SportsRatings: Boxing/MMA

Heavyweight Boxing Top 10 update for October 10, 2021

With the big fights we had over the weekend, we're going to jump the gun and update the monthly Top 100 a bit early to reflect the results. Tyson Fury is of course the big news, capturing the SportsRatings Heavyweight belt yet again.

Fury first captured the belt on November 28, 2015 when he beat Wladimir Klitschko. He held it as the rematch loomed but ultimately never came and Fury went inactive on November 29, 2016—making then-#4 Deontay Wilder the interim champ as #2 Klitschko and #3 Alex Povetkin were also inactive.

Fury's comeback bout with Sefer Seferi didn't register as a rated fight, so it wasn't until he beat Francesco Pianeta on August 18, 2018 that he regained the belt. He had remained at the #1 spot all along but the interim belt was held by Wilder, Povetkin, and Anthony Joshua for almost two years. And just one month after Fury regained the title, Joshua beat Povetkin to claim the belt himself!

Fury had a chance to reclaim the belt against Deontay Wilder in December of 2018 but that fight was an infamous draw. Instead, he regained the belt in an unusual manner: when Andy Ruiz Jr upset Joshua on June 1, 2019, Ruiz only jumped to #2, making Fury the belt holder instead! He held it through his wins over Tom Schwarz (non-rated) and Otto Wallin, but when Joshua beat Ruiz in the rematch in December of 2019 he regained the belt again. That's three times holding the belt for Fury, twice for Joshua at this point.

But it wasn't long before Fury struck again, beating Wilder in their rematch on February 22, 2020 and grabbing the belt for the fourth time. Of course we know what happened next: Fury vs. Joshua was all but a done deal when Wilder invoked the rematch clause, the fight was scheduled, then delayed, and in February of 2021 Fury lost the belt again due to inactivity.

Joshua missed a chance to reclaim it last month vs. Oleksandr Usyk, who jumped to #2 behind Fury, then just last weekend, October 9, 2021, Fury took the belt for the 5th time. In total he lost the belt twice purely for inactivity, and twice being jumped over on rating points by Anthony Joshua.

SportsRatings Heavyweight Boxing Top 10 for fights through October 9, 2021

-3 yrs	-1 yr	-6 mo	Oct Rank	Rank	Fighter	Rating	Rated Record	October 1-9 results
2	1	1	1	1	TYSON FURY	52.41	19-0-1	KO 11 #5 DEONTAY WILDER
--	24	24	2	2	OLEKSANDR USYK	35.64	3-0-0
1	2	2	3	3	ANTHONY JOSHUA	33.42	17-2-0
6	9	4	4	4	DILLIAN WHYTE	26.35	14-2-0
38	5	5	6	5	ANDY RUIZ JR	24.71	14-2-0
--	14	11	11	6	FRANK SANCHEZ	20.66	5-0-0	UD 10 #9 EFE AJAGBA
4	4	6	7	7	ALEX POVETKIN	19.59	30-3-1	--last rated win -14 months.
47	27	8	8	8	JOE JOYCE	18.20	8-0-0
26	13	9	10	9	JOSEPH PARKER	17.95	18-2-0
3	3	3	5	10	DEONTAY WILDER	17.82	18-2-1	L KO 11 #1 TYSON FURY

Deontay Wilder drops from #5 to #10. He's been winless for two years now as both rematches played out. Most would argue he did better this time, and really, the third fight was sort of a combination of the first two—Wilder almost knocked Fury out, and Fury bullied Wilder into submission. His career from this point on will be interesting.

The other big winner of the weekend was Frank Sanchez, who won a decision over previously unbeated Efe Ajagba and jumped from #11 to #6. He showed good skill—and experience—in neutralizing Ajagba's size and power advantage to hand him his first loss. It gives confidence that he might be able to handle the size of some of the giants in the top ten, but all of them have a lot more experience than Ajagba. A fight with #9 Joseph Parker or Ruiz might be interesting, or #4 Dillian Whyte—but Whyte deserves a title shot not yet another eliminator.

Where does this leave the heavyweight division? Well, Wilder is out of the picture for a while at least. Fury is in, and with luck will fight the winner of the Joshua-Usyk rematch. Again, Dillian Whyte has been waiting years, so why not Fury-Whyte in the UK?

Tyson Fury - Deontay Wilder III Round-by-round scoring

#1 Tyson Fury vs. #5 Deontay Wilder for the undisputed SportsRatings Heavyweight championship. 

