Coming into UFC 274, the women's strawweight title fight between Rose Namajunas and Carla Esparza was a contest many expected to be among the best of the night. Unfortunately, the fight turned out to be a dull affair that ranks among the least exciting championship fights in UFC history. Despite the lack of excitement, the bout did end with Esparza having her hand raised as she kicked off her second reign as champion.
Esparza won the title for the first time in December 2014, beating Namajunas in the finale of "The Ultimate Fighter." She would lose the belt in her next outing before embarking on a more than seven-year journey to once again hold UFC gold, culminating with her win over Namajunas on Saturday night. Esparza also climbed from No. 3 to No. 1 in the CBS Sports UFC Divisional Rankings while Namajunas fell from No. 1 to No. 2.
In the night's main event, Charles Oliveira pulled off a dramatic first-round submission of Justin Gaethje to lock down his No. 1 spot at lightweight. Strange circumstances around the weigh-in meant that Oliveira would leave the event without his lightweight championship, having missed weight by half a pound amid controversy that the scale the fighters used ahead of the official weigh-ins had been altered, causing weight cutting issues.
Saturday's UFC Fight Night card features just one fight involving CBS Sports ranked fighters.
- Light Heavyweight: No. 3 Jan Blachowicz vs. No. 4 Aleksandar Rakic
- Women's flyweight: No. 2 Katlyn Chookagian vs. Amanda Ribas
Rankings are compiled following the submission of ballots by Brent Brookhouse, Brian Campbell, Brandon Wise and Shakiel Mahjouri. Without further ado, here's where things stand ahead of Saturday's card.
For Brian Campbell's updated Pound for Pound Rankings, click here.
Flyweight
Fighter | Record |
1. Deiveson Figueiredo (c) | 21-2-1 |
2. Brandon Moreno | 19-6-2 |
3. Kai Kara-France | 24-9 |
4. Askar Askarov | 14-1-1 |
5. Alexandre Pantoja | 24-5 |
6. Brandon Royval | 13-6 |
7. Alex Perez | 24-6 |
8. Matt Schnell | 15-7 |
9. Rogerio Bontorin | 17-3 |
10. Matheus Nicolau | 18-3-1 |
Bantamweight
Fighter | Record |
1. Aljamain Sterling (c) | 21-3 |
2. Petr Yan | 16-3 |
3. TJ Dillashaw | 17-4 |
4. Cory Sandhagen | 14-4 |
5. Jose Aldo | 31-7 |
6. Merab Dvalishvili | 14-4 |
7. Marlon Vera | 21-7-1 |
8. Rob Font | 19-6 |
9. Dominick Cruz | 24-3 |
10. Pedro Munhoz | 19-7 |
Featherweight
Fighter | Record |
1. Alexander Volkanovski (c) | 24-1 |
2. Max Holloway | 23-6 |
3. Brian Ortega | 15-2 |
4. Yair Rodriguez | 13-3 |
5. Calvin Kattar | 23-5 |
6. Josh Emmett | 17-2 |
7. Arnold Allen | 18-1 |
8. Korean Zombie | 17-7 |
9. Giga Chikadze | 14-3 |
10. Bryce Mitchell | 15-0 |
Lightweight
Fighter | Record |
1. Charles Oliveira | 33-8 |
2. Dustin Poirier | 28-7 |
3. Islam Makhachev | 22-1 |
4. Justin Gaethje | 23-4 |
5. Beneil Dariush | 21-4-1 |
6. Michael Chandler | 23-6 |
7. Rafael Dos Anjos | 31-13 |
8. Rafael Fiziev | 11-1 |
9. Dan Hooker | 20-11 |
10. Gregor Gillespie | 14-1 |
Welterweight
Fighter | Record |
1. Kamaru Usman (c) | 20-1 |
2. Colby Covington | 17-3 |
3. Leon Edwards | 19-3 |
4. Khamzat Chimaev | 11-0 |
5. Gilbert Burns | 20-5 |
6. Belal Muhammad | 21-3 |
7. Stephen Thompson | 16-5-1 |
8. Vicente Luque | 21-8-1 |
9. Jorge Masvidal | 35-16 |
10. Sean Brady | 15-0 |
Middleweight
Fighter | Record |
1. Israel Adesanya (c) | 22-1 |
2. Robert Whittaker | 23-6 |
3. Jared Cannonier | 15-5 |
4. Marvin Vettori | 18-5-1 |
5. Paulo Costa | 13-2 |
6. Derek Brunson | 23-8 |
7. Sean Strickland | 25-3 |
8. Jack Hermansson | 22-7 |
9. Darren Till | 18-4-1 |
10. Brendan Allen | 18-5 |
Light heavyweight
Fighter | Record |
1. Glover Teixeira (c) | 33-7 |
2. Jiri Prochazka | 28-3-1 |
3. Jan Blachowicz | 28-9 |
4. Aleksandar Rakic | 14-2 |
5. Magomed Ankalaev | 17-1 |
6. Anthony Smith | 36-16 |
7. Dominick Reyes | 12-3 |
8. Thiago Santos | 22-10 |
9. Paul Craig | 16-4-1 |
10. Jamahal Hill | 10-1 |
Heavyweight
Fighter | Record |
1. Francis Ngannou (c) | 16-3 |
2. Stipe Miocic | 20-4 |
3. Ciryl Gane | 10-1 |
4. Curtis Blaydes | 16-3 |
5. Tai Tuivasa | 14-3 |
6. Tom Aspinall | 12-2 |
7. Derrick Lewis | 26-9 |
8. Alexander Volkov | 34-10 |
9. Jairzinho Rozenstruik | 12-3 |
10. Chris Daukaus | 12-4 |
Women's strawweight
Fighter | Record |
1. Carla Esparza (c) | 19-6 |
2. Rose Namajunas | 11-5 |
3. Weili Zhang | 21-3 |
4. Marina Rodriguez | 15-1-2 |
5. Yan Xiaonan | 13-2 |
6. Mackenzie Dern | 12-1 |
7. Jessica Andrade | 23-9 |
8. Amanda Ribas | 11-2 |
9. Tecia Torres | 13-6 |
10. Michelle Waterson | 18-9 |
Women's flyweight
Fighter | Record |
1. Valentina Shevchenko (c) | 22-3 |
2. Katlyn Chookagian | 16-4 |
3. Alexa Grasso | 14-3 |
4. Lauren Murphy | 15-5 |
5. Talia Santos | 19-1 |
Women's bantamweight
Fighter | Record |
T1. Julianna Pena (c) | 11-4 |
T1. Amanda Nunes | 21-5 |
3. Germaine de Randamie | 10-4 |
4. Holly Holm | 14-5 |
5. Irene Aldana | 13-6 |
6. Yana Kunitskaya | 14-6 |
7. Raquel Pennington | 14-9 |
8. Ketlen Vieira | 12-2 |
9. Sara McMann | 12-6 |
10. Aspen Ladd | 9-3 |