Strickland Moves Up P4P Rankings After UFC 296 Brawl

‘Tarzan’ was bumped up a spot in the P4P rankings after jumping ‘Stillknocks’ in the crowd during the UFC’s latest pay-per-view event in Las Vegas.

The UFC pound-for-pound rankings are known for being mysterious and controversial, and they’ve lived up to that reputation with this week’s update.

The only change: UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland has moved up one spot to No. 7. Bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley drops one to No. 8. A switcheroo! This is all pretty amusing considering neither man fought this past weekend — well, not officially, anyway.

Both Strickland and O’Malley were on hand for UFC 296 to promote future fights. “Tarzan” will defend his 185 pound strap against Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297 in Toronto, Canada. “Suga” puts his 135 pound belt on the line against Marlon “Chito” Vera at UFC 299 in Miami.

Promotion for Strickland’s fight against Du Plessis got a helping hand when the two men ended up throwing down in the crowd halfway through UFC 296. UFC CEO Dana White ‘accidentally’ sat Du Plessis two rows behind Strickland, leading to a confrontation where Strickland literally jumped over Gilbert Burns’ family to attack the South African contender.

He was a complete gentleman about it, according to Burns’ wife.

“I don’t like Sean Strickland’s trash talks but DDP call him to fight right there,” Bruna Burns wrote on Twitter after the incident. “Sean polite asked us to move before he jumped.”

That’s the kind of thought and care I need to see so I can enjoy this sort of reckless behavior in a public space. Was the attack deserving of a move up the official P4P rankings? Apparently it was. The UFC rankings are voted on by a wide panel of MMA media every week, so opinions do end up playing a factor in where fighters end up.

As for Sean O’Malley, he shocked some fans after mocking Sean Strickland for being abused as a child. It was retaliation after Strickland brought up O’Malley’s open relationship with his wife, the latest example of UFC trash talk that’s gone straight into the gutter recently. The incident doesn’t even help him with promotion of UFC 299. The interaction was completely unnecessary, stray bullets between unrelated fighters.

If O’Malley wants that No. 7 spot back, maybe he needs to start a brawl as well. He’s got three months and two major pay-per-views to do it.