Round-by-round scoring will follow the prelims. For coverage of Ajagba-Sanchez and Helenius-Kownacki see this post.

Entrances are done, fight is starting within minutes.

• Round One: Quick body jabs from Wilder. 3rd body jab. 4th. 1-2 to the body, he's really focusing on the body, now he goes upstairs and connects. Very active, Fury not throwing yet. More body jabs, unexpected by Fury. More body shots. Fury tries 1-2 then clinches. Jab to the head from Wilder. Big shot from Wilder misses. Right to the body, and again. Fury returns fire, clinch headlock. Fury connects with 1-2 late but round to Wilder 10-9.
• Round Two: Wilder jabbing again but not as forcefully. Fury attacks, Wilder launches counterattack, then clinch. Fury body hook, now clinches. Big shot from Wilder misses narrowly as Fury jumps back. Ref allowing clinch work from Fury. Right hand by Wilder, Fury comes back and clinches. More wrestling near the end of the round. Closer round 10-10; Wilder 20-19.
• Round Three: Fury body shot of his own. Wilder's jabs not as forceful. Fury on the attack more, he comes in an clinches, tries to in-fight. Wilder a few jabs but he's backing up more now. Fury headlock is stopped by the ref quickly, warns against headlock. Wild swinging by both fighters, Wilder connects with a strong right. Fury returns strong jab. More big swings by both fighters look tired. Fury short shot puts Wilder down for an 8-count, he's hurt. Wilder holding on and survives. 10-8 Fury; 29-28.
• Round Four: Wilder looks shaky, Fury has him against ropes. Wilder holds on. Fury is tired too but Wilder just looking for one shot. Fury has Wilder against ropes. Big shot from Wilder puts Fury on the canvas, he barely gets up! Fury gets big shot in, but Fury goes down yet again! Round ends! Wilder 10-7; Wilder 38-36
• Round Five: Jabs from Wilder, big punch from Fury misses. Ref struggles to separate them. Fury is looking better, Wilder still swinging for the fences. Fury 1-2 rocks Wilder. They wrestle-fight which helps Fury. Wilder connects with 2 big rights! Wilder measuring him, Fury swings big too. They clinch, both are spent. Another clinch. Crazy round, 10-10; Wilder 48-46.
• Round Six: Fury trying to box more, looks recovered pretty well. Fury right hook then clinches. Wilder swinging a lot. Fury wrestling a lot, almost makes Wilder take a knee. Big punch from both fighters. Fury suddenly comes alive, Wilder responds, Fury charges in again. Fury pressuring Wilder. Fury got the best of the action one way or another 10-9; Wilder 57-56.
• Round Seven: Fury big 1-2, tries to clinch and pressure but ref doesn't let him. Fury now pushing against the ropes, trying to brawl his way to a win. Ducks Wilder's big right; this is starting to look like the 2nd fight. Big right from Fury. Uppercuts from Fury in clinch. Big right from Wilder, Fury wears it well; another 1-2 form Wilder. Fury responds, Wilder is in trouble, barely staying up. Fury 10-9; 66-66.
• Round Eight: Fury looks confident, Wilder unsteady. Fury pressuring against the ropes. Big right from Wilder, doesn't affect Fury right now. Fury responds with big shots, Wilder survives somehow. Fury wobbles Wilder. Wilder clinches for last 10 seconds. Fury 10-9; 76-75.
• Round Nine: Concerns about Wilder's right hand, but he says its okay. Fury looks fresh, Wilder looks wobbly still. Wilder comes alive with punches but Fury weathers the storm. Big flurry from Fury, WIlder stays up. Big clinch, wrestling from Fury. Wilder's energy is low but he keeps trying to land right. Fury getting the better of it, Wilder lands big uppercut near the end. Fury 10-9; 86-84. 
• Round Ten: Fury combination puts Wilder against the ropes again, Wilder getting beat up again. Wilder sleepwalking around the ring, huge shot by Fury puts Wilder down, but he somehow gets up! Wilder trying to survive. Big uppercut from Fury, Wilder has crazy flurry at end! But still 10-8 Fury with the knockdown, Fury 96-92.
• Round Eleven: Clinching from Fury, Wilder pinned against rings after hard shot. Big uppercut from Wilder and another one. Wilder is down and fight is waved off. Tyson Fury KO 11 Deontay Wilder

Tyson Fury regains the SportsRatings Heavyweight Belt with the 11th round KO in an incredible fight from both fighters. Wilder will get a lot of respect in the boxing world for his effort.

