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Bellator MMA

With a hard-fought victory over Denise Kielholtz in the main event of Bellator 262, Juliana Velasquez retained the Bellator women's flyweight championship. Velasquez also continued her stint on top of the Bellator MMA Fighter Rankings at 125 pounds as well as the No. 2 spot in the women's pound-for-pound rankings.

Despite the loss, Kielholtz's spirited effort on the losing side of a split decision kept her at the No. 3 spot in the division and also moved her up one spot to No. 6 in the women's pound-for-pound rankings. A rematch could be in order for the women, or Velasquez could be matched up with either former champion Ilima-Lei Macfarlane or Liz Carmouche.

Below are the top-10 pound-for-pound rankings for both the men and women. The full top-10 rankings for each division within the promotion can be found here. The rankings are voted on by 17 members of the media.

Editor's note: CBS Sports insider Brian Campbell is a member of the 17-person voting panel. Bellator and CBS Sports are both owned by ViacomCBS.

Bellator Rankings (July 20)

Men's pound-for-pound

Fighter Record

1. Patricio Pitbull

32-4

2. Vadim Nemkov

12-2

3. Gegard Mousasi

47-7-2

4. Ryan Bader

27-6

5. Yaroslav Amosov

26-0

6. AJ McKee

17-0

7. Sergio Pettis

21-5

8. Douglas Lima

32-9

9. Corey Anderson

15-5

10. Juan Archuleta

25-3

Women's pound-for-pound

Fighter Record

1. Cris Cyborg

23-2

2. Juliana Velasquez

11-0

3. Ilima-Lei Macfarlane

11-1

4. Julia Budd

15-3

5. Liz Carmouche

15-7

6. Denise Kielholtz

13-8 6-3

7. Arlene Blencowe

14-8

8. Cat Zingano

12-4

9. Kana Watanabe

10-0-1

10. Leslie Smith

12-8-1

Other notable results

  • Heavyweight: Tyrell Fortune defeated Matt Mitrione by TKO in less than two minutes. With the win, Fortune moved up to the No. 4 spot in the division.
  • Women's featherweight: Arlene Blencowe remained firmly in the No. 2 spot in the division with her win over Dayana Silva.