In the ever-shifting MMA landscape, ranking the world’s greatest fighters might seem like a fool’s errand, but that’s exactly we’ve set out to do with the MMA Fighting Global Rankings. Here, our esteemed panel sorts out the movers and shakers from every division to provide you with the most definitive list of the best fighters on the planet.

With that, let’s take a look at the biggest rankings storylines from this past cycle (Jan. 22-Feb. 12).

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Johnny Eblen is elite

Johnny Eblen is the best middleweight in the world. Disagree? Just ask him.

With respect to Bellator’s 185-pound champion, ranking him No. 1 in the division is probably a stretch, even given the scorching 13-0 start to his MMA career and two outstanding wins against Anatoly Tokov and Gegard Mousasi. But suggesting that he could beat the current No. 1 in the division doesn’t sound crazy at all.

Eblen breaks into the top 5 this month, jumping from No. 6 to No. 4, with one panelist going as far as to throw him a vote for the top spot. His body of work clearly isn’t as substantial as some of the UFC’s stars, but one can’t help but wonder if his high pressure style would make him a favorite over UFC champion Alex Pereira or even former champion Israel Adesanya. On that same token, would more similarly-styled middleweights like Robert Whittaker or Marvin Vettori have the edge against Eblen?

As long as Eblen is in Bellator, it’s difficult to chart a path that sends him further up the charts; then again, if Eblen keeps winning, he’s going to stay in the thick of the No. 1 discussion for a long time.

Yair Rodriguez cracks the top 3

For years, Yair Rodriguez felt like he might become one of MMA’s also-rans. A super talented prospect who was spoken of in hushed tones before he won the inaugural season of The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America, Rodriguez lived up to much of his promise while also hitting snag after snag on his way up the charts. Losses to Max Holloway and Frankie Edgar had some questioning his ceiling, but a golden opportunity presented itself at UFC 284 with the promotion deciding to throw an interim featherweight title into the mix while undisputed champion Alexander Volkanovski moved up to fight Islam Makhachev.

On Saturday, we saw the best version of Rodriguez we’d ever seen. He out-struck and outworked Emmett for almost 10 minutes before finishing with a triangle choke late in the second round. Presumably, Rodriguez has locked up a title shot against Volkanovski, and if we see this version of him on that hypothetical fight night, you better believe the champ is in for another major test.

For now, Rodriguez can take solace in joining Volkanovski and Holloway in the esteemed MMA Fighting top 3, just edging past Bellator star Patricio Pitbull.

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Serghei Spivac sends Derrick Lewis plummeting out of top 10

UFC president Dana White guaranteed that the slumping Derrick Lewis won’t have to worry about his spot in the company anytime soon.

But Lewis’ spot in our rankings? Anything but secure.

For the first time since we started doing these rankings in July 2021, Lewis is not a top 10 heavyweight. “The Black Beast” has fallen on hard times with three straight losses and four losses in his past five appearances. His recent setback against Serghei Spivac was the straw that broke the camel’s back for our panel, as Lewis’ dispirited effort resulted in him crashing all the way from No. 7 into a tie for the No. 14 spot.

It doesn’t help that the heavyweight division has seen new blood rise over the past couple of years, with Spivac, Ciryl Gane, Sergei Pavlovich, Jailton Almeida, Alexandr Romanov, and Tom Aspinall leading the charge. As risky as it is to count out the hard-hitting Lewis, it’s likely that we won’t see him near the top of the charts again.

Jack Della Maddalena and Lorenz Larkin move in at 170

Two welterweights at different points of their careers made a strong case to be included in the rankings this cycle.

Jack Della Maddalena and Lorenz Larkin have little in common, but both picked up huge wins in February to claim the No. 14 and No. 15 spots at welterweight, respectively. “Jackie Three Names” (h/t Shaun Al-Shatti) made it four first-round finishes in four UFC appearances with his submission of Randy Brown at UFC 284, while Lorenz Larkin scored the highlight of the night on Bellator’s CBS debut when he clobbered Mukhamed Berkhamov with a standing elbow.

In the case of Della Maddalena, the Aussie slugger continues his steady rise up the ranks, with a top 10 opponent likely in his future. The road only gets more treacherous from here, but Della Maddalena has passed every test so far with flying colors.

Larkin was a top-ranked welterweight when he parted ways with the UFC in 2016, but falling short against Bellator’s best while also bouncing between 170 and 185 pounds has left our panel somewhat bewildered as to what to do with him. Regardless, “The Monsoon” has quietly strung together an eight-fight unbeaten streak and he received enough support this cycle to get a number next to his name again, a nod that one could argue was overdue.

Check out the complete February rankings below.