Fury-Wilder III Undercard: Ajagba-Sanchez, Helenius-Kownacki round-by-round scoring

The Fury-Wilder undercard has two big-time heavyweight fights: #9 Efe Ajagba vs. #11 Frank Sanchez, and #23 Robert Helenius vs. #54 Adam Kownacki.

Two other heavyweight fights of interest are on the undercard. 

• #44 Viktor Faust TKO 3 #145 Mike Marshall
• #24 Jared AndersonTKO 2 Vladimir Tereshkin

We will have round-by-round scoring for the Ajagba-Sanchez and Helenius-Kownacki bouts.

First up is Helenius-Kownacki II

• Round One: Helenius hard shot to the body. Countering Kownacki's jabs too; now he ties up. Kownacki good jab to the jaw. Kownacki has a beard now, too so he looks like a shorter Helenius. Helenius throwing good jabs. Helenius throwing hard leather. Has him against the ropes, unloading on Kownacki who survives to the bell. Very solid round for Helenius 10-9.
• Round Two: Tie-up early. Kownacki coming in close, trying to close the distance. Helenius strikes from afar and ties up. Kownacki is pressing the action. Good shot in the corner rocks Helenius. Both of Kownacki's eyes are swollen. Helenius is slower this round like he used a lot of energy in the first round. Still jabbing well late in the round. More jabs and 1-2s late evens up the round 10-10; 20-19 Helenius.
• Round Three: Helenius relaxed, Kownacki pressing the action again but Helenius counters well. More tie-ups as Kownacki closes in. Kownacki trying to keep a high work-rate but having mixed success. Kownacki slows down near the end again and Helenius unloads jabs and 1-2 shots that wobble Kownacki until a low blow bends Helenius over right near the end of the round. No point taken but round goes to Helenius 10-9; 30-28.
• Round Four: More jabs from Helenius and close work by Kownacki leads to clinch; ref not allowing inside work. A few good shots from Kownacki. More jabs from Helenius, uppercut too but not a lot on it. Helenius avoiding Kownacki's closing, looks a bit like Tyson Fury slipping these shots. 1-2 from the outside now late in the round. Kownacki's face is bloodied. Helenius 10-9; 40-37.
• Round Five: Kownacki closing in with more head movement early. Another low blow from Kownacki in the clinch gets a point taken from Kownacki. Kownacki pressing the action again, having some success, but getting a lot in return from Helenius. 1-2 from Helenius at distance as Kownacki not closing in late in the round, making him a sitting duck for Helenius. He's in trouble with 30 seconds left. Helenius not in any hurry, maybe a bit tired. 10-8 for Helenius with the deduction; 50-45 Helenius.
• Round Six: The doctor considered stopping the fight between rounds due to Kownacki's eyes. Helenius is taking his time, making sure not to gas himself. He can afford to be relaxed because Kownacki isn't throwing much anymore. He's also not closing the distance which helps Helenius. Kownacki is almost out of jab range even.  Both fighters are taking this round off. Strangely the ref stopped the fight, apparently it was for low blows. Helenius wins by DQ.

In replay there was a clear groin shot by Kownacki, about the only thing he had thrown the entire sixth round. Helenius looked pretty good overall, while Kownacki looked bad physically and mentally, not responding well to his first loss at all.

Now: the top ten eliminator with undefeated fighters: Efe Ajagba vs. Frank Sanchez

