MMA Pound-for-Pound Rankings: Zhang Weili regains No. 1 spot from Valentina Shevchenko

Zhang Weili’s second reign as strawweight champion has only confirmed what most of us already knew: She is the baddest woman on the planet.

While Zhang’s first championship run featured opponents with more star power (Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Jessica Andrade, plus her two losses to Rose Namajunas), this time around she is styling on the opposition, starting with a one-sided walloping of Carla Esparza to regain the belt and now a string of dominant decisions over Amanda Lemos, Yan Xiaonan, and now Tatiana Suarez at UFC 312.

Her handling of Suarez, who was both undefeated and the odds-on favorite heading into Saturday, was so convincing that it broke what was a virtual tie with flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko and vaulted Zhang back into our No. 1 spot on the pound-for-pound list. Five of our six panelists have Zhang No. 1, with one leaning towards “Bullet.” Recency bias could be in play, and if Shevchenko makes easy work of Manon Fiorot (a bout that is yet to be booked), there could be a flip-flop at the top the next time this list is updated.

Or Zhang and Shevchenko could just meet inside the octagon to sort it out.

Over on the men’s side, Dricus du Plessis added to his pound-for-pound credentials with a second decision nod against Sean Strickland. The win knocked Strickland out of our rankings, but didn’t bump du Plessis past the champions just ahead of him, Belal Muhammad, and Merab Dvalishvili.

Dvalishvili just pulled off a Zhang-esque title defense by soundly defeating the undefeated Umar Nurmagomedov, and our panel is taking a wait-and-see approach with Muhammad, who presumably fights Shavkat Rakhmonov next.

That means du Plessis has to wait for at least another few months before possibly moving up again and his fate is in his hands as a booking and subsequent victory against middleweight boogeyman Khamzat Chimaev would surely boost du Plessis into a top-5 spot.

Check out the updated pound-for-pound lists below.

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 2 Zhang Weili def. No. 6 Tatiana Suarez, No. 12 Seika Izawa def. Lucia Apdelgarin

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 11 Yan Xiaonan vs. No. 18 Virna Jandiroba (UFC 314, April 12)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Maycee Barber (3), Stamp Fairtex (2), Macy Chiasson (1), Norma Dumont (1), Amanda Lemos (1), Marina Rodriguez (1), Mayra Bueno Silva (1)

Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 6 Dricus du Plessis def. No. 17 Sean Strickland (UFC 312, Feb. 8)

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 2 Alex Pereira vs. Magomed Ankalaev (UFC 313, March 8), No. 12 Leon Edwards vs. Jack Della Maddalena (UFC London, March 22)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Sean Strickland (3), Israel Adesanya (2), Jiri Prochazka (2), Patricio Pitbull (2), Magomed Ankalaev (1), Usman Nurmagomedov (1), Kamaru Usman (1)

Falling out of the rankings (previous ranking shown): No. 17 Sean Strickland

Lastly, a refresher on some ground rules:

• The six-person voting panel consists of MMA Fighting staffers Alexander K. Lee, Guilherme Cruz, Mike Heck, E. Casey Leydon, Damon Martin and Jed Meshew.
• Updates to the rankings will be completed following every UFC pay-per-view. Fighters will be removed from the rankings if they do not compete within 18 months of their most recent bout.
• Should a fighter announce their retirement, our panel will decide whether that fighter should immediately be removed from the rankings or maintain their position until further notice (let’s put it this way: we’d have taken Khabib Nurmagomedov out of our rankings a lot quicker than the UFC did).

As a reminder, the notion of pound-for-pound supremacy is always going to inherently be subjective. When you’re debating whether someone like Sean Strickland should be ranked above someone like Charles Oliveira, there is no true right answer. In other words: It’s not serious business, folks.

Thoughts? Questions? Concerns? Make your voice heard in the comments below.