The ESPN pound-for-pound MMA rankings you see below are only slightly different from the men’s and women’s top 10s we published Aug. 24, the last time our voting panel weighed in.
That should come as no shock. There have been only two UFC fight cards and few other major events across the sport in the three weeks since our last update. No fighter in either of our P4P rankings was in action.
That is not to suggest, however, that our voters are not making moves.
UFC men’s bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling rises a spot in the men’s rankings, largely because the fighter who was ahead of him, men’s flyweight titlist Deiveson Figueiredo, was replaced on one voter’s ballot. Sterling will have to protect his top-10 position at the next major UFC event, UFC 280 on Oct. 22, when he defends his belt against former champ TJ Dillashaw.
Beyond the Sterling boost, three ESPN voters made moves in their top 10s, with two of them inserting fighters who were not there in our last update. Marc Raimondi added Ciryl Gane on the strength of the heavyweight’s knockout of Tai Tuivasa at UFC Paris on Sept. 3. Jeff Wagenheim reinserted the onetime highly ranked Demetrious Johnson, who captured the One Championship flyweight title with a KO of Adriano Moraes on Aug. 27.
Gaining added support was former UFC middleweight champ Robert Whittaker, who moved up on Brett Okamoto’s ballot after defeating Marvin Vettori on the Gane-Tuivasa undercard.
But none of these fighters garnered enough votes to crack the men’s top 10. And the women’s rankings remain the same.
Note: Results are current; rankings as of Sept. 13.
Men’s pound-for-pound rankings
1. Alexander Volkanovski
UFC featherweight champion
Record: 25-1
Last: W (UD) Max Holloway, July 2
Next: TBD
2. Charles Oliveira 
UFC lightweight
Record: 33-8, 1 NC
Last: W (Sub1) Justin Gaethje, May 7
Next: Oct. 22 vs. Islam Makhachev
3. Israel Adesanya
UFC middleweight champion
Record: 23-1
Last: W (UD) Jared Cannonier, July 2
Next: Nov. 12 vs. Alex…
Source : espn
