Nassourdine Imavov's jaw-dropping knockout victory over former champion Israel Adesanya last Saturday in the main event at UFC Saudi Arabia has resulted in somewhat of a reshuffle in the UFC's middleweight rankings.

"The Sniper" picked up the biggest win of his career when he landed a crushing overhand right in the opening seconds of the round before following up with heavy ground and pound to inflict a fourth defeat in five fights on "The Last Stylebender".

As a result of that shocking KO finish, Imavov (16-4 MMA, 8-2 UFC) has leapt three places in the latest rankings at 185 lbs. He now sits in second place just behind Sean Strickland, who faces current champion Dricus Du Plessis in this weekend's main event at UFC 312. Khamzat Chimaev remains locked in third place, while Adesanya drops to fourth, one place ahead of another former champion, Robert Whittaker.

The past year has seen quite a change at the top of the middleweight division after a long period of dominance while Adesanya held the title. New contenders such as Imavov, Chimaev and Caio Borralho have refreshed a division that was in danger of becoming stale.

At the bottom end of the top 15, Jack Hermansson and Shara Magomedov (who lost to Michael "Venom" Page in Saturday's co-main event) have exited the rankings to be replaced by Roman Kopylov (14) and Bo Nickal (15).

Shamil Gaziev (14-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) was the biggest mover in the heavyweight rankings following his win over Thomas Petersen at UFC Saudi Arabia. The Russian jumps three spots to eleventh, while Don'Tale Mayes and Jhonata Diniz enter the rankings at 14th and 15th respectively.

In the women's divisions, Jasmine Jasudavicius (13-3 MMA, 7-2 UFC) breaks into the flyweight top ten following her win over Mayra Bueno Silva on Saturday, leaping from 12th to 9th, as does Ailin Perez (12-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC), who moves from 11th to 7th in the bantamweight division after her victory over Karol Rosa at UFC 311.