UFC Rankings Shake-Up After UFC 329: McGregor vs. Holloway 2
The main event of UFC 329 lasted 69 seconds. Conor McGregor sprinted across the canvas at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 11, threw a flying kick, and immediately buckled — blowing out his right knee before Max Holloway had thrown a meaningful shot. Referee Mike Beltran waved it off. Holloway wins by TKO. McGregor leaves on crutches with a surgically complicated future ahead of him.
The event itself went sideways at the top. The rankings update that followed, released Tuesday, went anywhere but.
Biggest Movers
| Fighter | Division | Old Rank | New Rank | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raquel Pennington | Women's Bantamweight | #15 | #2 | +13 |
| Aiemann Zahabi | Bantamweight | #12 | #6 | +6 |
| Loopy Godinez | Women's Strawweight | #12 | #6 | +6 |
| Macy Chiasson | Women's Bantamweight | #13 | #8 | +5 |
| Julianna Peña | Women's Bantamweight | #5 | #1 | +4 |
| Dominick Reyes | Light Heavyweight | #7 | #11 | −4 |
| Luana Santos | Women's Bantamweight | #3 | #9 | −6 |
| Farid Basharat | Bantamweight | #9 | #15 | −6 |
Women's Bantamweight: Thirteen Spots in One Week
Raquel Pennington moves from #15 to #2 in women's bantamweight. That is the largest single-week ranking jump in this update and one of the more dramatic moves the UFC ranking committee has made in any division in recent memory. Thirteen spots — from the edge of the top 15 to second in the division, directly behind the #1 contender.
Julianna Peña is that #1 contender now, having climbed four spots herself to claim the position. Kayla Harrison holds the women's bantamweight title and is looking at a contender pool that changed shape in a single night. Santos falls six places from #3 to #9. Michelle Montague drops from #8 to #14. Macy Chiasson gains five spots to #8.
The scale of Pennington's jump is notable. A movement of that magnitude typically follows a finish over a highly ranked opponent rather than a close decision over someone outside the top ten. The committee's response here was unambiguous — thirteen spots up means they saw something they needed to respond to immediately.
Bantamweight: Zahabi Rises, Basharat Falls
The 135-pound men's division had its own reorder. Aiemann Zahabi climbs six spots to #6. Farid Basharat slides six places in the opposite direction, landing at #15.
Mario Bautista defeated Cory Sandhagen by unanimous decision at UFC 329. Sandhagen's placement in the rankings and how the committee weighs Bautista's performance will filter through in the next update. The move at the top of this division's movers list is Zahabi's, and six spots in one cycle for a fighter who sat at #12 is a meaningful shift toward contention.
Women's Strawweight and Flyweight
Loopy Godinez moves up six spots to #6 in women's strawweight. Mizuki Inoue drops from #9 to #15 in the same division. Both moves are six-place adjustments consistent with the committee making a decisive intervention following UFC 329.
Mackenzie Dern holds the women's strawweight title. The top of the division remains settled. The middle is considerably less so after this update.
At women's flyweight, Wang Cong drops from #6 to #12 — a six-place slide that removes her from the upper half of the division. Valentina Shevchenko is the champion. Casey O'Neill moves from #15 to #11, gaining four spots.
Light Heavyweight and Other Divisions
Dominick Reyes falls four places at light heavyweight, from #7 to #11. Robert Whittaker's TKO of Nikita Krylov on the UFC 329 card added pressure at 205, and the committee adjusted accordingly. Yaroslav Amosov gains four spots at welterweight, from #15 to #11.
Carlos Ulberg holds the light heavyweight title. Sean Strickland holds the middleweight belt. Ikram Aliskerov drops five spots in middleweight, from #10 to #15, in this week's update.
Where This Leaves the Divisions
McGregor departs with a blown knee and no clear return timeline. Holloway retains his standing at featherweight following the win. Paddy Pimblett's first-round submission of Benoît Saint Denis in the co-main event was not reflected in this ranking cycle but strengthens his case in a stacked lightweight division. Brandon Royval's submission of Lone'er Kavanagh was the Fight of the Night according to post-event bonuses.
The story heading out of Las Vegas is Pennington's extraordinary leap. She is now two spots from a title fight in a division with an elite champion in Kayla Harrison. Whether the committee books it or allows another contender to step in is the next question. The ranking answers the one that came before it.