With UFC Vegas 38 in the books, the ranking panelists went back to update their personal rankings (myself included). There were some divisions that saw major shake-ups, and others that saw virtually no movement. Let’s take a look at who moved and what the reason might be for it.
Women’s Flyweight
The Movement
| Fighter | Placement |
| Casey O’Neill | #14 (NR) |
| Miranda Maverick | #15 (-1) |
| Montana De La Rosa | #NR (-1) |
The Breakdown
With a win over the elder of the two Shevchenko sisters, Casey O’Neill makes her debut in the UFC’s flyweight rankings. She has become part of the growing number of hot prospects in the 125lbs division that are nipping at the heels of the contenders, and the second of which to make the rankings, just behind Miranda Maverick. However, she is now only behind Maverick in terms of time in the rankings, as the TKO finish, which was her third straight finish in the UFC, has catapulted her all the way up to #14. This likely affords her an opportunity to fight someone inside of the rankings and perhaps even someone in the top 10.
The jump up of O’Neill comes at the cost of the aforementioned Miranda Maverick, but also Montana De La Rosa. The eight-fight UFC veteran falls out of the rankings to make way for the youngster following O’Neill’s UFC Vegas 38 performance.
Women’s Bantamweight
The Movement
| Fighter | Placement |
| Raquel Pennington | #9 (+1) |
| Sarah McMann | #10 (-1) |
The Breakdown
There was very little movement in the women’s bantamweight division this weekend. The movement that we did see had nothing to do with anyone fighting at UFC Vegas 38. However, before launching into a conspiracy theory about how the UFC is trying to hype one of these fighters or downplay the other in negotiation, let’s look at the actual mathematical reasons this might have happened.
There was a ranked bantamweight in action on Saturday. Karol Rosa easily defeated Bethe Correia on the prelims. While this didn’t cause Rosa to move on the aggregate rankings, she certainly moved in some panelists’ rankings. If she passed McMann on the cards of those select few who did have her moving, but not Pennington, it could cause a shift in their rankings, while ultimately not effecting hers. In my option, this is most likely what happened here.
Light Heavyweight
The Movement
| Figther | Placement |
| Paul Craig | #11 (+1) |
| Ryan Spann | #12 (+1) |
| Jimmy Crute | #13 (+1) |
| Jamahall Hill | #14 (+1) |
| Ion Cutelaba | #15 (NR) |
The Breakdown
The movement in the light heavyweight division following UFC Vegas 38 is 100% due to the departure from the division of Misha Cirkunov. Cirkunov made the transition down to middleweight this past weekend in a fight against Krzysztof Jotko. While the UFC doesn’t always take out a fighter who change divisions, this change appears to be a permanent one for the Latvian fighter.
Taking the #15 spot is Ion Cutelaba, who recently beat Devin Clark. While there are undoubtedly other fighters getting votes for that spot, his recent performance likely stuck in the heads of some voters, giving him an edge and the number.
Middleweight
The Movement
| Figther | Placement |
| Kelvin Gastelum | #9 (+1) |
| Uriah Hall | #10 (-1) |
| Brad Tavares | #12 (+1) |
| Chris Weidman | #13 (-1) |
The Breakdown
This is another of those divisions in which there were people on the move that had not fought. None of the four middleweights who changed their numbers have fought all that recently. Similar to the movement at women’s bantamweight, this is likely due to someone else in the division moving up and/or down.
Kevin Holland may have done either of those things. Already a tough person to pin down just how good he is, he had a downright confusing performance at UFC Vegas 38. He was flash KOed by an accidental clash of heads and then submitted. The fight was then changed to a no contest. This may have also influenced people to vote for Kyle Daukaus. Either of those fighters moving could possibly effect the numbers of those other four.
