Song Yadong and Salahdine Parnasse have both pushed into their divisions’ title pictures following the UFC’s latest Meta rankings update, which reflects results through UFC Paris on Sept. 5.
The data-driven system, which the UFC rolled out during 2026 to run alongside the traditional media panel, recalculates automatically after every event using outcome quality, opponent strength and recency rather than voter opinion. The board updated Saturday following Parnasse’s first round finish of Dan Hooker in his UFC debut and closes the book on a week that also included UFC Shanghai.
Bantamweight saw the biggest shakeup. Song rose one spot to No. 2 after knocking out Umar Nurmagomedov in the second round on Aug. 29 in Shanghai. Sean O’Malley slipped to No. 3 as a result. Nurmagomedov fell to No. 5. Petr Yan remains the bantamweight champion, with Merab Dvalishvili still the top ranked contender at No. 1.
New Names Enter The Board
Featherweight added an unbeaten newcomer. Pavel Andrusca entered at No. 8 after a unanimous decision win over Nathaniel Wood, a fight he accepted on five days’ notice for his UFC debut in Paris. Andrusca improved to 9-0. Alexander Volkanovski remains champion, with Movsar Evloev at No. 1.
Lightweight welcomed Rafa Garcia at No. 15. Garcia beat Alexander Hernandez by decision on April 25 and is booked next against Rong Zhu on Sept. 12. Rafael Fiziev, Tofiq Musayev and Grant Dawson each climbed one spot to Nos. 12, 13 and 14. Justin Gaethje remains champion, with Ilia Topuria at No. 1.
Heavyweight had two movers. Mario Pinto jumped three places to No. 9 after a second round TKO of Ryan Spann in Paris, a finish that earned the unbeaten Portuguese heavyweight a Performance of the Night bonus and pushed his record to 13-0. Shamil Gaziev entered at No. 15 following a first round knockout of Kennedy Nzechukwu on Aug. 22 in Sacramento. Tom Aspinall remains champion, with Ciryl Gane at No. 1.
Women’s bantamweight gained Nora Cornolle at No. 12 after a decision win over Klaudia Sygula on the Paris prelims. Macy Chiasson, Daria Zhelezniakova and Raquel Pennington each dropped one spot as a result. Kayla Harrison remains champion, with Joselyne Edwards at No. 1.
Elsewhere, Mike Malott climbed one spot to No. 11 at welterweight, pushing Kamaru Usman down to No. 12. Islam Makhachev remains welterweight champion.
The Meta rankings update on Mondays following UFC events and do not include a pound-for-pound list. The traditional media voting panel continues to run alongside the new system during the transition period.
