UFC Vegas 26 rankings update: Jiri Prochazka officially the No. 2 ranked light heavyweight

The latest UFC rankings updates are in, and Jiri Prochazka has officially broken into the top-three rankings in the light heavyweight division.

Jiri Prochazka’s knockout win over Dominick Reyes at UFC Vegas 26 earned him not only $100,000 in bonus awards, but also the No. 2 ranking in the world at 205lbs. It’s an incredible accomplishment for the Czech Republic native, who wasn’t even in the UFC a year ago. But he absolutely deserves it after beating Reyes and Volkan Oezdemir by knockout in his first two UFC appearances. As well, he is riding a 12-fight win streak. With Prochazka moving into the No. 2 spot at 205lbs, Reyes dropped all the way to No. 5. It’s also worth noting that Aleksandar Rakic also dropped one spot in the rankings to No. 3.

Coming down from Prochazka and the light heavyweights, in the middleweight division, Sean Strickland picked up a big boost in the rankings with his unanimous decision win over Krzysztof Jotko that gave him his fourth win in a row. Strickland moved all the way up to the No. 11 spot with Chris Weidman dropping down to No. 12 in the division. Omari Akhmedov and Brad Tavares also fell in the rankings.

In the featherweight division, Giga Chikadze moved up to No. 10 in the world as he climbed four spots in the rankings. Sodiq Yusuff, Bryce Mitchell, Edson Barboza and Movsar Evloev all dropped one spot each, with Hakeem Dawodu being added into the rankings after Jeremy Stephens was removed from the top-15 due to fighting at lightweight now. Prochazka and Chikadze are likely the two biggest winners of the evening overall.

It’s also worth noting that in the bantamweight division, Merab Dvalishvili moved up to No. 11 with his decision win over Cody Stamann. With Dvavlishvili moving up a spot in the rankings, Jimmie Rivera fell one spot. None of the other divisions saw a significant change in the rankings.

What do you think of the latest UFC rankings update?