MMA Rankings, March 2023: Who Won The Month — Jon Jones, Alexa Grasso, Or Leon Edwards?

In the ever-shifting MMA landscape, ranking the world’s greatest fighters might seem like a fool’s errand, but that’s exactly we’ve set out to do with the MMA Fighting Global Rankings. Here, our esteemed panel sorts out the movers and shakers from every division to provide you with the most definitive list of the best fighters on the planet.

We had a rare occurrence this past cycle with two major UFC pay-per-views taking place that featured the momentous return of Jon Jones, Alexa Grasso dethroning Valentina Shevchenko, and Leon Edwards scoring a second straight win over Kamaru Usman. What this means for the rest of 2023 is anyone’s guess, but suffice to say the drama is just beginning for all three of these champions no matter what happens next.

All that and we saw Merab Dvalishvili continue his rapid climb up the 135-pound ranks at the expense of the tumbling former champion Petr Yan.

Let’s take a look at the biggest rankings storylines from this past cycle (Feb. 13 – March 19).

Table of Contents

Leon Edwards, the once and future (?) king

Leon Edwards deserves this moment.

Few fighters have taken as long a road as Edwards to a UFC title, who dealt with COVID-19, a trio of cancelled matchups against welterweight boogeyman Khamzat Chimaev, three-piece and a soda, the cancellation of a fight against the guy who hit him with the three-piece and a soda, a previous loss to the dominant champion that he had to scrape and claw to put in the rear view, plus a general malaise from the viewing audience who, for whatever reason, didn’t view him as championship material.

Well, Edwards proved he was unquestionably championship material at UFC 278 and he did it again this past Saturday at UFC 286. Simply put, he’s the best 170-pounder in the world, a claim that could only previously made by legends like Usman, Georges St-Pierre, Tyron Woodley, Robbie Lawler, and Matt Hughes.

It looks like Colby Covington is next, and if not “Chaos” then it could be the dangerous Shavkat Rakhmonov challenging Edwards soon, Gilbert Burns, or even Edwards’ old pal Jorge Masvidal. All of the welterweight greats defended the title at least once, and now that Edwards has that out of the way, it’s time to truly start building his legacy.

UFC 285 was one for the history books

It wasn’t enough for Alexa Grasso to pull off an incredible upset win over Valentina Shevchenko — snapping the longtime flyweight champion’s run of seven straight successful title defenses and preventing her from being the first UFC champ to complete a set of rubies on her belt — but Jon Jones just had to come back and top that moment by reminding everyone that he’s Jon freaking Jones.

Jones tore through Ciryl Gane in a little over two minutes, a feat that reignited talk of his pound-for-pound greatness and completed his journey towards becoming a two-division champion that began gestating a decade ago. Add in his unmatched run as light heavyweight king and he has one of the strongest cases of any fighter to be considered the GOAT.

There’s plenty of uncertainty ahead for Grasso and Jones, with Grasso likely having to beat Shevchenko in a rematch before moving on to new challenges (including the looming Erin Blanchfield), and Jones set to meet Stipe Miocic soon, possibly as early as International Fight Week in July. Jones will be heavily favored to beat Miocic, but should he breeze through that test, will he hang around to defend his new title against talented — but unproven — heavyweights, or just call it a day with his greatness cemented?

Merab Dvalishvili and the ties that bind

As someone who has a best friend in MMA, I can sympathize with Merab Dvalishvili. “The Machine” just 50-45’d Petr Yan, something neither Dvalishvili’s BFF Aljamain Sterling nor Petr Yan could do, which has earned him a cherry spot at No. 2 in our rankings. The question is, with him and Sterling vowing never to fight one another, where can Dvalishvili go from here?

Does he continue to play his role as Sterling’s bantamweight bodyguard, a position that can surely be lucrative in its own way, but will forever prevent him from pursuing his own glory as long as Sterling remains at 135 pounds? Should he attempt a drop down in division himself to chase the flyweight title? Does he just wait for Sterling to retire?

It seems like an unenviable position, though by all indications Dvalishvili is content with his lot in life for now. One has to wonder, if Dvalishvili continues his incredible form and knocks off the best of the division while Sterling chases retirees like Henry Cejudo, will there come a day when Sterling holds the belt but Dvalishvili is the true No. 1?

Check out the complete March rankings below.

