The pound-for-pound rankings for April are out, and it looks like Uncrowned snubbed Alexander Volkanovski after an incredibly strong performance against Diego Lopes at UFC 314.
Alexander Volkanovski’s Gritty Return Falls Just Short of P4P Resurrection — For Now
According to Chuck Mindenhall, the 36-year-old Aussie needs to show more before they are willing to put him in the top 10.
His performance in Los Angeles was vintage Volkanovski—smart, pressure-based striking, cage generalship, and unwavering discipline. Lopes had momentum, youth, and hype. Volk had history. And for 25 minutes, that was more than enough.
But Is It Enough to Crack the P4P Elite?
Here’s where it gets murky. The Uncrowned MMA panel—featuring respected voices like Ben Fowlkes, Shaheen Al-Shatti, and Petesy Carroll—wasn’t quite ready to restore Volk to the pound-for-pound top 10. Not yet.
The logic? Recency bias, timing, and stiff competition. The men’s pound-for-pound list is absolutely stacked with active, dangerous champions: Makhachev, Topuria, Dvalishvili, Pantoja, du Plessis. The list includes interim kings like Tom Aspinall, and even recently dethroned stars like Alex Pereira.
Volkanovski, despite his triumph, is still emerging from the shadow of his own back-to-back losses, which included a devastating knockout against Islam Makhachev at lightweight. Panelists want to see if the victory over Lopes was a one-off or the start of another dominant run.
That decision is egregious, Volk went up a weightclass to fight Makhachev and except for the knockout he was incredibly competitive. The guy is a warrior and the fact that they snubbed him is egregious.
If anything, Pereira should drop off the list after his lackluster performance because he had the sniffles.
On the Women’s Side: A New Name Joins the Elite
In contrast, Virna Jandiroba has risen. After soundly defeating Yan Xiaonan in Miami, she debuts on the women’s pound-for-pound list. Jandiroba, a grappling ace with improving striking, is now not just in line for a strawweight title shot—she’s made the leap into rarified company. She’s not the division’s most marketable name, but she’s among the most feared.
