It was a rough weekend for top contenders at UFC Shanghai.
Umar Nurmagomedov and Yan Xiaonan were both knocked out last weekend on the Paramount+ fight card in China, with Umar getting smoked by Yadong Song and Yan going limp against Denise Gomes. As expected, their respective losses cost each combatant significant real estate in the latest UFC Meta rankings.
Check out the updated UFC Meta Rankings below (for an explanation on how they work click here).
UFC META RANKINGS
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Joshua Van
1. Alexandre Pantoja 2. Manel
Kape 3. Brandon Royval 4. Tatsuro Taira 5. Asu Almabayev 6. Lone’er Kavanagh 7. Ramazan Temirov 8. Kyoji Horiguchi 9. Amir Albazi 10. Brandon Moreno 11. Sumudaerji +2 12. Mitch Raposo 13. Rei Tsuruya *NR 14. Charles Johnson 15. Alessandro Costa
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Petr Yan
1. Merab Dvalishvili
2. Sean O’Malley +1
3. Song Yadong +3
4. Mario Bautista
5. Umar Nurmagomedov -3
6. Cory Sandhagen -1
7. David Martinez
8. Raoni Barcelos
9. Farid Basharat
10. Marcus McGhee
11. Deiveson Figueiredo
12. Charles Jourdain
13. Aiemann Zahabi
14. Bryce Mitchell
15. Montel Jackson
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Alexander Volkanovski
1. Movsar Evloev
2. Diego Lopes
3. Lerone Murphy
4. Aljamain Sterling
5. Arnold Allen
6. Jean Silva
7. Pat Sabatini
8. Nathaniel Wood
9. Youssef Zalal
10. Kevin Vallejos
11. Melquizael Costa
12. Steve Garcia
13. Aaron Pico
14. Jamall Emmers
15. Jose Miguel Delgado
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Justin Gaethje
1. Ilia Topuria
2. Arman Tsarukyan
3. Charles Oliveira
4. Max Holloway
5. Paddy Pimblett
6. Quillan Salkilld
7. Renato Moicano
8. Benoit Saint Denis
9. Mateusz Gamrot
10. Mauricio Ruffy
11. Tom Nolan
12. Dan Hooker
13. Rafael Fiziev
14. Tofiq Musayev
15. Grant Dawson
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Islam Makhachev
1. Carlos Prates
2. Ian Machado Garry
3. Michael Morales
4. Jack Della Maddalena
5. Sean Brady
6. Gabriel Bonfim
7. Belal Muhammad
8. Leon Edwards
9. Joaquin Buckley
10. Uros Medic
11. Kamaru Usman
12. Mike Malott
13. Yaroslav Amosov
14. Kevin Holland
15. Daniel Rodriguez
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Sean Strickland
1. Khamzat Chimaev
2. Dricus Du Plessis
3. Nassourdine Imavov
4. Joe Pyfer
5. Brendan Allen
6. Caio Borralho
7. Gregory Rodrigues
8. Michael Page
9. Anthony Hernandez
10. Israel Adesanya
11. Christian Leroy Duncan
12. Ikram Aliskerov
13. Bo Nickal
14. Abus Magomedov
15. Nursulton Ruziboev
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Carlos Ulberg
1. Alex Pereira
2. Magomed Ankalaev
3. Jiri Prochazka
4. Paulo Costa
5. Jamahal Hill
6. Khalil Rountree
7. Navajo Stirling
8. Dominick Reyes
9. Reinier de Ridder
10. Azamat Murzakanov
11. Bogdan Guskov
12. Robert Whittaker
13. Alonzo Menifield
14. Johnny Walker
15. Muhammad Saidov
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Tom Aspinall
1. Ciryl Gane
2. Alexander Volkov
3. Sergei Pavlovich
4. Alex Pereira
5. Rizvan Kuniev
6. Josh Hokit
7. Waldo Cortes Acosta
8. Vitor Petrino
9. Valter Walker
10. Curtis Blaydes
11. Brando Pericic
12. Mario Pinto
13. Serghei Spivac
14. Mick Parkin
15. Ryan Spann
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Mackenzie Dern
1. Zhang Weili
2. Virna Jandiroba
3. Tatiana Suarez
4. Denise Gomes +5
5. Gillian Robertson
6. Fatima Klein
7. Alexia Thainara
8. Piera Rodriguez
9. Yan Xiaonan -5
10. Mizuki Inoue
11. Loopy Godinez
12. Tabatha Ricci
13. Jaqueline Amorim
14. Talita Alencar
15. Amanda Lemos
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Valentina Shevchenko
1. Natalia Silva
2. Manon Fiorot
3. Alexa Grasso
4. Erin Blanchfield
5. Zhang Weili
6. Wang Cong
7. Jasmine Jasudavicius
8. Rose Namajunas
9. Maycee Barber
10. Tracy Cortez
11. Miranda Maverick
12. JJ Aldrich
13. Karine Silva
14. Eduarda Moura
15. Carli Judice
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Kayla Harrison
1. Joselyne Edwards
2. Norma Dumont
3. Luana Santos
4. Ailin Perez
5. Julianna Pena
6. Yana Santos
7. Jacqueline Cavalcanti
8. Michelle Montague
9. Melissa Croden
10. Karol Rosa
11. Bia Mesquita
12. Macy Chiasson
13. Daria Zhelezniakova
14. Raquel Pennington
15. Klaudia Sygula
The official media rankings have not been updated at the time of publishing and are expected to be phased out in the coming weeks.
You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week, particularly in the lightweight division, following the upcoming UFC Paris: “Hooker vs. Parnasse” MMA event on Paramount+, scheduled for Sat., Sept. 5, 2026 at Accor Arena in Paris, France.
For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.
