UFC Pound-for-Pound Rankings: Will Alexander Volkanovski Drop Down After His Second Straight UFC Loss?

UFC fans have always been confused about the factors used to determine the best UFC pound-for-pound fighters. A year ago, it was the noted former UFC featherweight king, Alexander Volkanovski, who sat at the top spot of the list. But ‘The Great’ didn’t have a very ruly 2023, which had him losing his apex spot on the list.

Volkanovski stayed at the #3 spot on the UFC’s top pound-for-pound fighter’s chart to begin this year. But his first encounter of 2024 at UFC 298 also ended in a devastating KO defeat. This is why a large chunk of fans are predicting that the Australian may drop even further on the list now.

Well, the UFC authorities haven’t made any alteration to their list as of now. The athlete rankings page on their official website still showcases ‘Volk’ as the featherweight champ. But the changes are expected to be updated soon. However, Volkanovski’s fans will desperately hope that the top pound-for-pound fighters list stays unchanged.

The Australian avoided dropping down on the list after his UFC 284 fight against the lightweight champ, Islam Makhachev, due to the close nature of the encounter. But it was the noted, Jon Jones, who ultimately dethroned ‘Volk’ after his dominant victory against Ciryl Gane at UFC 285. Still, ‘The Great’ held onto the second spot on the list.

Most fans may not have much to say about ‘Volk’s’ drop to the third spot on the list. It was quite justified as the former featherweight champ picked up another loss against Makhachev at UFC 294. Hence, his UFC 298 defeat might make the fears of his fans come true.

Will Alexander Volkanovski drop another spot in the UFC top pound-for-pound fighters list?

To answer this question, we need to take a look at the current UFC pound-for-pound fighters list. It will reveal that the current UFC welterweight king, Leon Edwards, is the one who sits at the #4 spot currently, just below ‘The Great’. Volkanovski’s recent record says that he currently stands at 1-3 in his last four in-octagon showdowns. ‘Rocky’ trumps ‘The Great’ here by a huge margin.

A look at Edwards’ past four UFC encounters will reveal that he has won all four of them. Moreover, his last defeat came against the former UFC welterweight king, Kamaru Usman in 2015. Almost every UFC fan may know that Edwards avenged his last loss against Usman in a vicious fashion, KO-ing ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ with a head kick. He also won their coveted rivalry 2-1 after three fights between them.

Adding to all of this, the Jamaican-British is currently on a 12-fight win streak as well. Hence, it’s quite clear that Edwards has every chance of surpassing Volkanovski on the UFC pound-for-pound rankings. However, due to the confusion about the factors determining this list, nothing can be said if the Australian will lose his spot to the UK native or not.

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• Alexander Volkanovski
• Islam Makhachev
• Jon Jones
• Leon Edwards