MOSCOW, Oct 25 Russian mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Islam Makhachev rises to third place in the Absolute Fighting Championship (UFC) ranking, regardless of weight categories, according to the promotion website. On Saturday, Makhachev defeated the Brazilian Charles Oliveira ahead of schedule at the UFC 280 tournament in Abu Dhabi and became the new lightweight champion of the promotion. Previously, Makhachev was located in fourth place in the lightweight rankings and was not included in the overall list of the best fighters in the league. The leader of the UFC, regardless of weight categories, is the Australian Alexander Volkanovski, who is the featherweight champion of the promotion. Immediately after the fight with Oliveira, former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov offered Volkanovski a fight against Makhachev. The Australian, who entered the octagon, agreed to the challenge of Nurmagomedov, who has held the UFC lightweight title since 2018 and ended his career undefeated in 2020. Russian Petr Yan, who lost at UFC 280 by split decision to American Sean O'Malley, dropped to second place in the UFC bantamweight rankings. O'Malley overcame ten positions and became the first in the list. American Aljamain Sterling remains the champion in this weight.
