Khamzat Chimaev makes big move in the UFC P4P rankings after becoming middleweight champion

This past Saturday night in the main event of UFC 319, Khamzat Chimaev (15-0) completely dominated Dricus Du Plessis (23-3) to become the middleweight champion of the world. Today, the official UFC rankings dropped and Chimaev’s win saw him make a massive jump in the P4P rankings.

1. Ilia Topuria (17-0)
2. Islam Makhachev (27-1)
3. Merab Dvalishvili (20-4)
4. Khamzat Chimaev (15-0)
5. Alexandre Pantoja (30-5)
6. Alexander Volkanovski (27-4)
7. Magomed Ankalaev (21-1-1, 1 NC)
8. Jack Della Maddalena (18-2)
9. Tom Aspinall (15-3)
10. Alex Pereira (12-3)
11. Dricus Du Plessis (23-3)
12. Max Holloway (27-8)
13. Belal Muhammad (24-4, 1 NC)
14. Arman Tsarukyan (22-3)
15. Shavkat Rakhmonov (19-0)

UFC P4P Rankings

Khamzat Chimaev’s title win this past Saturday saw him jump up ten spots in the rankings up to fourth. I’m very curious to see what the commentary is surrounding the rankings update this week given Chimaev’s performance on Saturday night.

Personally, I think that the voters got this one right. While Chimaev is undefeated and put on one of the most dominant performances by a championship challenger in history at UFC 319, I don’t think that I would put him above any of the top three currently.

While Chimaev’s win was incredible, I don’t think the resume is there to put him above Topuria, Makhachev, and Dvalishvili. It’s going to be a very interesting few months in terms of the UFC’s P4P picture.

There are whispers that Khamzat Chimaev might fight in October in Abu Dhabi. Should he turn around that quickly, my guess is that he’d face former ONE champion Reinier De Ridder. If he dominates RDR, perhaps some voters start to think about moving him up.

That said, early in October, Dvalishvili will defend his title against Cory Sandhagen and he Merab looks like “The Machine” and runs through Sandhagen, I think he’ll stick firm at three. The interesting debate to me is that number one spot.

Many still believe that Islam Makhachev should be ranked ahead of Ilia Topuria. I personally have Topuria number one on my list, but I can easily see the argument. Makhachev’s next fight will be against Jack Della Maddalena for the UFC welterweight title.

Should Makhachev win that fight, I think he moves back to the top spot. Topuria is will defend the lightweight title against one of Arman Tsarukyan, Justin Gaethje, or Paddy Pimblett next. If Makhachev wins a second title, he’s going to get that P4P top spot back and the only way Topuria would get it back is if he fights Arman Tsarukyan and knocks him out like he’s knocked everyone else out.