Kamaru Usman’s shocking upset loss on Saturday not only left Leon Edwards as the big winner that night, but Alexander Volkanovski also benefited and now holds the top pound-for-pound spot in the mixed martial arts company.
Kamaru Usman, who was looking to extend his reign in the welterweight division and in the pound-for-pound rankings, had the win in the bag with one minute left in the fifth round, but Leon Edwards’ brutal kick came to dethrone the “Nigerian Nightmare“.
The hangover from Leon Edwards’ win over Kamaru Usman
Edwards’ win left him as the division’s new monarch in his first world title fight, as well as putting him at No. 6 on the pound-for-pound best list.
The defeat forced changes in that ranking, where Kamaru Usman lost three positions and dropped to fourth place. Thus, in addition to losing his belt, he also left the position that had him as the best fighter in the UFC.
Who is the new UFC pound-for-pound fighter?
That place of honor now belongs to Alexander Volkanovski, the UFC featherweight champion who has a 25-1-0 record as a mixed martial arts fighter.
The Australian fighter‘s only career loss came in May 2013, and since that time he has amassed a streak of 22 consecutive victories, including 12 since making his UFC debut in November 2016.
He won the featherweight title on December 14, 2019 by defeating Max Holloway and has already defended it four times, the first and the last against the same American, in addition to beating Brian Ortega and Chan Sung Jung.
Holloway himself is the first in the featherweight rankings, ahead of Mexican fighter Yair Rodriguez, so it is expected that the next defense of the new pound-for-pound will be against one of them.
