UFC Rankings: Minor Movements After Allen vs. Costa
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Arnold Allen's unanimous decision over Melquizael Costa at UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas on Saturday settled a featherweight matchup that the rankings had been expecting — and the Tuesday update confirmed both fighters' standings without reshuffling the top of the division. The movement that came with the card spread across five other weight classes, six fighters total, all shifting by a single position.
Biggest Movers
| Fighter | Division | Old Rank | New Rank | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maurício Ruffy | Lightweight | #10 | #9 | +1 |
| Amanda Lemos | Women's Strawweight | #7 | #6 | +1 |
| Uroš Medić | Welterweight | #14 | #13 | +1 |
| Jacqueline Cavalcanti | Women's Bantamweight | #11 | #10 | +1 |
| Sean Strickland | P4P (Men's) | #7 | #8 | -1 |
| Yana Santos | Women's Bantamweight | #7 | #8 | -1 |
Featherweight: Allen Holds Position
Allen came in ranked seventh and fought exactly like a fighter defending a position inside the top ten. His jab controlled distance from the opening bell, he denied Costa any sustained pressure in the clinch, and the 50-45 scorecards from two of three judges reflected that level of dominance. Costa, who entered at #12, stays there.
Neither fighter moved in the rankings. Allen's win confirms his standing rather than elevates it — the top six in featherweight is largely undisturbed, with Movsar Evloev (#1), Diego Lopes (#2), and Lerone Murphy (#3) sitting above a group of credible challengers. Getting from seventh to a legitimate title conversation requires either a step up in opponent quality or one of the slots above opening up.
The co-main event belonged to Choi Doo-ho, who stopped Daniel Santos by TKO at 4:29 of round two and earned Fight of the Night honors alongside its bonus. The stoppage came off a clean punch flurry after Choi had established his rhythm early. The result didn't shift Choi's position in the rankings this cycle, but it keeps him active in featherweight matchmaking conversations.
Alice Ardelean's submission of Polyana Viana — a capsule lock in the second round — earned a $100,000 Performance of the Night bonus and contributed to downstream movement in the women's strawweight standings, even though Ardelean herself is not currently ranked.
P4P: Strickland Slides One Spot
Sean Strickland, who reclaimed the UFC middleweight title at UFC 328 a week earlier by split decision over Khamzat Chimaev, drops one position in the pound-for-pound rankings from #7 to #8. Entering the standings last week at seventh was the reward for beating the #3 P4P fighter over five rounds. Sliding one place a week later is a recalibration, not a verdict — Strickland holds the title and sits inside the top ten, but the list responds to a full card's worth of activity and results, not a single prior result kept in stasis.
Women's Divisions
The women's bantamweight and strawweight divisions account for three of the week's six total moves.
Ketlen Vieira defeated Jacqueline Cavalcanti by unanimous decision — 29-28 on all three scorecards — in the prelims. Cavalcanti moves up one spot from #11 to #10 in women's bantamweight despite the loss. Lower-tier ranking adjustments regularly produce this kind of lateral movement when fighters above or below drop off the active list. Yana Santos, who did not fight Saturday, moves down one spot from #7 to #8 as a consequence of the same reshuffle.
Amanda Lemos climbs from #7 to #6 in women's strawweight. Lemos was not on Saturday's card. Her move reflects positioning changes at the middle of the 115-pound division that followed Ardelean's finish of Viana. Lemos at #6 puts her in legitimate contender territory if she stays active heading into the summer.
Lightweight and Welterweight
Maurício Ruffy breaks into the top ten at lightweight, moving from #10 to #9. Ruffy did not fight on the Allen vs. Costa card. His move reflects positioning changes around him in a lightweight division that carries two fighters at the top slot — Ilia Topuria holds the undisputed title and Justin Gaethje holds the interim belt, compressing everyone below and making the top-ten boundary more competitive than it looks.
Uroš Medić edges one position in welterweight from #14 to #13. Khaos Williams contributed welterweight activity on the card with a first-round TKO of Nikolay Veretennikov, and the division's lower tier absorbed the resulting adjustment with Medić the direct beneficiary.
What to Watch
The featherweight title picture is unchanged: Evloev, Lopes, Murphy, Sterling, and Rodríguez occupy the five slots ahead of Allen. That group creates a sustained log jam. The next event with a genuine featherweight title implication will matter more for Allen's standing than another win at his current level.
For the women's divisions, Lemos at #6 strawweight and Cavalcanti now at #10 bantamweight both represent positions that summer matchmaking can work with. Strickland's P4P standing at #8 is likely to hold there until his rematch with Chimaev takes shape and gives the rankers a more direct input.