Max Holloway has climbed the UFC rankings following his spectacular knockout victory over Justin Gaethje at UFC 300.
“Blessed” was in fine form as he sent his opponent to his feet for five rounds before sending him falling to the canvas face first with one second left in the fight.
Holloway was rewarded for his exploits with a $600,000 bonus from UFC CEO Dana White and climbed six spots to No. 8 in the pound-for-pound rankings when they updated Monday morning.
He also entered the lightweight rankings for the first time at No. 9, but made it six positions behind Gaethje despite his elimination last weekend.
When Holloway faced Gaethje for the BMF (Baddest Motherf***er) belt, “The Highlight” was ranked #2 at lightweight.
Usually, when a fighter defeats another ranked competitor, they take their place or, at the very least, move ahead of them on the list.
But that wasn’t the case here as Gaethje moved from No. 2 to No. 3 with only Charles Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan placed in front of him.
The confusing decision likely has something to do with the fact that Holloway has only competed at 155 pounds in the UFC twice (1-1) – his other outing being a unanimous decision loss to Dustin Poirier in 2019 .
Whether or not Holloway is ranked in the top three at lightweight, his stock has certainly risen.
His coup de grace was the speech that went viral on social media and was viewed millions of times around the world.
He also maintains his No. 2 ranking in the featherweight division and is in prime position to challenge Ilia Topuria for the 145-pound belt.
Elsewhere in the rankings, Aljamain Sterling entered the featherweight top 15 at No. 8 following his victory over Calvin Kattar at UFC 300, while Diego Lopes was also a new addition at No. 14 after stopping Sodiq Yusuff on the same map.
Deiveson Figueiredo moved up two spots at bantamweight, Tatiana Suarez and Yan Xiaonan swapped places at the top of the strawweight rankings and Jiri Prochazka became the No. 1 contender for Alex Pereira’s light heavyweight throne.
You can get all the latest UFC reaction by subscribing to talkSPORT’s new MMA YouTube channel.
Max Holloway has climbed the UFC rankings following his spectacular knockout victory over Justin Gaethje at UFC 300.
“Blessed” was in fine form as he sent his opponent to his feet for five rounds before sending him falling to the canvas face first with one second left in the fight.
Holloway was rewarded for his exploits with a $600,000 bonus from UFC CEO Dana White and climbed six spots to No. 8 in the pound-for-pound rankings when they updated Monday morning.
He also entered the lightweight rankings for the first time at No. 9, but made it six positions behind Gaethje despite his elimination last weekend.
When Holloway faced Gaethje for the BMF (Baddest Motherf***er) belt, “The Highlight” was ranked #2 at lightweight.
Usually, when a fighter defeats another ranked competitor, they take their place or, at the very least, move ahead of them on the list.
But that wasn’t the case here as Gaethje moved from No. 2 to No. 3 with only Charles Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan placed in front of him.
The confusing decision likely has something to do with the fact that Holloway has only competed at 155 pounds in the UFC twice (1-1) – his other outing being a unanimous decision loss to Dustin Poirier in 2019 .
Whether or not Holloway is ranked in the top three at lightweight, his stock has certainly risen.
His coup de grace was the speech that went viral on social media and was viewed millions of times around the world.
He also maintains his No. 2 ranking in the featherweight division and is in prime position to challenge Ilia Topuria for the 145-pound belt.
Elsewhere in the rankings, Aljamain Sterling entered the featherweight top 15 at No. 8 following his victory over Calvin Kattar at UFC 300, while Diego Lopes was also a new addition at No. 14 after stopping Sodiq Yusuff on the same map.
Deiveson Figueiredo moved up two spots at bantamweight, Tatiana Suarez and Yan Xiaonan swapped places at the top of the strawweight rankings and Jiri Prochazka became the No. 1 contender for Alex Pereira’s light heavyweight throne.
You can get all the latest UFC reaction by subscribing to talkSPORT’s new MMA YouTube channel.