Israel Adesanya Drops To Sixth As Brendan Allen Cracks UFC Top Five

Nigerian-born New Zealander, Israel Adesanya has slipped out of the UFC middleweight top five for the first time in years after the latest rankings update released two days after UFC Vancouver.

Israel Adesanya, who was sitting fifth before the event, dropped to sixth following Brendan Allen’s rise.

Allen moved up four spots to No.5 after stopping Reinier de Ridder’s corner from continuing their fight ahead of the fifth round in Vancouver. The rankings, delayed briefly by an AWS outage, have reshuffled the division.

Allen’s dominant performance pushed de Ridder to eighth, while former champion Robert Whittaker slid to ninth. Jared Cannonier re-entered the top ten following the shake-up.

For Adesanya, the fall represents another low point in what has been a turbulent spell. Once the undisputed ruler of the middleweight division from 2019 to 2022, the “Last Stylebender” successfully defended his title six times and later reclaimed it from Alex Pereira at UFC 287.

But since then, he has been unable to rediscover his spark, losing three straight fights over the past two years.

In 2024, Adesanya was also removed from the UFC pound-for-pound list after his defeat to Dricus du Plessis, with Aljamain Sterling taking his place.

There is growing talk that Caio Borralho could face either Whittaker or Adesanya in an upcoming middleweight showdown. With both men struggling for form, the bout could serve as a career reset.

Naija News reports that Adesanya was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in June 2025 for his unforgettable five-round battle with Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 236, a fight that cemented his place among the sport’s legends.