Kwon, Loman, Izagakhmaev Crash ONE Athlete Rankings
ONE’s Athlete Rankings just experienced some major movement.
After a couple of breakout performances in ONE Championship’s last two events, three mixed martial arts divisions have gone through some glaring changes.
The least drastic change happened in the flyweight mixed martial arts division.
In the weight class, former ONE Flyweight World Champion and #4-ranked contender Kairat “The Kazakh” Akhmetov leapfrogged the man in front of him – #3-ranked Danny “The King” Kingad.
Akhmetov dominated Kingad in the main event of ONE: WINTER WARRIORS II this past December. That moved him one spot up and pushed the Filipino sensation one spot down.
After the shakeup, this is what the flyweight rankings now look like:
- #1: Demetrious Johnson
- #2: Yuya Wakamatsu
- #3: Kairat Akhmetov (+1)
- #4: Danny Kingad (-1)
- #5: Reece McLaren
The flyweight division may have seen only those two athletes trading places, but the bantamweight division experienced almost a complete makeover.
In the heavier weight class, John “Hands of Stone” Lineker remained the unquestioned #1 contender.
But after him, the rest of the rankings have been shaken up like a snow globe.
Following their knockout performances at ONE: WINTER WARRIORS II, previously unranked athletes “Pretty Boy” Kwon Won Il and Stephen “The Sniper” Loman earned the #2 and #3 spots, respectively.
Kwon knocked out former titleholder and #2-ranked contender Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon with a body shot to take his place. Loman, on the other hand, defeated previously ranked #3-contender Yusup “Maestro” Saadulaev via first-round TKO to claim his slot in the rankings.
Fabricio “Wonder Boy” Andrade maintained the #4 spot by demolishing “The Underdog” Li Kai Wen on the ONE: WINTER WARRIORS II lead card.
Belingon fell to the #5 spot to round out the bantamweight division rankings. His move pushed Saadulaev and previous #5-ranked contender Shoko Sato off the list.
This is what the bantamweight rankings look like now:
- #1: John Lineker
- #2: Kwon Won Il (NR)
- #3: Stephen Loman (NR)
- #4: Fabricio Andrade
- #5: Kevin Belingon (-3)
Finally, the lightweight mixed martial arts division saw a new entry.
This past weekend, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s protege Saygid Izagakhmaev submitted former ONE World Title challenger James Nakashima via head and arm triangle in the second round.
That stellar display introduced him into the lightweight ranking’s #5 spot, which means previous #5-ranked contender Timofey Nastyukhin tumbled off the list.
This is what the lightweight rankings now look like:
- 1: Christian Lee
- 2: Dagi Arslanaliev
- 3: Shinya Aoki
- 4: Iuri Lapicus
- 5: Saygid Izagakhmaev (NR)
Read more: 3 Major Takeaways From ONE: HEAVY HITTERS
