Rankings Review: Alex Pereira Enters UFC Light Heavyweight Rankings at No. 3

It might be an understatement to say the UFC has some questionable rankings. You would expect rankings to be questionable as they are subjective; however, in this column, I will point out rankings that I think are glaring mistakes. I will also analyze significant movement in the rankings that I agree with.

Editorial Commentary by Peter Parsons

Former UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira made his UFC light heavyweight debut on Saturday night in the co-main event at UFC 291 in Salt Lake City, Utah. In what looked to be a potential title eliminator bout against the former light heavyweight champ Jan Blachowicz, Pereira showed he belongs at the top of the UFC light heavyweight division with a split decision victory over the perennial title contender Blachowicz.

Alex Pereira ranked No. 3 at light heavyweight

The former two division Glory kickboxing world champion, Alex Pereira, took Jan Blachowizc’s No. 3 light heavyweight ranking on Saturday night with the split decision victory. I agree with this ranking.

Some didn’t agree with the decision. It was clear that Blachowicz won the first round and Pereira won the second round. It came down to the third round which was close. Blachowicz appeared exhausted but did well in the standup in the early part of the round, however, it was Pereira who got the better of the standup overall in the final round. Blachowicz got the late takedown but did not do anything with it. To me it was a clear 10-9 Pereira round. One judge gave it to Blachowicz and two gave it to Pereira. Some may argue for a 10-8 Blachowicz first round, a round in which he controlled from start to finish. In my opinion, it didn’t warrant a 10-8 round because Blachowicz did very little damage.

This was the 36-year-old Brazilian’s first fight back since losing the UFC middleweight title to Israel Adesanya in April. It’s interesting to note that Pereira has been dropped from the middleweight rankings.

Inconsistency with fighters being ranked in two UFC divisions

The UFC rankings have been inconsistent with having some fighters ranked in two divisions, while others are not. Currently, we see both Jessica Andrade and Amanda Ribas ranked in both the UFC women’s strawweight and flyweight divisions. Meanwhile, we’ve seen Paul Craig recently emerge in the UFC middleweight rankings after his recent win over Andre Muniz in Craig’s middleweight debut even though Craig has publicly stated that he would like to still fight at light heavyweight, a division where he has victories over the top in the division in Jamal Hill and Magomed Ankalaev. Pereira has gone on record to say that he would like the MMA trilogy with middleweight champ Israel Adesanya to be at middleweight.

Kevin Holland ranked No. 12 at welterweight

Kevin Holland had his biggest win at welterweight on Saturday night over Michael Chiesa who was ranked No. 12 going into the fight. I agree with this ranking. Holland is ranked one spot higher than Ian Machado Garry and one spot behind Neil Magny.

With Holland entering the rankings, Michael Chiesa has dropped to No. 15 and Michel Pereira is now out of the UFC welterweight rankings. Interestingly, Pereira was supposed to fight Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson at UFC 291 on Saturday, but the Brazilian missed weight by three pounds and Thompson declined the fight.

Fighters moving up in UFC rankings despite winning after missing weight

In the case of Pereira vs. Thompson, if the fight would have gone ahead and Pereira won, he would have moved up in the rankings like we’ve seen in the past when a fighter moves up in the rankings despite missing weight. I don’t agree with this at all, and I applaud “Wonderboy” for not accepting the fight. It has been well documented that the last time “Wonderboy” accepted a fight after his opponent missed weight was when he fought Darren Till and lost a split decision. Till moved up the rankings and fought for the title in his next fight.

We’ve seen countless examples of this over the years, but the one that stands out to me the most was at UFC 279 last year when Daniel Rodriguez took Li Jingliang’s ranking even though he weighed 179 and Jingliang weighed 170. This wasn’t the result of a Rodriguez weight miss. You may recall, it was a result of the last-minute switch in fights when Khamzat Chimaev missed weight by 7.5 pounds against Nate Diaz and Diaz didn’t accept the fight. Rodriguez’ initial opponent Kevin Holland, who he was scheduled to fight in a 180-pound catchweight bout, went on to fight Chimaev and Rodriguez fought Li Jingliang. If Rodriguez would have decisively beat Jingliang, I woudn’t have agreed with him taking Jingliang’s ranking because the bout wasn’t at welterweight; however, he won a controversial split decision, and took Jingliang’s ranking.

Upcoming Notable UFC Light Heavyweight Fights

Aug 12 – (14 – HW) Chris Daukaus vs. (13) Khalil Rountree Jr.

Aug 26 – (10) Ryan Spann vs. (8) Anthony Smith

Sep 2 – (11) Azamat Murzakanov vs. (9) Volkan Oezdemir

Sep 9 – Da Un Jung vs. Carlos Ulberg

Oct 21 – (7) Johnny Walker vs. (2) Magomed Ankalaev

Upcoming Notable UFC Welterweight Fights

Aug 12 – (9 – LW) Rafael Dos Anjos vs (10) Vicente Luque

Aug 19 – (13) Ian Machado Garry vs. (8) Geoff Neal

Sep 16 – Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Daniel Rodriguez

My rankings would look different than any other writer or fan who follows the sport closely. This is to be expected, as rankings are subjective. Rankings should be based primarily on results and not perceived potential or popularity.

Some people think rankings do not matter. Rankings do matter. They matter when it comes to matchmaking. They matter when it comes to contract negotiations.

Let’s keep the rankings conversation going. Do you agree or disagree with the above Ranking Review? Express your thoughts in the comments below.