Azerbaijani lightweight Rafael Fiziev has entered the top 15 of the UFC lightweight division in the newly introduced Meta UFC Rankings.
As reported by İdman.Biz, citing the organization's official website, the updated rankings, generated with the help of Meta's artificial intelligence (AI), place Fiziev 13th in the lightweight division. His name is marked with "N/R" (Not Ranked), indicating that he was previously outside the top 15 and has entered the rankings for the first time following his victory at UFC Baku.
In the traditional media rankings, which are compiled based on votes from leading MMA media outlets and remain available on the UFC website, Fiziev is ranked even higher. He moved up one spot to 10th place.
It is worth noting that the UFC has recently introduced a new AI-powered ranking system that considers not only fight results but also how actively fighters compete. UFC Baku became the first event whose results were taken into account in the new Meta UFC Rankings.
Fiziev headlined UFC Baku on June 27, defeating Mexico's Manuel Torres by knockout just 15 seconds into the second round. Following the loss, Torres dropped out of the lightweight top 15 in the Meta UFC Rankings, although he remains 15th in the traditional media rankings.
The other Azerbaijani fighters who competed at UFC Baku are not ranked in the top 15 in either version of the rankings. Farman Hasanov defeated American Eric Nolan, Tahir Abdullayev beat Brazil's Jefferson Nascimento, while Nazim Sadykhov lost to Brazilian Mateus Camilo.
The updated rankings also brought notable changes for other UFC Baku participants. Asu Almabayev climbed to sixth in the flyweight Meta UFC Rankings after defeating Charles Johnson, while he is seventh in the media rankings. Ikram Aliskerov rose to 10th in the middleweight Meta UFC Rankings and entered the media top 15. Abus Magomedov made his Meta UFC Rankings debut at No. 15 after defeating Michał Oleksiejczuk.
