F. Maldonado (photo) is now 14th in the light heavyweight rankings. Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC
Without a large number of athletes appearing in the top 15 of their respective divisions, UFC Rio 5 did not cause major changes in the configuration of the official Ultimate rankings, but at least two changes shook up the light heavyweight category. Defeated by Phil Davis in the co-main fight of the night, Glover Teixeira dropped two positions. On the other hand, for his victory over Hans Stringer, which earned him the “Performance of the Night” bonus, Fábio Maldonado gained one place, rising to fourteenth place, and left behind none other than Vitor belfort.
The fact that Maldonado overtook Vitor, the next challenger for the middleweight belt, has a very simple explanation: the “Phenomenon” had only two fights in the 93 kg division since returning to the UFC in 2009, with a defeat to Jon Jones in 2012 and a triumph over Dan Henderson in November last year. In the case of Glover, the reason is even clearer: after boasting an undefeated streak of 20 victories that lasted nine years, the Brazilian lost the title fight to the champion Jon Jones and last Saturday he suffered his second consecutive setback. The result dropped Teixeira to sixth place on the list.
Despite the exciting fight and the major victory over Chad Mendes, José Aldo remained in the same place in the weight-for-weight ranking – regardless of categories. The manauara remains the second best fighter in the organization in the opinion of the journalists who vote for the composition of the list, behind only the light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
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