Chimaev drops to 10th in P4P rankings after Strickland loss

A defeat at UFC 328 on May 9 has cost Khamzat Chimaev dearly in the UFC's pound-for-pound standings, with the Chechen-Swedish contender sliding seven places down to number 10 following his loss to Sean Strickland.

Strickland, now 31-7, cemented his place among the sport's elite with the victory. The 35-year-old American, who trains out of Xtreme Couture, holds the middleweight championship and has built his reputation on a relentless striking output of 6.04 significant strikes landed per minute. Fighting out of an orthodox stance with a 76-inch reach, the man known as "Tarzan" has climbed to seventh in the updated pound-for-pound rankings, a position he shares with Merab Dvalishvili.

Atop the revised pound-for-pound list sits Islam Makhachev, whose welterweight title reign continues to anchor him at number one. The 34-year-old Russian southpaw carries a 28-1 record and leads the division with an exceptional 58 percent striking accuracy and 3.2 takedowns per 15 minutes, complemented by 1.1 submission attempts per 15 minutes.

Joshua Van, the flyweight champion from Myanmar, holds the ninth position just ahead of Chimaev. The 24-year-old known as "The Fearless" owns a 17-2 record and produces a striking output of 8.84 significant strikes per minute at a remarkable 56 percent accuracy.

Why it matters

• Chimaev's seven-place drop is one of the steepest single-event falls in recent pound-for-pound history, signaling a significant reset for his title ambitions.
• Strickland's rise to seventh reinforces his middleweight championship as a legitimate pound-for-pound credential.
• The top five — Makhachev, Ilia Topuria, Alex Volkanovski, Alex Pereira, and Petr Yan — remains unchanged, underscoring just how difficult that upper tier is to penetrate.