UFC rankings: Merab Dvalishvili claims No. 1 contender slot in bantamweight division

The UFC’s bantamweight division has a new No. 1 contender.

With his one-sided decision win over former champ Petr Yan in this past weekend’s UFC Fight Night 221 main event, Merab Dvalishvili (16-4 MMA, 9-2 UFC) is now sitting atop the list of contenders at 135 pounds.

Dvalishvili moves up two spot from his previous position at No. 3, ultimately taking the spot that was held by Sean O’Malley, who now drops to No. 2.

Marlon “Chito” Vera is now No. 3, while Yan is No. 4.

Dvalishvili, of course, has made it quite clear he has no intentions of fighting his teammate, current champion Aljamain Sterling. In turn, Sterling has mentioned the possibility of moving up a division so that Dvalishvili has his chance to fight for the title, so the two will have some key decisions to make in the coming months.

Another bantamweight who was victorious at UFC Fight Night 221, Jonathan Martinez (18-4 MMA, 9-3 UFC), enters the list at No. 14 with his latest result, split-decision win over the previously ranked Said Nurmagomedov.

Take a look at the latest UFC bantamweight rankings below. Check out the full updated rankings at UFC.com.

UFC bantamweight champion: Aljamain Sterling

1. Merab Dvalishvili +2
2. Sean O’Malley -1
3. Marlon Vera +1
4. Petr Yan -2
5. Cory Sandhagen
6. Rob Font
7. Dominick Cruz
8. Yadong Song
9. Ricky Simon +1
10. Pedro Munhoz -1
11. Umar Nurmagomedov
12. Adrian Yanez
13. Chris Gutierrez
14. Jonathan Martinez NR
15. Jack Shore