5 UFC fighters who shot up the rankings quickly

#4. Khamzat Chimaev – UFC welterweight

Khamzat Chimaev seems destined to make it to the top of the UFC in a short period of time

Khamzat Chimaev is currently ranked No.10 in the UFC welterweight division, but it seems like destiny for him to reach the very top. If he can do that, it’ll be a truly remarkable feat considering that midway through 2020, very few UFC fans, if any, had even heard of him.

‘Borz’ came into the UFC on just eight days’ notice, replacing Dusko Todorovic in a fight with John Phillips. The Englishman quickly realized just how good the Chechen fighter was. Chimaev battered him from pillar to post en route to a second-round submission.

Just ten days later, Chimaev was back again, this time smashing his way through debutant Rhys McKee. When he then knocked out tough middleweight gatekeeper Gerald Meerschaert in just 17 seconds two months later, he quickly became the UFC’s next big star.

A bad case of COVID-19 derailed ‘Borz’ for the majority of 2021, but he’s since returned and proved that he’s very much for real by completely dominating his first top-10 ranked opponent, Li Jingliang. He choked 'Leech' out in the first round.

Essentially, to go from being a total unknown to a top-10 contender in one of the UFC’s deepest divisions in just over a year is incredible. If he can continue on this trajectory, he could well be fighting for UFC gold next year.

To say that few fighters have risen through the ranks as quickly as Chimaev would be a massive understatement.

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#3. B.J. Penn – former UFC lightweight champion

BJ Penn needed less than a year to cut a path to the top of the UFC lightweight division

It’s never easy for a fighter to make their debut in the UFC, but to see an athlete make their MMA debut in the octagon is something else entirely. Ignoring the early days of the promotion, only a handful of fighters have done it and even fewer have succeeded.

The one real success story would be B.J. Penn. ‘The Prodigy’ made his UFC debut back in 2001 as a fresh-faced 22-year old. While he was already renowned for his grappling, nobody could’ve expected him to make the impact that he did.

Penn first entered the octagon at UFC 31 in May 2001, defeating wrestler Joey Gilbert with surprising ease. Gilbert wasn’t a ranked fighter, but he had been competing since 1998,. To see Penn handle him was a real eye-opener.

The UFC clearly saw the talent possessed by ‘The Prodigy’ and bumped him up into a fight with a very highly-ranked opponent in the form of Din Thomas just eight weeks later. Thomas had beaten the likes of reigning UFC lightweight champ Jens Pulver during his career, but he was blown away by Penn in just over two minutes, going down to a violent knockout.

Incredibly, the Hawaiian wasn’t done there. He was back for a third time in 2001, this time knocking out former title challenger Caol Uno in just 11 seconds.

That win was enough to net Penn a shot at the UFC lightweight title, something that was unheard of given he’d been with the promotion for less than a year.

While he failed in his initial attempt to claim UFC gold, ‘The Prodigy’ eventually lived up to the form that saw him shoot up the rankings quickly, as he went onto become one of just a handful of UFC double champions.