SportsRatings

Looking at this month's  pound-for-pound rankings , we note that it's dominated by heavyweights. Four of the top six spots. June Rank July Rank Fighter WC Rating Rated Record Org June 2026 Results 1 1  Islam Makhachev WW 98.03  18-1-0 UFC 2 2  Francis Ngannou HW 64.92  13-2-0 MVP   4 3  Sean Strickland MW 58.68  25-7-0 UFC   5 4  Vadim Nemkov HW 58.48  14-2-0 PFL   7 5  Jon Jones HW 54.79  22-1-0 UFC   --last rated win -19 months. 50 6  Ciryl Gane HW 52.57  12-2-0 UFC   Beat #3 Alex Pereira This is pretty unusual; ever since weight classes became standardized, the HW grip on the top of the charts has eased, as dominance within a division is the most important factor, and then number of total competitors tends to add up to points within that weight class. So even if HW fighters have an advantage, that advant...

 Great fight card today: not only Fury vs. Makhmudov , but #18 Justis Huni vs. #94 Frazer Clarke and #25 Jeamie Tshikeva vs. former cruiserweight Richard Riakporhe (19-1). Fury and Makhmudov are in the ring. Fury looks fat, so does Mak. About 270 vs. 265, big boys. Mak starts aggressive, pushing Fury into the corner, and then into the ropes. Mak bum-rushing again, to little effect. Fury not countering too well to the bum-rushes. Mak gets in one winging shot during a lunge. Hard to judge that, do you give credit for Mak's aggressiveness when it didn't accomplish much? He connected a few times. Mak 10-9 Fury opens with jabs. Fury fends off another bum-rush. Fury lets loose with a combo as Mak slows down late in the round. Huge attempt from Mak whiffs. Fury wins that easily. Fury 10-9; 19-19 Fury staying outside and jabbing hard, Mak flat-footed. Mak is too tired now. Tries another bum-rush but nothing on it. His strategy was clearly early KO but that becomes less likely each...

#28 Derek Chisora vs. #58 Deontay Wilder. Chisora has 40 lbs on him and the crowd behind him. Chisora pushing forward from the start, pushing Wilder against the ropes, getting some good shots in the first half of the round. Wilder holding, not really responding too well. Throws a big right but whiffs, and Chisora gets inside again. Chisora and Wilder fold each other OVER the ropes, not sure what happened there, both get a warning. Chisora 10-9  One minute in HUGE punches from both, lots of wild swinging. Chisora is hit hard but comes back with Wilder tired from the work. Chisora slips to a knee but gets back up. Both are really tired now. Wilder holding against the ropes again. Weird round. Wilder 10-9 ; 19-19 Chisora comes in fast, gets inside again. Wilder not jabbing well, just looking for uppercuts when Chisora gets inside. Lots of holding and wrestling. Good exchange but Wilder stings Chisora. Chisora acting as a bulldozer more than a boxer. A few more good connects from Wild...

What is going on with the last 1-seed? We all know that three 1-seeds are set in stone: Dance Chance for games through March 13 (chg/prev since March 8):                              3/13 3/8 Conf Seed Conf Tourney Rank Team Conf Rec % Odds % Chg %Odds 1-seed 3/13 3/8 +0w +1w +2w 1. Arizona B12 31-2 100.0 0.0 64.0 99.9 1 1 1 1 1 2. Duke ACC 31-2 100.0 0.0 83.4 99.5 1 1 1 1 1 3. Michigan B10 30-2 100.0 0.0 79.1 98.7 1 1 1 1 1 4. Houston (LOST) B12 28-5 100.0 0.0 36.0 50.3 1 1 2 1 1 5. Florida (LOST) SEC 26-6 100.0 0.0 69.5 27.9 2 2 2 2 1 6. Iowa St. B12 27-7 100.0 0.0 0.0 17.1 2 2 2 2 2 7. Connecticut (LOST) BE 29-4 100.0...

The bubble is almost settled, or at least, the teams have settled to around where they're going to be as only a few more teams near the waterline have games to play: San Diego State and VCU . Update : VCU won 77-64, while San Diego State lost 73-62. This puts VCU at 50%, and knocks the Aztecs down to 50%, both joining Stanford at 50%. Only 2 of 3 can get the bid, who is left out? We're not sure but VCU is in good shape since St. Louis lost today, so the Rams will face Dayton for the A10 championship. The Rams will be favored to get the auto-bid. The bad news is a loss might drop them below 50%. As for Stanford, in the real world they're in much worse shape than in the Dance Chance.                              3/13 3/8 Conf Seed Conf Tourney Rank Team Conf Rec % Odds % Chg %Odds 3/13 3/8 +0w +1w +2w 42. Santa Clara WCC 26-8 57.2 +13.8 ...

Iowa State just got two blowout wins in the Big Twelve tournament and has moved onto our 1-seed line in the Dance Chance Dance Chance for games through March 12 (chg/prev since March 8):                              3/12 Conf 3/08 Seed Rank Team Conf Rec % Odds %Odds 1-seed %chg 3/12 3/8 +0w +1w +2w 1. Arizona B12 30-2 100.0 51.7 98.6 +14.5 1 1 1 1 1 2. Duke ACC 30-2 100.0 78.7 98.5 0.0 1 1 1 1 1 3. Michigan B10 29-2 100.0 59.2 93.7 +1.0 1 1 1 1 1 4. Iowa St. B12 27-6 100.0 25.3 54.5 +47.8 1 2 2 2 1 5. Houston B12 27-5 100.0 17.8 28.6 -25.2 2 1 2 2 1 6. Florida SEC 25-6 100.0 53.1 19.6 -22.4 2 2 2 2 2 7. Gonzaga ...

These five teams are the ones who are on the bubble and play today. Two of them— VCU and Oklahoma —basically have elimination games, especially the Sooners. Seton Hall fell to St. John's but they're not dead yet. If push comes to shove though, we'd say it looks like they won't make it. The Pirates weren't generating a lot of buzz outside of SportsRatings, though it looks like CBS Sports did have them in their First Four Out.  VCU prevailed and will live to fight another day to stay above the waterline. They're already at worse a tough call for the Committee if they lose to St. Joe's.                              3/12 Conf Seed Conf Tourney Rank Team Conf Rec % Odds %Odds 3/12 3/8 +0w +1w +2w 45. VCU 71 Duquesne 66 A10 25-7 51.0 17.6 11p 30% 45% 50% 46. SDSU 64 New Mex 62 MWC 21-10 46.4 23.3 ...