{"id":859998,"date":"2026-08-18T20:20:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T20:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/859998\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T20:20:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T20:20:11","slug":"rankings-shakeup-mackenzie-dern-undisputed-no-1-with-zhang-weili-exit-blue-chip-contender-closing-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/859998\/","title":{"rendered":"Rankings Shakeup: Mackenzie Dern undisputed No. 1 with Zhang Weili exit, blue-chip contender closing in"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">And you know what? She\u2019s right.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">It\u2019s August 2026. Zhang Weili hasn\u2019t fought at 115 pounds since February 2025. 18 months. And, as far as we know, she doesn\u2019t have a booking on the horizon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">By the MMA Fighting Rankings Committee by-laws, it\u2019s official: Due to inactivity, Zhang must be removed from the divisional rankings. Rules rule.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">In actuality, the timing couldn\u2019t work out better because Dern just recorded her first successful title defense with a convincing decision win over Gillian Robertson in this past Saturday\u2019s UFC 330 co-main event. No, Dern didn\u2019t beat Zhang to win the title, instead capturing it by beating Virna Jandiroba after Zhang moved up to flyweight to chase Valentina Shevchenko, but she is now a reigning and defending champion and Zhang is nowhere to be seen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Our own Jed Meshew already had Dern ranked above Zhang, but with Zhang ineligible to receive votes at strawweight, the panel has no choice but to follow Jed\u2019s lead and crown Dern as the unanimous No. 1 fighter in her division. Look, we\u2019d all love to see Zhang\u2014still No. 2 in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmafighting.com\/rankings\/482547\/mma-pound-for-pound-rankings-carlos-ulberg-nears-top-10-after-ufc-327-win\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the MMA Fighting Pound-for-Pound Rankings<\/a>\u2014come back and give Dern a chance to properly take the torch. Until that happens, Dern has earned her spot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Even if Zhang doesn\u2019t come back, there are several intriguing challengers in line to test Dern. There\u2019s Tatiana Suarez, who previously fought for the title, and then there are up-and-comers Fatima Kline and Alexia Thainara, both of whom make big jumps with their recent wins.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Kline is 10-1 with her lone loss coming to Jasmine Jasudavicius in a short-notice contest at 125 pounds. In her natural weight class, Kline has never lost, and she\u2019s coming off of two impressive wins over Tabatha Ricci and Angela Hill that have her up eight spots on the charts since our June update.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Thainara\u2014who moves from No. 12 to No. 7\u2014is on a 13-fight win streak since her last loss in 2019, a stretch of success that includes a 4-0 UFC mark. Either her or Kline could be next for Dern if the Zhang matchup isn\u2019t meant to be.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Check out the latest MMA Fighting strawweight rankings below.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 2 Mackenzie Dern def. No. 6 Gillian Robertson, No. 14 Fatima Kline def. No. 10 Tabatha Ricci, No. 12 Alexia Thainara def. No. 7 Amanda Lemos<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Upcoming bouts featuring ranked fighters: No. 4 Yan Xiaonan vs. No. 13 Denise Gomes (UFC Shanghai, Aug. 29)<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Talita Alencar (1), Piera Rodriguez (1)<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Falling out of the rankings: No. 1 Zhang Weili (inactivity at 115 pounds)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"And you know what? She\u2019s right. It\u2019s August 2026. Zhang Weili hasn\u2019t fought at 115 pounds since February&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":859999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,1347,785,3410,85,787,1396],"class_list":["post-859998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-latest-news","tag-mma","tag-rankings","tag-sports","tag-ufc","tag-ufc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=859998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}