1. Gervonta Davis: With title belts from two weight classes on the line, Davis got the best of a very game Leo Santa Cruz. LSC was a resoundingly game opponent, but as is the case with the fight game, all it takes it one shot, and GODDAMN, did Davis deliver one.
2. Naoya Inoue: After holding sway over a game, but very clearly overmatched Jason Moloney in his Top Rank debut, Naoya Inoue can dictate what’s next for him, as the WBA and IBF champion. John Riel Casimero has the WBO title and laughingly has stated that Inoue is scared of him, and Nordine Oubaali is the current WBC champ, and has a date with Nonito Donaire coming up, whom, as you know, gave Inoue all he could handle. Everyone wants unification, let’s see what the Monster wants.
3. Gegard Mousasi: Is once again the Bellator middleweight champion after brushing aside Douglas Lima. Unfortunately, with Rafael Lovato’s retirement, Mousasi might not get a chance to avenge his title loss.
4. Oleksandr Usyk: Usyk made his second fight in heavyweight against a hell of a step up in Dereck Chisora, who gave Usyk a fight, but he couldn’t sustain it, and Usyk was able to earn a win on the scorecards, and thus becoming the mandatory challenger to Anthony Joshua’s WBO world heavyweight championship. Usyk and his camp have made no ifs, ands, or buts about him coming up to be a heavyweight world champion. Will his fight with AJ materialize, or will he stay in Dillian Whyte’s mandatory purgatory forever?
5. Uriah Hall: And with a whimper, Anderson Silva’s UFC career ends at the hands of Uriah Hall. Silva looked decent enough, a shell of a shell of his former self, and he was saved by the bell after the third before Uriah finished the job in the fourth via strikes. We’ll see what’s next for Silva, as if we don’t know a Brinks truck and Bellator isn’t in his future.
6. Mikaela Mayer: Unseated Ewa Brodnicka three-year reign at the top of 130lbs, taking her WBO world championship and her undefeated record, advancing to 14-0.
7. George Kambosos Jr.: Is the #1 ranked IBF lightweight contender after a very close bout with Lee Selby on the co-main of Matchroom’s Usyk-Chisora card.
8. Savannah Marshall: Earned one of the world titles, the WBO one in this instance, that were vacated after Claressa Shields left the middleweight division. Even winning via a very rare women’s title fight TKO!
9. Mario Barrios: “Regular” WBA titles are completely foolish, but Barrios looked great defending his, sending Ryan Karl to the mat en route to a sixth-round TKO on the Davis-Santa Cruz PPV main card.
10. Reinier De Ridder: Ended Aung La Nsang’s three-year reign as ONE middleweight champion, after the submission specialist does what he does best, lock in a RNC and hand Nsang his first finish loss since 2013.
11. Thanh Le: Keep an eye on this friggin guy. Le is now the ONE featherweight champion. In all his twelve wins? Finishes. 11 by knockout. He is a fireball that’s a hell of a lotta fun to watch.
12. Elwin Soto: La Pulga made his second defense of his WBO World junior flyweight championship after a UD win over Carlos Buitrago on the Johnson-Munguia DAZN card.
13. Jingnan Xiong: In a rematch that determined the inaugural ONE Women’s strawweight championship, Xiong defeated Tiffany Teo for the second time. Teo falls to 9-2, with both her losses coming to the champ.
14. Jaime Munguia: Munguia faced his second hard-nosed veteran in his second fight at middleweight in Tureano Johnson and had a back-and-forth fight on his hands until he found the best way to get out of it was simply to explode Johnson’s face with an uppercut.
15. Christian Lee: Made his first official defense of his ONE lightweight championship in the very first round, TKOing Iuri Lapicus.
Honorable Mention:
Shiro Matsumoto
Henry Corrales
Lupita Godinez
Alberto Trujillo
Bryce Mitchell
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