Did Sean Strickland knock Israel Adesanya out of the top 10?
Prior to Israel Adesanya’s September 9 title defense against Sean Strickland ahead of UFC 293 in Sydney, Australia, there were rumors that Adesanya had overtaken Anderson Silva as the greatest middleweight in MMA history.
Adesanya nearly finished as a 7-1 favorite but was defeated by Strickland in one of the most shocking upsets in UFC history. Strickland won four of the five rounds and completely eliminated Adesanya en route to his middleweight championship.
This posed a problem when thinking about where to place the men in the pound-for-pound rankings. Were both included? Just one of them? Neither? There is a case that could be made for all three scenarios
Looking first at Adesanya, he was No. 4 in the previous Yahoo Sports rankings. But he has lost two of his last three and he is barely above breakeven at 4-3 since 2021. Now he’s fought the best of the best of the best in that time, but given the sheer number of worthy challengers, does he even deserve to stay in the rankings?
As for Strickland, he’s now won three straight, but just 14 months ago he’s also just above breakeven at 3-2.
Adesanya had the better track record and I believe he still has more significant wins than Strickland. But losing two of the last three and being beaten by a significant margin in the final game comes with a penalty.
He barely managed to hold on to his spot, finishing at No. 10. But there are now fighters outside the top 10 who could displace him with good performances in their fights.
Strickland didn’t quite make it. Before the Adesanya fight he wasn’t seriously considered for the top 10, so he made up a lot of ground with his brilliant performance. But Adesanya has been doing better for a while and it wasn’t that long ago that he knocked out Alex Pereira.
So while Strickland defeated Adesanya and retained the title, based on his long-term resume, Adesanya narrowly kept him from a top-10 finish.
Men’s MMA pound-for-pound rankings as of September 11
1. Jon Jones (27-1), UFC heavyweight champion. Previous ranking: 1.
2. Alexander Volkanovski (25-2), UFC featherweight champion. Previous ranking: 2.
3. Islam Makhachev (24-1), UFC lightweight champion. Previous ranking: 3.
4. Leon Edwards (21-3), UFC welterweight champion. Previous ranking: 5.
5. Khamzat Chimaev (12-0) UFC welterweight/middleweight contender. Previous ranking: 6.
6. Sean O’Malley (17-1) UFC bantamweight champion. Previous ranking: NO.
7. Kamaru Usman (20-3), former UFC welterweight champion. Previous ranking: 8.
8. Charles Oliveira (33-9), former UFC lightweight champion. Previous ranking: 9.
9. Justin Gaethje (25-4), UFC BMF champion. Previous ranking: 10.
10. Israel Adesanya (24-3), former UFC middleweight champion. Previous ranking: 4.
Women’s MMA pound-for-pound rankings as of September 11th
1. Julianna Peña (12-5), UFC bantamweight contender. Previous ranking: 1.
2. Alexa Grasso (16-3), UFC flyweight champion. Previous ranking: 2.
3. Valentina Shevchenko (23-4), former UFC flyweight champion. Previous ranking: 3.
4. Zhang Weili (24-3), UFC strawweight champion. Previous ranking: 4.
5. Erin Blanchfield (11-1), UFC flyweight contender. Previous ranking: 5.
6. Manon Fiorot (11-1), UFC flyweight contender. Previous ranking: 6.
7. Tatiana Suarez (10-0), UFC strawweight contender. Previous ranking: NO.
8. Raquel Pennington (15-8), UFC bantamweight contender. Previous ranking: 9.
9. Larissa Pacheco (21-4), 2022 PFL lightweight champion. Previous ranking: 10.
10. Rose Namajunas (11-6), former UFC strawweight champion. Previous ranking: NO.
