Khamzat Chimaev has fallen seven positions in the UFC's Pound-For-Pound rankings following his defeat to Sean Strickland. The updated top-10 P4P rankings are: 1. Islam Makhachev (Russia), 2. Ilia Topuria (Georgia), 3. Alex Volkanovski (Australia), 4. Alex Pereira (Brazil), 5. Petr Yan (Russia), 6. Tom Aspinall (Great Britain), 7. Merab Dvalishvili (Georgia), 7. Sean Strickland (USA), 9. Joshua Van (USA), and 10. Khamzat Chimaev (UAE). The rankings reflect the significant impact of Chimaev's first career loss on his standing among the sport's elite fighters.
Khamzat Chimaev has tumbled seven spots in the UFC's official Pound-For-Pound rankings following his first professional loss, a defeat at the hands of Sean Strickland that has reshaped the sport's elite hierarchy.
Strickland, the reigning middleweight champion, climbs into the top ten on the strength of the victory. The 35-year-old from the United States trains out of Xtreme Couture and carries a record of 31 wins and 7 losses. Standing six-foot-one with a 76-inch reach, "Tarzan" is one of the most active strikers in the division, landing 6.04 significant strikes per minute at 42 percent accuracy. The win over Chimaev has earned him the seventh spot on the P4P list, a ranking he now shares with Merab Dvalishvili.
Chimaev, now ranked tenth, drops sharply after the defeat ends an unbeaten run that had driven him high into pound-for-pound territory.
Holding the number-one spot is welterweight champion Islam Makhachev of Russia. The 34-year-old, who trains with Eagles MMA, owns a record of 28 wins and 1 loss. At five-foot-ten with a 70-inch reach, Makhachev is a dominant grappler, averaging 3.2 takedowns per 15 minutes and 1.1 submission attempts in the same window, while connecting on 58 percent of his significant strikes.
Entering the rankings at ninth is Joshua Van, the flyweight champion representing Myanmar. Just 24 years old, Van carries a record of 17 wins and 2 losses and has quickly established himself as one of the most accurate strikers in the sport, landing 8.84 significant strikes per minute at a striking accuracy of 56 percent.
Why it matters
- Chimaev's first career loss triggers a steep P4P slide, underlining how much his ranking was built on an unblemished record
- Strickland's entry at seventh reinforces his status as one of the sport's best active middleweights following a signature win
- Joshua Van's appearance in the P4P top ten at just 24 signals the flyweight division's rising profile within the broader UFC landscape
Merab Dvalishvili vs Petr Yan
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