanov’s unbeaten run with a sometimes-ugly majority decision triumph at heavyweight. With a 6-1 record in his last seven outings, Tybura climbs one spot in the rankings from 12th to 11th.

Note: Previous rankings listed in brackets.

Jump To »
HEAVYWEIGHT
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
MIDDLEWEIGHT
WELTERWEIGHT
LIGHTWEIGHT
FEATHERWEIGHT
BANTAMWEIGHT
FLYWEIGHT
WOMEN'S FEATHERWEIGHT
WOMEN'S BANTAMWEIGHT
WOMEN'S FLYWEIGHT
WOMEN'S STRAWWEIGHT
WOMEN'S ATOMWEIGHT