Rankings Explainer: No-Gi Euros, AIGA, Plus Two New Divisions
Rankings Explainer: No-Gi Euros, AIGA, Plus Two New Divisions
Take a look at which rankings changed and why after a weekend full of no-gi grappling, plus the introduction of two new divisions!
After a big weekend of no-gi action, we wanted to give an explainer as to why we made some of the decisions we did in our Official FloGrappling No-Gi Rankings. This week was really notable for the introduction of two new weight divisions in the rankings, men's 125lbs and women's 105lbs.
Men's Flyweight & Women's Atomweight
Before this, those results had been folded into the rankings at the weight above but that didn't really make sense. Since they are their own distinct divisions, they deserve their own consideration. I would expect these rankings to be highly reactive to IBJJF results, moreso than some of our other divisions, because of the lack of super-fight results or action in other organizations.
The inaugural #1's are the 2023 IBJJF World No-Gi Champions, Everton Souza and Mayssa Bastos. We also backfilled the rankings at men's 135lbs and women's 115lbs to replace the grapplers who moved down and didn't deserve additional consideration at the higher weight.
Men's Light Heavyweight
PGF announced their division for their upcoming light-heavyweight season, and it's a good class. With Chris Wojcik and Ryan Aitken included, we are going to include them in our 205 rankings. Both are already ranked at 185lbs but their resumes at -88kg also deserve consideration at 205 - especially now that they are more actively campaigning there. Since Chris beat Ryan at ADCC Trials and finished higher at ADCC, we kept him above. Ryan does have the Marinho win but he has losses that make it hard for him to jump all the way to the top. He comes in at 11 but could rise fast if he strings together a few more meaningful wins.
Women's Flyweight
Taylor Hishaw-Ellis of B-Team beat Cindy Ung at Finishers over the weekend to win their championship belt, and that's likely the biggest win of Taylor's career. She's been on the radar but she didn't have the best ADCC season which kept her off until now, with a win over a proven grappler like Ung. With this new ranking I believe she becomes the first woman ranked in both grappling and wrestling by FloSports at the same time.
Women's Heavyweight
Aurelie Le Vern can't be stopped in Euros this year! She took the double gold in No-Gi Euros and with wins over multiple world-ranked competitors, she debuts here at sixth. Anabel Lopez also debuts here after winning heavyweight, beating Nia Blackman and Elizabeth Mitrovic before falling in the open class finals to Le Vern. With multiple top-ten wins, she debuts in the top-10 herself - eighth for now.
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