• Round One: Feeling out process early, little action in first minute. Flurry by Ajagba misses and Sanchez counters. Ajagba stalking Sanchez. Body blow by Ajagba, Sanchez good counter. Sanchez definitely looking to counter...whiffs on big hook. Not much happened though. 10-10.
• Round Two: More action this round, still not wild by any means. Long Jabs by Ajagba, counters by Sanchez. Sanchez shuffles in with double jab attempt. Big overhand by Sanchez is first real solid punch, Ajagba took it well. Sanchez against the ropes with Ajagba in center of ring. Counter jabs by Sanchez score. Sanchez fast on his strikes. Very slight advantage to Sanchez 10-9; 20-19.
• Round Three: Ajagba slugging hard with his shots, mostly blocked. Good right by Sanchez, Ajagba whiffs as Sanchez ducks. Ajagba having trouble finding Sanchez, who doesn't have many opportunities himself. Good exchange, Sanchez probably connected better. Decent shot by Ajagba. Jab by Sanchez. Another close round for Sanchez 10-9; 30-28.
• Round Four: Sanchez still frustrating Ajagba with movement and counters. A few jabs by Ajagba. Stalking but not letting it go. Big hook by Sanchez, mostly blocked. Ajagba not pulling the trigger standing in front of Sanchez. Body shots by Ajagba. Probably too close to give to Ajagba. 10-10; 40-38 Sanchez.
• Round Five: More posturing by both fighters. Ajagba pushes Sanchez into the ropes. Traps him there again and Sanchez avoids body shots. Tie-up as both miss. Even first half of round. Crowd starting to boo. They mix it up a bit but nothing effective. Sanchez really not doing anything at all either as Ajagba stalks him. Tie up near the end of the round. 10-9 Ajagba since Sanchez did nothing; 49-48 Sanchez.
• Round Six: Body jab by Ajagba. Counter by Sanchez after Ajagba lunge. Blocking each other's jabs. Solid right from Ajagba connects.Wild swing by Sanchez causes a slip, might have been hit by Ajagba. Ajagba 10-9 since that could have been knock down. 59-59.
• Round Seven: Drop was ruled a slip, so a 10-9 for Ajagba is probably fair. More mixing it up this round but to no one's advantage. Sanchez lands a jab and cross to the face. Both fighters looking more focused. Great counter from Sanchez on uppercut. Last minute is slower. Holy crap, Sanchez knocks Ajagba down, but then Sanchez hits him while on one knee. No penalty for the illegal shot, and no count? That was crazy. 10-8 Sanchez; 69-67
• Round Eight: Ajagba looks pretty recovered. Stalking again big shots from Sanchez, he smells blood now. Ajagba recovers and goes back to stalking, some good body shots. Not much else happens. Sanchez 10-9; 79-76.
• Round Nine: Ajagba needs a knockdown for a draw on our card with 2 rounds left. Corner imploring him. Sanchez staying conservative as he looks to protect his lead and not take chances. Not looking for KO really anymore since Ajagba took those last shots well. But Ajagba isn't doing anything either. Big clash amounts to nothing connected. Big overhand right from Ajagba might win him that round. 10-9 Ajagba; 88-86 Sanchez.
• Round Ten: Corner REALLY imploring Ajagba to let his hands go for the KO. Sanchez standing in front, backing down less at first, but backs up to ropes eventually. Ajagba lunges in for a right. Sanchez counters with a right off Ajagba's jabs. Round half over and Ajagba is only slightly more active. Sanchez jumps in and connects. Sanchez doing a good job evading any opportunity for Ajagba, who let the round go without really trying for the KO. Sanchez 10-9; Sanchez 98-95.

Our "three" cards, splitting the 10-10 rounds, would be Sanchez 98-93; Sanchez 98-95; Sanchez 96-95. Should be a unanimous decision for Frank Sanchez.

Official decision: Sanchez 97-92; 98-91; 98-91.

A big step forward for Frank Sanchez, while Efe Ajagba drops his first fight. As the younger fighter he had less to lose, providing he responds well to his first loss, unlike Adam Kownacki.

Fury-Wilder III undercard full of solid fights

When Fury-Wilder III was postponed a few months ago, the fear was that the great undercard would fall apart but that didn't happen. So now we have a total of three excellent heavyweight bouts and two more involving our Top 100.

First and foremost of course is the headliner, the trilogy between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder.

#1 Tyson Fury (30-0-1) 21KO vs. #5 Deontay Wilder (42-1-1) 41KO

For SportsRatings, this is only the 4th true heavyweight title fight since Fury upset Wlad Klitschko in November of 2015. By this we mean a fight where the winner would become our undisputed heavyweight champion. For example, with Fury inactive Klitschko, then #2,  took on Anthony Joshua (ranked #6) but that was only for the interim title. Likewise when Fury came back against #186 Francisco Pianeta, only Fury would capture the title with a win.

The other "true" title fights were:

• In November of 2018 #2 Anthony Joshua beat #3 Alex Povetkin and took over the #1 spot;
• December, 2019, #2 Andy Ruiz Jr lost to #4 Joshua, who captured the title;
• February, 2020, #1 Fury (inactive at the time) beat #4 Wilder to regain the title

The first Fury-Wilder in December 2018 wasn't a true title fight as only Fury had a chance to take the title (and the draw kept it from being a title fight for him). The first Joshua-Ruiz bout wasn't a title fight for Ruiz, who jumped to #2 behind Fury.

