Sherdog’s Official Mixed Martial Arts Rankings

Is Kelvin Gastelum a welterweight? A middleweight? Is anyone even sure at this point?

What we can tell you is that courtesy of his second consecutive bout at middleweight -- his second consecutive brutal knockout, no less -- the 25-year-old “Ultimate Fighter” winner has exited the Sherdog.com welterweight rankings and entered our 185-pound top 10. For three years, Gastelum has been an uneasy fixture in our welterweight ranks, given his history of missing the 170-pound mark on the scales. The Arizona native has repeatedly said he wants to return to the welterweight division, yet his last two bookings have resulted in blowout wins at 185 pounds, as Gastelum retired sturdy veteran Tim Kennedy with a third-round knockout in December and then smashed Vitor Belfort in Fortaleza, Brazil, on March 11. As a result, our previously seventh-ranked welterweight is now our No. 9 middleweight.

Another fighter with past issues on the scale has made a major move in this update, too. On the undercard of Belfort-Gastelum, 23-year-old Ray Borg earned the biggest win of his career and broke into the flyweight elite, taking a unanimous decision over perennial divisional standout Jussier da Silva. After he lost to Justin Scoggins in February 2016 and then missed weight before beating Louis Smolka in December, Borg needed a consummate performance. “The Tazmexican Devil” is now our No. 6 flyweight following a 29-28 scorecard sweep over da Silva.

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