UFC rankings update: Movsar Evloev breaks into featherweight top-5 following hard earned win at UFC 297, Arnold Allen falls down the pecking order

In a featherweight clash that had immense implications for the top of the division, Movsar Evloev and Arnold Allen went to war at UFC 297. Evolev emerged victorious, taking home the nod on the scorecards via unanimous decision.

In doing so, he catapulted himself up the featherweight rankings. Heading into the bout, Evloev was ranked No.9, while his opponent, Allen, occupied the No.4 spot.

Evloev showed a well-rounded MMA arsenal to beat Allen and after the victory, climbed four spots to No.5, while Allen fell two spots to No.6. The news was broken by journalist John Morgan, who took to X (Formerly Twitter) to share the update. He wrote:

"Movsar Evloev (@MovsarUFC) moves up four slots to No. 5 in the latest official #UFC featherweight rankings. The man he beat at #UFC297, Arnold Allen, falls two spots to No. 6. Additional movement sees Ilia Topuria move up to No. 3, and Brian Ortega fall to No. 4."

With his win over Allen at UFC 297, Evloev extended his record to an impressive 18-0. Now he finds himself within the top 5, and is possibly just one win away from a title shot.

With Alexander Volkanovski set to defend the featherweight strap against Ilia Topuria at UFC 298 and Max Holloway's next fight scheduled to take place at lightweight, Evloev may very well get a title shot in 2024.

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UFC 297 - Who won Performance of the Night and Fight of the Night bonuses?

UFC 297 was the UFC's first pay-per-view event of 2024, and saw some important clashes go down. In the main event, the middleweight title changed hands as Dricus du Plessis edged out Sean Strickland to become the first South African champion in UFC history.

Strickland and du Plessis also took home bonuses, as their war was given Fight of the Night honors.

Gillian Robertson was dominant in her win over Polyana Viana, and imposed her grappling upon Viana en route to a TKO victory. In doing so, she took home a Performance of the Night bonus.

Jasmine Jasudavicius was also overwhelmingly dominant over Priscila Cachoeira, earning a 10-7 round on one judge's scorecard, en route to a submission win. She also took home a Performance of the Night bonus.