Du Plessis climbs the UFC pound-for-pound rankings... and watch out for Imavov!

There were few changes in the UFC's pound-for-pound rankings after UFC 312. Dricus Du Plessis (23-2) defeated Sean Strickland (29-7) and moves up one place. The South African middleweight champion overtakes Belal Muhammad (24-3-1 NC) and moves into sixth place behind Merab Dvalishvili (5th) and Ilia Topuria (4th). Strickland, meanwhile, drops to 15th and last place in the rankings.The top four, therefore, remains untouchable: Makhachev (27-1), Jon Jones (28-1-1 NC), Alex Pereira (12-2) and Ilia Topuria (16-0). It has not moved since Jones regained second place after his victory at the end of 2024. Makhachev's victory at UFC 311 reaffirmed his place as the best P4P fighter in the UFC

What has been a little more surprising are the changes in the middleweight rankings. Strickland has dropped one place... but the one who moves up is not Chimaev, but Imavov (16-4-1 NC). The reality is that they should have both overtaken the American after Sean's defeat to Du Plessis.

Ranking Imavov as the No. 1 in the division does not seem to be a problem for the UFC, as Dana White and DDP have already made it clear that the next title contender will be the undefeated Khamzat Chimaev (14-0). The Russian's spectacular submission of Whittaker (27-8) at UFC 308 confirmed this

The next numbered event, , will be in early March: UFC 313 with the spectacular Pereira vs Ankalaev and Gaethje vs Hooker.