Kamaru Usman, who was once the UFC pound-for-pound number one fighter, has once again dropped down the ladder with the conclusion of his trilogy against Leon Edwards.
With all the marbles on the line at UFC 286, Usman had made it clear that Edwards capitalizing on a mistake he made in their rematch would not be repeated, but ‘Rocky’ once again found a way to win.
Although there may have been several referee interventions against Edwards, including a point deduction after a fence grab, the Jamaican-born welterweight remained composed and clearly out-pointed Kamaru Usman over five rounds, winning by majority decision.
Kamaru Usman slips down the UFC pound-for-pound pile
This, just the second loss of Usman’s UFC career, steered him down three spots in the P4P rankings, taking him from #5 to #8.
Undisputed bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling (#7), newly crowned middleweight champion Alex Pereira (#6), and former champion Israel Adesanya (#5) all moved up ahead of the Kamaru Usman.
Pereira will defend his title for the first time at UFC 287 in Miami, Florida. This will be his fourth time exchanging blows with ‘The last stylebender’ in combat sports, and it will surely have a major influence on the next P4P update.
Sterling will go head-to-head with former two-division champion Henry Cejudo at UFC 288, as Cejudo returns following a three-year layoff.
While Jon Jones is set to face Stipe Miocic this summer, it is unlikely any result removes him from his P4P #1 status, a ranking he has been familiar with throughout his UFC career.
It is up to Alexander Volkanovski (#2), who will be returning to featherweight to fight interim champion Yair Rodriguez later this year, to put any kind of pressure on Jones’ position.
P4P #3 Islam Makhachev may have struggled immensely in his first championship defence, but he will have to remain consistent as Edwards crawls his way up the rankings.
Edwards is expected to hold his second title defence against Colby Covington as per Dana White.