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Heavyweight

MMA Fighting

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): Serghei Spivac def. No. 7 Derrick Lewis, No. 10 (tied) Ryan Bader def. Fedor Emelianenko, No. 10 (tied) Marcin Tybura def. Blagoy Ivanov

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 2 Ciryl Gane vs. Jon Jones (UFC 285, March 4), No. 7 Alexander Volkov vs. No. 13 Alexandr Romanov (UFC Vegas 71, March 11), No. 14 (tied) Valentin Moldavsky vs. Linton Vassell (Bellator 292, March 10)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Phil De Fries (4), Ante Delija (1), Linton Vassell (1)

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Light Heavyweight

MMA Fighting

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): N/A

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 10 Nikita Krylov vs. No. 13 Ryan Spann (UFC Vegas 70, Feb. 25), No. 11 (tied) Anatoly Malykhin vs. Arjan Bhullar (ONE Fight Night 8, March 24, heavyweight championship bout)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Paul Craig (6), Yoel Romero (3), Antonio Carlos Junior (1), Khalil Rountree (1)

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Middleweight

MMA Fighting

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 6 Johnny Eblen def. Anatoly Tokov

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 5 Marvin Vettori vs. No. 14 Roman Dolidze (UFC 286, March 18), No. 7 (tied) Derek Brunson vs. No. 12 Dricus Du Plessis (UFC 285, March 4), No. 7 (tied) Andre Muniz vs. Brendan Allen (UFC Vegas 70, Feb. 25)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Jack Hermansson (2), Kelvin Gastelum (1), Anatoly Tokov (1)

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Welterweight

MMA Fighting

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): N/A

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 1 Leon Edwards vs. No. 2 Kamaru Usman (UFC 286, March 18), No. 7 (tied) Yaroslav Amosov vs. Logan Storley (Bellator 291, Feb. 25), No. 7 (tied) Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. No. 10 Geoff Neal (UFC 285, March 4)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Roberto Soldic (4), Logan Storley (3), Jason Jackson (1), Neil Magny (1), Michael Page (1)

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Lightweight

MMA Fighting

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 1 Islam Makhachev def. No. 1 FW Alexander Volkanovski

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 5 Justin Gaethje vs. No. 6 Rafael Fiziev (UFC 286, March 18), No. 10 Usman Nurmagomedov vs. Benson Henderson (Bellator 292, March 10)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Drew Dober (6), Olivier Aubin-Mercier (5), Tofiq Musayev (2), Roberto Satoshi (2), Renato Moicano (2), Dan Hooker (1)

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Featherweight

MMA Fighting

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 1 LW Islam Makhachev def. No. 1 Alexander Volkanovski (lightweight championship bout), No. 4 Yair Rodriguez def. No. 7 Josh Emmett

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: N/A

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Dan Ige (3), Adam Borics (1), Jeremy Kennedy (1), Magomedrasul Khasbulaev (1), Movlid Khaybulaev (1), Jonathan Pearce (1), Sodiq Yusuff (1)

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Bantamweight

MMA Fighting

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): N/A

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 2 (tied) Petr Yan vs. No. 5 Merab Dvalishvili (UFC Vegas 71, March 11)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): John Lineker (3), Chris Gutierrez (3), Adrian Yanez (3), Danny Sabatello (2), Pedro Munhoz (1), Said Nurmagomedov (1)

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Flyweight

MMA Fighting

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): N/A

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 12 Muhammad Mokaev vs. Jafel Filho (UFC 286, March 18)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Tim Elliott (3), Ali Bagautinov (2), Rogerio Bontorin (2), John Dodson (2), Jeff Molina (2), Matt Schnell (2), Danny Kingad (1)

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Women’s Bantamweight

MMA Fighting

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): N/A

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 13 Mayra Bueno Silva vs. Lina Lansberg (UFC Vegas 69, Feb. 18)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Talita Bernardo (2), Lina Lansberg (2), Chelsea Chandler (1), Melissa Dixon (1), Julija Stoliarenko (1)

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Women’s Flyweight

MMA Fighting

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): N/A

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 1 Valentina Shevchenko vs. No. 7 Alexa Grasso (UFC 285, March 4), No. 2 Jessica Andrade vs. No. 9 Erin Blanchfield (UFC Vegas 69, Feb. 18), No. 11 Jennifer Maia vs. No. 13 Casey O’Neill (UFC 286, March 18), No. 12 Viviane Araujo vs. Amanda Ribas (UFC 285, March 4)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Joanne Wood (3), Tracy Cortez (2), Molly McCann (2), Miranda Maverick (1), Amanda Ribas (1), Karina Rodriguez (1)

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Strawweight

MMA Fighting

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): N/A

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 4 Jessica Andrade vs Erin Blanchfield (flyweight bout), No. 9 Amanda Ribas vs. Viviane Araujo (flyweight bout)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Tabatha Ricci (2), Lupita Godinez (1), Luana Pinheiro (1)

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A refresher on the ground rules:

• Our eight-person voting panel consists of MMA Fighting staffers Shaun Al-Shatti, Alexander K. Lee, Guilherme Cruz, Mike Heck, E. Casey Leydon, Steven Marrocco, Damon Martin, and Jed Meshew.
• Fighters will be removed from the rankings if they do not compete within 18 months of their most recent bout. Updates to the rankings are typically completed following each month’s UFC pay-per-view.
• Should a fighter announce their retirement, our panel will decide whether that fighter should immediately be removed from the rankings or maintain their position until further notice (let’s put it this way: we’d have taken Khabib Nurmagomedov out of our rankings a lot quicker than the UFC did).
• Holding a promotion’s title does not guarantee that fighter will be viewed as the best in their promotion. Additionally, fighters who regularly compete or hold titles in multiple weight classes are eligible to be ranked in multiple lists.

Thoughts? Questions? Concerns? Make your voice heard in the comments below.