The newly crowned UFC middleweight champion, Dricus Du Plessis, has made history by becoming the first South African to ever win UFC gold. Du Plessis won the middleweight title by beating Sean Strickland via a split decision at the recently concluded UFC 297. The two promised the fans a war, and the two delivered a strategic slugfest. Luckily for ‘Stillknocks,’ he has earned a little more than just the title with the win.

Du Plessis’ win against Sean Strickland, changed the whole landscape of the UFC middleweight division, again. This also resulted in major changes in the UFC’s Men’s PFP rankings. Here is where the newly crowned middleweight champion sits in the updated PFP rankings.

Dricus Du Plessis enters Pound For Pound rankings after title win

Dricus Du Plessis’ win over Sean Strickland at UFC 297 catapulted him into the men’s PFP rankings. ‘Stillknocks’ went from being unranked in the men’s pound-for-pound rankings to making a big jump to becoming the 8th-ranked fighter.

The middleweight champ’s jump to the 8th spot in the men’s PFP ranking has pushed Strickland down three spots in the sheet, landing him in the 11th spot. It also brought down the former UFC middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya, down one spot, from the 9th place to the 10th.

Flyweight champ, Alexandre Pantoja went up a spot from 10th to 9th. Aljamain Sterling went down to 12th, Max Holloway to 13th, Tom Aspinall to 14th and Kamaru Usman to the 15th position. Former light heavyweight champion, Jiri Prochazka is no longer in the PFP rankings after the new update.

The changes in the PFP rankings certainly showed how easy it is to fall down the ranks. However, it’s not really surprising given that it’s a list of all the best fighters in the division, regardless of their weight class. The divisional rankings are a different matter and the featherweight division recently saw some significant movement post UFC 297.

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Movsar Evloev: UFC featherweight ranking

Movsar Evloev’s win over Arnold Allen at UFC 297 also boosted him up to the rankings. Evloev’s win over Allen has landed him from being at the 9th spot to the 5th spot in the featherweight division. While the Englishman took a drop in the rankings, from being the 4th ranked featherweight to the 6th after his loss.

UFC title challenger, Ilia Topuria went from being the no. 5th ranked featherweight contender to being the no.3 ranked contender. Former title challenger, Brian Ortega dropped to the 4th position after the recent rankings update.

Given that UFC 297 has made such major changes in the rankings sheets, do you expect the next PPV event to reshuffle the rankings just as much? Let us know in the comments section below.

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