Sherdog’s Official Mixed Martial Arts Rankings

📷: PFL MMA

Vadim Nemkov can now call himself a champion in two weight classes.

The Fedor Emelianenko protégé made short work of Renan Ferreira at PFL Lyon, capturing the vacant heavyweight crown with an arm-triangle choke at the 4:00 mark of Round 1 in Saturday’s headliner at the LDLC Arena in Lyon France. Nemkov is now 3-0 at heavyweight following a successful run at 205 pounds that saw him capture championship gold in Bellator MMA. The 32-year-old Russian, once a staple of the light heavyweight Top 10, enters the big man rankings at No. 10. In the aftermath of his title clinching victory, Nemkov called for a showdown with Francis Ngannou, an intriguing matchup should “The Predator” compete for the PFL again.

Also at PFL Lyon, Cristiane “Cris Cyborg” Justino maintained the status quo at women’s featherweight with a third-round submission victory over No. 3 Sara Collins in Saturday’s co-headliner. “Cyborg” seems to be running out of challenges at 145 pounds, which might be why she issued a curious callout of flyweight star Dakota Ditcheva in her post-fight interview. At any rate, the powerful Brazilian remains the clear-cut No. 1 at featherweight, and will likely continue to be as long as she decides to stay active.

Meanwhile, Manel Kape made a serious statement in the UFC Vegas 112 headliner, where he vanquished former title challenger Brandon Royval inside of the round in Las Vegas on Saturday night. “Starboy” has a three-bout finishing streak and a solid overall promotional resume, but the flyweight title picture is crowded at the top with the likes of Alexandre Pantoja and Tatsuro Taira also having legitimate claims to a shot at the belt. Regardless of how things play out in the months to come, Kape makes a big leap to No. 3 in the latest 125-pound poll.

Earlier at UFC Vegas 112, former Bellator champ Yaroslav Amosov enjoyed an impressive UFC debut, as he submitted the long-tenured Neil Magny with an anaconda choke in the opening stanza of their preliminary welterweight bout. With just one loss in 30 professional outings, the Ukrainian will be an intriguing fighter to watch as he tries to battle his way to a title shot in a new organization. For now, he holds serve in the welterweight rankings at No. 15.

Finally, “Cyborg” wasn’t the only women’s featherweight to earn a significant victory. On Friday, Jaeleen Robledo claimed the Tuff-N-Uff 145-pound belt with a second-round stoppage of Evelyn Martins this past Friday. Robeldo’s winning streak now stands at five, and she moves into the featherweight Top 10 as a result.

In housekeeping news, with his return to flyweight, the previously seventh-ranked Kyoji Horiguchi has exhausted his eligibility at 135 pounds. As a result, new blood enters the bantamweight bubble with the addition of Raoni Barcelos at No. 15.

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