1. Amanda Nunes: HOLY FUCKING SHIT, DID YOU SEE THAT?! SHE WALKED UP TO CYBORG AND TRADED WITH HER UNTIL CYBORG WAS FACE-DOWN. NOBODY DOES THAT TO CYBORG. I CAN’T STOP TYPING IT CAPS AND HAVEN’T BEEN ABLE TO IN TWO DAYS.
2. Jon Jones: (Pending urinalysis)
3. Masayuki Ito: Still your WBO Junior Lightweight champion after handing Evgeny Chuprakov his first professional loss, and by seventh-round stoppage, at that.
4. Ken Shiro: In the co-main event in Tokyo, Shiro advanced to 15-0 after a blowing of Saul Juarez, successfully making his fifth title defense of his WBC junior flyweight championship.
5. Takuma Inoue: Tasana Salapat had one of those delightfully trumped-up Thai records, and even at 48-0, didn’t really have much for Inoue, as the 23-year old is now 13-0 and the interim WBC World Bantamweight championship.
6. Kyoji Horiguchi: The Fireball Kid and Darrion Caldwell had a, well, less-than-stellar bout at Rizin, but it was awesome that Bellator sent him, and a fun matchup to see. Nevertheless, Horiguchi is Rizin bantamweight champion now after a submission.
7. Alexander Volkanovski: Seems pretty primed for a title shot, or at least one more fight from it after a fantastic performance against Chad Mendes. The quickness and pop on Volkanovski’s strikes were fantastic.
8. Corey Anderson: Got by folk-hero Ilir Latifi by three 29-28s at UFC 232, and with Jones as the champ again (pending urinalysis), we need fresh challengers.
9. Ayaka Hamasaki: Rizin was handing out submissions like a drunk uncle handing out fivers at Christmas, and Hamasaki slapped an armbar on Kanna Asakura to become the inaugural Rizin Super Atomweight champion.
10. Satoru Kitaoka: In the main event of Rizin’s Yarennoka card, two JMMA legends tussled, and it was Kitaoka squeezing by Tatsuya Kawajiri by split-decision.
11. Petr Yan: Major kudos to Douglas Silva de Andrade’s corner for actually stopping the fight when they realized Andrade had absolutely nothing for Yan.
12. Michael Chiesa: Just broke my heart, showing what an absolute caricature of himself Carlos Condit is. Chiesa is tailor-made for a prime-Condit to absolutely wax. *sigh*
13. Walt Harris: If Walt can just string together a couple more wins, he’s gotta be in line for a shit or title eliminator. Every time he gets a head of steam, it’s derailed.
14. Ryan Hall: BJ Penn is so far beyond even a shell of himself anymore, but hell, a heel hook over a former world champion is still a feather in the cap for that grappling whiz weirdo.
15. Chad Mendes: Apparently that’s a career for Mendes after his loss. If so, hats off to one of the best featherweights in history, and a man who gave everything he had every time out.
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