Back to the MMA Newsfeed

UFC fighter rankings: New top contender at bantamweight, former champ tumbles

Coming off a big PPV, UFC Vegas 71 didn’t take place at the APEX but was actually in front of some fans at The Theater At Virgin Hotels in the Vegas area. The people in attendance were treated to a fairly good event, just not one that had major rankings implications outside of one division.

In the headliner, Merab Dvalishvili picked a shutout on former champion Petr Yan, and the rankings panel has rewarded him with the top contender position at 135 pounds. However, it appears that he does not want to fight current champ and teammate Aljamain Sterling, so it could be interesting to see how that plays out.