Cody ‘No Love’ Garbrandt has made a run on the pound-for-pound rankings.
Garbrandt put on a footwork, movement and heavy-hitting school in his UFC 207 victory over Dominick Cruz. The 25-year-old handed Cruz his first ever UFC loss and claimed the bantamweight title in the process.
Not only did Garbrandt win, he did it in emphatic style.
Dropped. Popped. Locked.
The unanimous decision win over ‘The Dominator’ has seen Garbrandt rocket up the UFC’s P4P rankings. He is straight in as a newcomer at No.5 having gone 4-0 in the promotion this year.
The outlook is somewhat bleaker for Cruz and Ronda Rousey, who lasted 48 grim seconds against women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes.
Cruz is down from No.3 to No.8 while Rousey, 13 months out of the game after her previous loss to Holly Holm, does not feature in the P4P rankings she once dominated.
‘Rowdy’ is also down three places to No.4 in the bantamweight division. Valentina Shevchenko, Julianna Pena and Holly Hom, who fights for the featherweight [145lbs] belt next month, are all now ranked as better bantamweights by media members.
The biggest rankings mover is Ray Borg. He jumps into the flyweight top 10 after a dominant victory over Louis Smolka. Gunnar Nelson climbs a place to return to the welterweight top 10.
Conor McGregor remains at No.2 in the P4P rankings, behind flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson.
Garbrandt is certainly doing enough to impress the media types that have a say on the UFC rankings. He would not mind a shot at UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo next but has expressed an interest in settling his Ultimate Fighter beef with McGregor.