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): Jon Jones def. No. 2 Ciryl Gane, No. 7 Alexander Volkov def. No. 13 Alexandr Romanov, Linton Vassell def. No. 14 (tied) Valentin Moldavsky

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: N/A

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Phil De Fries (6), Alexandr Romanov (2), Ante Delija (1)

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 10 Nikita Krylov def. No. 13 Ryan Spann

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 15 Thiago Santos vs. Rob Wilkinson (April 1, PFL 1)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Paul Craig (6), Yoel Romero (3), Antonio Carlos Junior (1), Khalil Rountree (1)

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 5 Marvin Vettori def. No. 14 Roman Dolidze, No. 12 Dricus Du Plessis def. No. 7 (tied) Derek Brunson, Brendan Allen def. No. 7 (tied) Andre Muniz

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 1 Alex Pereira vs. No. 2 Israel Adesanya (April 8, UFC 287)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Andre Muniz (4), Jack Hermansson (2), Kelvin Gastelum (1), Anatoly Tokov (1)

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 1 Leon Edwards def. No. 2 Kamaru Usman, No. 7 (tied) Shavkat Rakhmonov def. No. 10 Geoff Neal, No. 7 (tied) Yaroslav Amosov def. Logan Storley

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 5 Gilbert Burns vs. Jorge Masvidal (April 8, UFC 287), No. 13 Michael Chiesa vs. Li Jingliang (April 8, UFC 287)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Roberto Soldic (4), Logan Storley (2), Neil Magny (2), Jason Jackson (1), Michael Page (1), Daniel Rodriguez (1)

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 5 Justin Gaethje def. No. 6 Rafael Fiziev, No. 8 Mateusz Gamrot def. No. 12 Jalin Turner, No. 10 Usman Nurmagomedov def. Benson Henderson

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: N/A

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Drew Dober (5), Roberto Satoshi (2), Renato Moicano (2), Tony Ferguson (2), Alexander Shabliy (2), Tofiq Musayev (1), Dan Hooker (1), Joel Alvarez (1)

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): N/A

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 14 Brendan Loughnane vs. Marlon Moraes (April 1, PFL 1)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Dan Ige (3), Adam Borics (1), Jeremy Kennedy (1), Magomedrasul Khasbulaev (1), Movlid Khaybulaev (1), Jonathan Pearce (1), Sodiq Yusuff (1)

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 5 Merab Dvalishvili def. No. 2 (tied) Petr Yan

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 5 Cory Sandhagen vs. No. 6 Marlon Vera (UFC San Antonio, March 20), No. 7 Rob Font vs. No. 15 (tied) Adrian Yanez (April 8, UFC 287)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Chris Gutierrez (3), Jonathan Martinez (3), Danny Sabatello (2), Fabricio de Andrade (1)

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 12 Muhammad Mokaev def. Jafel Filho

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 10 Alex Perez vs. No. 11 Manel Kape (UFC San Antonio, March 20)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Rogerio Bontorin (2), Jeff Molina (2), Matt Schnell (2), Ali Bagautinov (1), John Dodson (1), Danny Kingad (1)

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 13 Mayra Bueno Silva def. Lina Lansberg

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 5 Holly Holm vs. No. 7 Yana Santos (UFC San Antonio, March 20)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Talita Bernardo (2), Melissa Dixon (2), Chelsea Chandler (1), Julija Stoliarenko (1), Joselyne Edwards (1)

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 7 Alexa Grasso def. No. 1 Valentina Shevchenko, No. 9 Erin Blanchfield def. No. 2 Jessica Andrade, No. 11 Jennifer Maia def. No. 13 Casey O’Neill, Amanda Ribas def. No. 12 Viviane Araujo

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 15 Maycee Barber vs. Andrea Lee (UFC San Antonio, March 20)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Andrea Lee (2), Tracy Cortez (1), Miranda Maverick (1), Karina Rodriguez (1), Kana Watanabe (1), Joanne Wood (1),

Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 9 Amanda Ribas def. Viviane Araujo (flyweight bout)

Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 13 Michelle Waterson-Gomez vs. Luana Pinheiro (April 8, UFC 287)

Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Emily Ducote (6), Lupita Godinez (1), Tabatha Ricci (1)

A refresher on the ground rules:

Our eight-person voting panel consists of MMA Fighting staffers Shaun Al-Shatti, Alexander K. Lee, Guilherme Cruz, Mike Heck, E. Casey Leydon, Steven Marrocco, Damon Martin, and Jed Meshew.
Fighters will be removed from the rankings if they do not compete within 18 months of their most recent bout. Updates to the rankings are typically completed following each month’s UFC pay-per-view.
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).
Holding a promotion’s title does not guarantee that fighter will be viewed as the best in their promotion. Additionally, fighters who regularly compete or hold titles in multiple weight classes are eligible to be ranked in multiple lists.

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

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