Ngannou, Gane, Miocic: UFC heavyweight rankings after Aspinall subs Volkov

Tom Aspinall has shot up the heavyweight leaderboard following his stunning victory over Alexander Volkov.

The UFC‘s rankings of the best MMA fighters in the world now has the Brit behind Derrick Lewis in sixth place.

Volkov had been in sixth, with Surinamese Jairzinho Rozenstruik, 34, seventh and American Chris Daukaus, 32, in eighth.

But the trio have now been dropped one place each to make way for Aspinall, 28, following his first-round submission win over Volkov.

Former champ Stipe Miocic, who was recently linked to an appearance against Jon Jones, is second ahead of Ciryl Gane.

Australia’s Tai Tuivasa, 29, is as high as third, above college wrestler Curtis Blaydes, 31, who has not fought since September 2021.

Derrick Lewis meanwhile also makes up the rest of the top five despite losing two of his last three fights.

Sergei Pavlovich, who was also victorious this past weekend, narrowly misses out on a spot in the top ten coming in at No.11. Pavlovich was unranked prior to competing against Shamil Abdurakhimov.

Pavlovich’s opponent Abdurakhimov, Augusto Sakai, Walt Harris and Blagoy Ivanov complete the list.

UFC president Dana White

“He fought a real guy who’s seen it all, done it all, durable,” he told reporters.

“Big, rangy, kicks hard, and went in there and made it look easy.

“So now this kid will break into the top five this week and now he’s in the conversation to fight the best heavyweights in the world.”

Check out the list below…

Speaking after the fight, Aspinall called out Tuivasa for a main event in the UK.

He said: “I’m a big fan of Tai – big shout-out, Tai.

“The reason why I called out Tai is, first of all, I’m a massive fan of his style.

“Second of all, I’m a massive fan of his personality.

“Th