Most recently, Aleksandr Usyk's win over Joshua put him at the #2 spot—and enabled Saturday's fight to be a title fight for both Fury and Wilder.

With Fury at #1, any win over a rated heavyweight would capture the belt. Wilder has fallen to #5 and is also inactive, but a win over Fury would put him well past Usyk at #1.

What about a loss? Fury would drop to #3 behind Wilder and Usyk, but remain very slightly ahead of Joshua. It would be quite the logjam. If Wilder loses he'll fall to near the bottom of the top 10.

#9 Efe Ajagba (15-0-0) 12 KOs vs. #11 Frank Sanchez (18-0-0) 13KOs

This is a great undercard fight and could headline most heavyweight shows. Both are arguably top ten fighters, but this bout will put one fighter squarely in the top ten and the other will be firmly out, for now.

Ajagba has 10 rated wins to Sanchez' four, but their ratings are pretty similar with Ajagba only two rankings spots ahead. The fighter who wins will jump to around #7, the loser will fall to somewhere in the 20s.

A lot at stake here for momentum between the Nigerian fighter and the Cuban, one getting a big boost, the other taking a big step back.

#23 Robert Helenius (30-3) 19KO vs. #54 Adam Kownacki (20-1-0) 15KO

A rematch of the fight from March 2020 when Helenius handed Kownacki his first and only loss.

10 years ago Helenius was as high as #4 in our rankings but injuries and a long layoff pushed him lower, and a KO loss to Johann Duhaupas knocked him out of the top ten. Since then he's been up and down, beating Gonzale Basile and Evgeny Orlov but losing to Dillian Whyte in a wide decision. He topped Erkan Teper but fell to Gerald Washington in a 8th round KO. 

The win over Kownacki was Helenius' biggest win in nearly a decade. Kownacki was unbeaten in 20 outings and had 9 rated wins in our book and had just cracked the top ten before the loss. Currently down to #54 after going two years without a rated win, Kownacki would jump back into the top 20 if he can avenge his only loss.

#44 Viktor Faust (Vykhryst) (7-0-0) 5KO vs. #145 Mike Marshall (6-1-1) 4KO

Another undefeated fighter, Viktor Faust hopes to beat Mike Marshall and give himself a 2nd rated win. Faust (real name Viktor Vykhryst) beat Kamil Sokolowski last November. Marshall has never been in our top 100, having only a draw with Steve Vukosa on his résumé, along with a loss to Luther Smith.

#24 Jared Anderson (9-0-0) 9KOs vs. Vladimir Tereshkin (22-0-1) 12KO

Undefeated Jared Anderson battles also-undefeated Tereshkin, who was in our top 100 five years ago after beating Yuberty Diaz but didn't have another rated win among his three bouts since then. Anderson has 3 rated wins in the last 15 months, beating Johnny Langston, Rodney Hernandez, and Kingsley Ibeh.

We'll have round-by-round scoring for the headliner bout, probably for Ajagba vs. Sanchez and Helenius-Kownacki tomorrow starting roughly at 10pm eastern (the title fight should start somewhere between 11pm and 12 midnight eastern time, PPV on ESPN/FOX).

October is Light Heavyweight Month in MMA: Blachowicz-Teixeira, Nemkov-Anglickas, Bader-Anderson, & more

If you like the Light Heavyweight division in MMA then October is the month for you, with six of our top ten fighters active, and no less that four intra-top 25 bouts.

Two fights will determine who the Interim SportsRatings Light Heavyweight title holder is. The actual belt has been vacant for over six months since Jon Jones officially went inactive. Jones has threatened to move up to Heavyweight and recently has had legal problems (to say the least) so who knows when he will fight again. He continues to lose rating points but will rank #1 for at least the rest of 2021.

That leaves #2 Jan Blachowicz with the interim belt, which he will defend on October 30 against #5 Glover Teixeira. If he wins, he holds the belt, that part is simple. If Teixeira wins, then it depends on the results of #3 Vadim Nemkov vs. #13 Julius Anglickas on the 16th at Bellator. If Glover and Nemkov both win, Nemkov will be the interim title holder. Teixeira needs Anglickas to beat Nemkov.

Other big bouts include #4 Ryan Bader against #8 Corey Anderson, also on the 16th as Bellator; this, like Nemkov-Anglickas, is part of Bellator's Light Heavyweight tournament, and the winners will face each other in the Grand Prix final. Note that Anglickas is a replacement for Anthony 'Rumble' Johnson who pulled out of the tournament due to (non-Covid) illness.

