PFL: Battle of the Giants and UFC Fight Night 245 each had their impacts on divisional rankings.
In PFL’s main event, former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, who never lost his title, returned to MMA and took out Renan Ferreira in short order with a brutal knockout.
As a result Ngannou shifts into the No. 1 heavyweight slot. He was previously at No. 2. He also moves into No. 3 in the pound-for-pound rankings.
Also, Anthony Hernandez took once step closer to middleweight title contention as he dominated Michel Pereira before a late-fight TKO finish.
Hernandez enters the rankings at No. 13.
Across the two cards, Paul Hughes, Raufeon Stots, Asu Almabayev, and Charles Johnson also picked up impactful victories. Each resulted in a bump-up in the rankings.
Check out all the latest pound-for-pound and divisional USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings, Oct. 22: Francis Ngannou claims heavyweight throne
