Welterweight rankings shake-up
- The UFC updated its welterweight rankings, removing Colby Covington and adding Mike Malott after his finish of Gilbert Burns. ( ) - Mike Malott debuted at No. 11 while Yaroslav Amosov also broke into the UFC welterweight Top 15. ( ) - The update highlights fresh contenders moving up the division and signals a shift away from relying on older names. ( )
The UFC’s welterweight rankings changed this week: Colby Covington is out, and Mike Malott is in at No. 11. (mmajunkie.usatoday.com) The update published Tuesday also added Yaroslav Amosov at No. 15, giving the division two new names in the Top 15 at once. Covington had been ranked at welterweight since 2017, according to MMA Junkie. (mmajunkie.usatoday.com) Malott’s move followed his main-event win over Gilbert Burns at UFC Winnipeg on April 18, 2026. The UFC’s official results listed the finish as a technical knockout by strikes at 2:08 of Round 3. (ufc.com) When the fight was announced on March 4, Burns was the No. 12 welterweight and Malott was unranked. The matchup was billed by the UFC as Malott’s chance to “crack the welterweight Top 15” in his first UFC main event. (ufc.com) That made the rankings update more than a routine shuffle. One result removed Burns from his old slot, pushed Malott into the middle of the Top 15, and ended Covington’s run on the list. (sportsnet.ca) Amosov’s entry came from a different path. His UFC athlete page lists him as 29-1, a former Bellator welterweight champion, and credits his Dec. 13, 2025 debut win over Neil Magny by first-round anaconda choke. (ufc.com) The welterweight division is the UFC’s 170-pound class, and rankings are used as a public pecking order for contenders below the champion. The official rankings page says they are based on fan voting, which helps explain why movement can lag behind fight results and then arrive in a larger batch. (ufc.com) Covington’s removal closes a long stretch in which his ranking outlasted his recent activity and results. This week’s list now reflects two active names — Malott, 34, and Amosov, 32 — moving into positions that used to belong to older fixtures. (mmajunkie.usatoday.com, ufc.com, sports.yahoo.com) For now, the clearest signal is in the numbers next to the names. Malott went from unranked to No. 11 in one week, Amosov entered at No. 15, and Covington disappeared from the welterweight list entirely. (mmajunkie.usatoday.com)