And finally for the top ten, #6 Magomed Ankalaev fights #36 Volkan Oezdemir. Oezdemir is a lot better than our ranking suggests; his last win was over current #16 Aleksander Rakic almost two years ago, after which he lost to current #9 Jiri Prochazka. Ankalaev is 15-1, his sole loss to #11 Paul Craig in 2018 followed by a 6-fight win streak.

SportsRatings Light Heavyweight rankings - top 8

Sept Rank	Oct Rank	Fighter	WC	Rating	Rated Record	Org	September results; •October schedule
1	1	Jon Jones	LH	75.44	20-1-0	UFC	--last rated win -19 months.
2	2	Jan Blachowicz	LH	62.81	22-6-0	UFC	[interim LH title holder] •10/30 vs. #5 Glover Teixeira [to retain interim LH title]
3	3	Vadim Nemkov	LH	50.92	8-2-0	Bell	•10/16 vs. #13 Julius Anglickas  [for interim LH title]?
4	4	Ryan Bader	LH	32.71	22-6-0	Bell	•10/16 vs. #8 Corey Anderson
5	5	Glover Teixeira	LH	26.59	25-6-0	UFC	•10/30 vs. #2 Jan Blachowicz  [for interim LH title]?
6	6	Magomed Ankalaev	LH	26.18	8-1-0	UFC	•10/30 vs. #36 Volkan Oezdemir
9	7	Phil Davis	LH	22.43	19-6-0	Bell	Beat #25 Yoel Romero
7	8	Corey Anderson	LH	22.22	10-4-0	Bell	•10/16 vs. #4 Ryan Bader

And that's not all. Outside the top ten there are several others active:

• #17 Da Un Jung battles #20 Kennedy Nzechukwu on the 16th in the UFC
• #19 Shamil Gamzatov fights #48 Michal Oleksiejczuk on the 30th, also in the UFC
• #24 Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov takes on #39 Karl Albrektsson in Bellator on the 16th

And we've already seen one results, as #62 Thiago Santos defeated #21 Johnny Walker by unanimous decision on October 2nd. Santos got his first win since February of 2019, and that dry spell coupled with three losses sent him to the nether zone in our ratings, but he'll be coming back up, probably just shy of the top 25 however. Santos overcome several injuries suffered during his loss to Jon Jones but looked much better against Walker than he did in losses to Teixeira and Rakic.

Ramifications

We've covered the belt situation: Blachowicz needs to win, Nemkov needs Blachowicz to lose, and Teixeira needs to win and have Nemkov to lose.

What's the best-case for Ryan Bader? He's too far behind at #4 to gain much ground with a win, so he'll only make a major advance if he wins the full tournament. If he beats Anderson and then Nemkov, he would be the interim title holder provided Glover Teixeira beats Blachowicz. Here's a look at the Bellator fighters' best possible ratings.

1) After the next round of fights, assuming a win:

• Nemkov 52.73
• Anglickas 40.88
• Bader 36.29
• Anderson 32.07

2) After the Grand Prix final, depending on their opponent in the final:

• Nemkov 58.64 / 57.40
• Bader 52.03 / 46.40
• Anderson 49.18 / 43.17
• Anglickas 48.27 / 46.75

Compare this to the values for Blachowicz or Teixeira after winning their fight:

• Blachowicz 65.56
• Glover 51.76

So you see, if Nemkov wins the Grand Prix he would overtake Teixeira regardless of opponent, and Bader would hold the interim belt over Teixeira if he beats Anderson and then Nemkov (but not if he faces Anglickas).

In all other cases, or if Blachowicz successfully defends his title, 2nd best (really, 3rd) is the best a Bellator fighter can do. 

When will Jones relinquish the top spot?

A long time, sadly. That's what happens when you dominate and go undefeated—you build up a huge point advantage. Jones would either have to lose or finally actually fight in another division to disappear from the top spot in the next year. That's right A YEAR before his points decay enough to fall to #2.

If Jan beats Glover and doesn't fight again, he wouldn't take over the #1 spot until the September 1st, 2022 ratings. Nemkov would have to wait until March of 2023. Bader and Glover's best shots wouldn't get them to #1 until August of 2023. Of course Nemkov, Bader, and Glover would have to fight before then or be considered inactive themselves.

And since Bones won't be fighting anywhere in the near future, it looks like we'll be discussing the Light Heavyweight interim belt well into next year, if not longer.