Which Ranked Fighters Are Competing This Weekend? UFC 234 Rankings Tracker

UFC 234 is now available on Amazon Prime.

UFC 234 takes place Saturday at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia, as middleweight champion Robert Whittaker will get the chance to defend his crown on home soil for the first time when he squares off against Kelvin Gastelum in the main event.

Whittaker (20-4) has been on a tear since moving up to 185 pounds and will be looking to make it 10 straight wins, with only five other fighters boasting longer active win streaks within the Ultimate Fighting Championship. A decisive win, possibly a finish, over one of the more exciting young prospects in the sport in Gastelum could also move the Australian further up in the pound-for-pound rankings.

The Australian is currently ranked seventh in Sherdog’s pound-for-pound rankings, with flyweight champion Henry Cejudo passing him to sixth last month following his win over T.J. Dillashaw, 12th in the UFC’s rankings, and eighth in ESPN’s rankings.

A win for Gastelum (15-3-1), meanwhile, would make him the new middleweight champion and also possibly insert himself into the pound-for-pound rankings for the first time. The 27-year-old has lost just once since moving back up to 185 pounds over two years ago and holds notable wins over Tim Kennedy, Michael Bisping and Ronaldo Souza. He’s currently ranked as Sherdog’s No. 3 middleweight in the world behind Whittaker and perennial contender Yoel Romero.

ESPN also ranks Gastelum as the No. 3 middleweight in the world while the UFC rankings has him as the No. 4-ranked middleweight contender.

The co-main event features a past versus present match-up as former middleweight king Anderson Silva takes on rising star Israel Adesanya, with the winner likely to be next in line for a title shot. This will be Silva’s (34-8-1) first fight since his controversial decision win over Derek Brunson at UFC 208 in Feb. 2017. The Brazilian was expected to fight Gastelum twice since then, but it was canceled both times with the second time being due to Silva failing a USADA drug test. His inactivity since has seen him become unranked by Sherdog and ESPN, though the UFC has him 15th in their middleweight rankings.

Silva will inevitably climb up the rankings with a win over Adesanya (15-0), who is currently ranked as the eighth best middleweight in the world by Sherdog, while ESPN and the UFC rank him seventh and sixth respectively. However, that would be a huge upset as oddsmakers expect Adesanya extending his unbeaten run. “The Last Stylebender” boasts wins over Rob Wilkinson, Marvin Vettori, Brad Tavares and Brunson since making his UFC debut last year. A victory over his idol would be a huge feather in his cap as he stakes a claim for a title shot next.

Other ranked fighters competing on the main card are bantamweight Rani Yahya (26-9-1), ranked No. 15 by the UFC, who takes on Ricky Simon (14-1), as well as women’s flyweight Montana De La Rosa (9-4), ranked No. 14 by the UFC, who will face the unbeaten Nadia Kaseem (5-0).

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