UFC Rankings: What’s on the line for these fighters at UFC 275?
This weekend, the UFC heads to Singapore for UFC 275: Teixeira vs. Prochazka, featuring two title fights and several other very important matchups.
A UFC Light Heavyweight Championship bout between Glover Teixeira and Jiri Prochazka will serve as the main event. Women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko will defend her title against Taila Santos in the co-main event. The fight card also features the highly-anticipated rematch between Zhang Weili and Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
UFC 275 is a special pay-per-view event and will air exclusively on
Read on for our preview of the two title fights and learn what’s at stake for other ranked fighters at UFC 275.
Glover Teixeira vs. Jiri Prochazka
Light Heavyweight Champion: Glover Teixeira
- #1: Jan Blachowicz
- #2: Jiri Prochazka
- #3: Aleksander Rakic
- #4: Magomed Ankalaev
- #5: Anthony Smith
Glover Teixeira defeated Jan Blachowicz to snag the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship in October last year. He finished the champion by rear-naked choke submission despite entering the fight as a heavy betting underdog.
Teixeira once again enters a title fight as the underdog when he faces Jiri Prochazka this weekend at UFC 275. Prochazka enters the fight after two impressive UFC victories against Volkan Oezdemir and Dominick Reyes. The former RIZIN champion knocked out both former title challengers and earned ‘Performance of the Night’ awards along the way.
Now stepping into a title fight as a -190 betting favorite, it’s clear that this is a golden opportunity for Prochazka to win a UFC title.
For Teixeira, a win would see him one step closer to achieving his master plan that involves beating Prochazka and then fighting Blachowicz again later this year before retiring.
Valentina Shevchenko vs. Taila Santos
Women’s Flyweight Champion: Valentina Shevchenko
- #1: Katlyn Chookagian
- #2: Lauren Murphy
- #3: Jessica Andrade
- #4: Taila Santos
- #5: Alexa Grasso
Valentina Shevchenko, the current flyweight champion and top women’s pound-for-pound fighter, has established herself as one of the greatest female fighters in the history of the UFC. Shevchenko has now defended the title six times since first beating Joanna Jedrzejczyk to claim it in 2018. The 34-year-old is quickly running out of potential challengers in the flyweight division, with a win here only furthering her legacy as an all-time great.
Taila Santos steps up to the plate after four consecutive wins in the division. Santos has defeated Joanne Wood, Roxanne Modafferi, Gillian Robertson, and Molly McCann to emerge as the next title contender. Despite just one win against a ranked opponent, betting odds show that Santos is respected as a legitimate threat, with this being the highest betting odds for a Shevchenko fight since her clash with Jedrzejczyk.
While Shevchenko may appear unstoppable to many, let’s not forget that both Amanda Nunes and Rose Namajunas lost their titles recently.
Zhang Weili vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
Women’s Strawweight Champion: Carla Esparza
- #1: Rose Namajunas
- #2: Zhang Weili
- #3: Marina Rodriguez
- #4: Mackenzie Dern
- #5: Yan Xiaonan
- NR: Joanna Jedrzejczyk
Much has changed since Zhang Weili and Joanna Jedrzejczyk first went head-to-head in that memorable clash two years ago.
Zhang, then-champion, defended the strawweight title against Jedrzejczyk at UFC 248, and it appeared that taking the title away from her would be a significant challenge for anyone in the division. However, it took Rose Namajunas just 78 seconds to finish Zhang one year later at UFC 261. It was a brutal defeat for the Chinese champion, and she was immediately tasked with reclaiming the title in a rematch with Namajunas at UFC 268 only to come up short, losing the rematch by way of split decision.
If Namajunas was still the champion, there’s no doubt that another title shot for Zhang would be out of the question even if she was victorious this weekend. But the title has since been passed on to Carla Esparza who scored a stunning upset at UFC 274 and therefore opening the door for the winner of this bout a shot at the champion in the near future.
Jedrzejczyk is currently unranked in the division due to inactivity. The former champion hasn’t competed since she was defeated by Zhang in 2020 as she sat on the sidelines waiting for a “bigger slice of the cake.”
The slice must be right now that she’s returning to the Octagon but she finds herself in a strange position where she’s obviously unranked but should still be regarded as one of the very best in the division. There was a time when Jedrzejczyk was regarded as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the sport after she had defended her title five times. But defeats to Zhang, Shevchenko, and Namajunas all in the past five years have resulted in a 2-4 record for Jedrzejczyk in her last six fights.
With Zhang currently ranked at #2 in the division, it’s clear that a victory for Jedrzejczyk this time at UFC 275 would shoot her right up the rankings yet again.
Rogerio Bontorin vs. Manel Kape
Flyweight Champion: Deiveson Figueiredo
- #1: Brandon Moreno
- #2: Kai Kara-France
- #3: Alexandre Pantoja
- #4: Askar Askarov
- #5: Brandon Royval
- #6: Alex Perez
- #7: Matheus Nicolau
- #8: Rogerio Bontorin
- #9: Matt Schnell
- #10: David Dvorak
- #11: Tim Elliott
- #12: Sumudaerji
- #13: Amir Albazi
- #14: Manel Kape
- #15: Tagir Ulanbekov
Rogerio Bontorin vs. Manel Kape is the final bout featuring at least one ranked fighter at UFC 275.
After a disappointing start to his UFC career, Kape finally found his groove by defeating Zhalgas Zhumagulov and Ode Osbourne in 2021. He’s entered all of his UFC fights as the betting favorite so far and that’s no different against his UFC 275 opponent, Rogerio Bontorin, who is currently ranked #8.
Bontorin has struggled in recent years, losing three of his last four bouts. With defeats against Ray Borg, Kai Kara-France, and Brandon Royval, Bontorin finds himself in the middle of the flyweight rankings. Kape is actually a decent step down in the rankings for Bontorin considering that recent opponents Royval, Schnell, and Kara-France are ranked #5, #9, and #2 respectively.
The outcome is that Bontorin will essentially be defending his #8 position in the rankings from Kape who has only just entered the top 15.
UFC 275 Fight Card
Main Card – 10:00 pm ET / 7:00 pm PT (Order ESPN+ PPV)
- Glover Teixeira (C) vs. Jiri Prochazka (#2)
- Valentina Shevchenko (C) vs. Taila Santos (#4)
- Zhang Weili (#2) vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk (NR)
- Rogerio Bontorin (#8) vs. Manel Kape (#14)
- Jack Della Maddalena vs. Ramazan Emeev
Prelims – 8:00 pm ET / 5:00 pm PT on ESPN+
- Brendan Allen vs. Jacob Malkoun
- Seungwoo Choi vs. Josh Culibao
- Maheshate vs. Steve Garcia
- Andre Fialho vs. Jake Matthews
Early Prelims– 6:30 pm ET / 3:30 pm PT on ESPN+
- Kyung Ho Kang vs. Batgerel Danaa
- Liang Na vs. Silvana Juarez
- Ramona Pascual vs. Joselyn Edwards
Watch UFC 275
- Date: Saturday, June 11
- Time: PPV Main Card starts at 10 pm ET
- Watch:
ESPN + PPV (order here)
Fight fans can order the event on the ESPN+ website to watch every UFC 275 fight live this Saturday night including Blachowicz vs. Teixeira, Shevchenko vs. Santos, Zhang vs. Jedrzejczyk, and more.