New bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili debuts in UFC pound-for-pound rankings; see the top 15

Merab Dvalishvili is the UFC bantamweight champion (Photo: Instagram/UFC)

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In addition to the bantamweight belt (up to 61,2 kg), the victory over Sean O'Malley in the main fight of UFC 306 , last Saturday (14), also earned Merab Dvalishvili a place in the UFC pound-for-pound ranking, which includes athletes from all male categories of the organization.

In an update released in the early hours of Tuesday (17), the new champion appears in seventh place in the men's pound-for-pound ranking. The bantamweight champion appears one position ahead of the interim heavyweight champion (up to 120,2 kg) Tom Aspinall and five ahead of the flyweight champion (up to 56,7 kg) Alexandre Pantoja , who occupies only 12th place, but behind the other belt holders.

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Dethroned by Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306 , Sean O'Malley remained among the top 15 athletes in the organization, but lost seven positions, falling from sixth to 13th on the list.

The UFC men's pound-for-pound ranking is led by lightweight champion (up to 70,3 kg) Islam Makhachev , followed by light heavyweight champion (up to 93 kg) Alex Poatan , and heavyweight champion Jon Jones , who completes the podium.

UFC weight-for-pound ranking:

1 - Islam makhachev
2 - Alex Poatán
3 - Jon Jones
4 - Ilia Topuria
5 - Belal Muhammad |
6 - Dricus Du Plessis
7 - Merab Dvalishvili
8 - Tom aspinall
9 - Leon edwards
10 - Alexander Volkanovsky
11 - Max Holloway
12 - Alexandre pantoja
13 – Sean O'Malley
14 - Sean Strickland
15 - Charles of the Bronx

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