UFC rankings: Dern, Vettori emerge as contenders

UFC Vegas 23 was Mackenzie Dern’s time to shine, and that is reflected in this week’s rankings.

The UFC’s weekly Apex card was tarnished a bit by Darren Till’s late injury pullout, but Marvin Vettori still took care of business in the headliner of UFC Vegas 23. Kevin Holland was game early, but Vettori took over to secure an emphatic decision win. This moved him into true contender status in the middleweight division - which is kind of weird, since he beat an opponent below him in the rankings.

In other Vegas 23 news, Mackenzie Dern earned by far the biggest win over her career, catching Nina Nunes with an armbar. Strawweight obviously has a stack of top contenders, but Dern now finds herself among them with that win.

Here’s a look at the changes this week.

Men’s P4P - No changes.

Heavyweight - No changes.

Light Heavyweight - No changes.

Middleweight - Vettori rises a surprising three slots to level out as the number three contender. Jared Cannonier, Derek Brunson, and Till drop a spot each to four through six. Edmen Shahbazyan rises two spots to ten, while Holland falls two to 12.

Welterweight - No changes.

Lightweight - No changes.

Featherweight - Arnold Allen is up two spots to eight following his win over Sodiq Yusuff. Dan Ige and Jeremy Stephens drop one each to nine and ten. Shane Burgos is up one to 11. Yusuff falls one spot to 12.

Bantamweight - No changes.

Flyweight - No changes.

Women’s P4P - Dern enters the list at 12. Ansaroff/Nunes is out.

Women’s Bantamweight - No changes.

Women’s Flyweight - No changes.

Women’s Strawweight - Dern rises six big spots to crack the top five. Nunes is down two to seven. Claudia Gadelha, Michelle Waterson, Tecia Torres, and Amanda Ribas all fall one spot each to eight through 11 respectively.