Alexander Volkov is now the No. 2 heavyweight in MMA Mania’s UFC Meta Rankings. He jumped two spots and passed Alex Pereira after beating Rizvan Kuniev at UFC 333 on Oct. 24 in Abu Dhabi.
The update came out Tuesday on MMA Mania and was syndicated by Yahoo Sports. It leaves only Tom Aspinall, at No. 1, between Volkov and champion Ciryl Gane. Pereira stays at No. 3. Sergei Pavlovich drops two spots to No. 4, and Kuniev falls two to No. 7 after his loss at Etihad Arena. Josh Hokit (No. 5) and Curtis Blaydes (No. 6) each move up one.
Before the fight, Volkov asked what he needed to do to earn a title shot. UFC CEO Dana White didn’t give him a straight answer. MMA Mania argued that beating a fellow ranked contender may have answered the question anyway, and the site added that White might not recognize Volkov if he tripped over him in the subway. That one stings because it’s probably true.
Gane is the reason Volkov’s case keeps coming up. MMA Mania wrote that most fans already believe Volkov beat Gane in their fight, despite scorecards the site described as wacky. Gane defends against Hokit at UFC 334 next month in New York City. MMA Mania said that result could decide what matchmakers do with Volkov in 2027. The site also noted that Volkov faces competition from the winner of another fight.
The Pereira oddity
Bloody Elbow spotted a strange side effect of the shuffle. Pereira and Pavlovich meet in the co-main event of UFC 335 in December. Pavlovich comes in on three straight heavyweight wins. Pereira lost his heavyweight debut earlier this year. Even so, Pereira now sits one spot above his next opponent, because Volkov went up two places and Pavlovich went down two while Pereira didn’t move.
Bloody Elbow also pointed out that plenty of people thought it was weird for Pereira to enter the top of the rankings at all after losing his first fight in the division. The outlet reported that UFC 335 will be his last attempt at heavyweight success. If Pereira goes back to light heavyweight, where he is still No. 1 behind champion Carlos Ulberg in the Meta Rankings, Bloody Elbow said that could be good news for Volkov.
Other UFC 333 fighters moved too. Dominick Reyes climbed three spots to No. 4 at light heavyweight. Aaron Pico rose four to No. 10 at featherweight. Abus Magomedov went up four to No. 9 at middleweight.
My take: putting a guy who lost his only heavyweight fight ahead of a guy on a three-fight heavyweight win streak is silly, and everybody involved knows it. Volkov has done everything except win that Gane fight on the cards, and a lot of people think he did that too. If Gane gets past Hokit in New York next month, the rematch should be the next fight booked.
