Paddy Pimblett has moved up two spots in the latest UFC lightweight rankings.

The Liverpudlian previously occupied the No.9 position at 155lbs; however, he has since been given a shiny new No.7 rating without lifting a glove.

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The re-shuffle happened after Saturday’s UFC 319 event, which didn’t feature a single top 15 lightweight.

Despite this, the UFC ranking committee determined that ‘Paddy The Baddy’ should leapfrog Beneil Dariush and Mateusz Gamrot, even though none of them have fought since the previous update.

Pimblett last competed in April when he dominated Michael Chandler, while Gamrot overcame L’udovit Klein in May, and Dariush beat Renato Moicano in June.

The latest rankings were met with backlash from fans, who speculated that Pimblett had only been given a boost to justify a shot at Ilia Topuria‘s lightweight belt.

One supporter wrote: “They are giving the title shot to Paddy.”

Another tweeted: “So he’s getting a title shot off beating Chandler… lol.”

A third posted: “Paddy going up two spots just to justify an undeserved #1 contender fight, no doubt.”

Somebody else added: “There is no way Paddy beats Gamrot, so it’s a BS biased ranking.”

Meanwhile, a fourth commented: “How is it possible to move up without a fight?”

It seems unlikely Pimblett will be next in line to face Topuria, as the highest-ranked active contender, Arman Tsarukyan, is available to fight.

The Armenian recently declared that he is ’70 per cent sure’ he will fight for the belt before anyone else.

However, that hasn’t stopped Pimblett from campaigning for the fight.

The pair have a bitter rivalry stemming back to a UFC London event in 2022 when they got into a bust-up at a hotel lobby.

Since then, neither man has seen eye to eye, and that emotion spilt out when they came face to face in the cage after Topuria claimed the lightweight belt in June.

Security was forced to intervene when Topuria shoved Pimblett following a heated verbal exchange.

It felt as if the UFC were lining up the fight there and then.

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Gamrot falls from No.7 to No.8 as a result of Pimblett’s boost[/caption]

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Dariush drops from No.8 to No.9[/caption]

However, UFC president Dana White later declared that the face-off went off-script.

“I don’t know who the hell let him in there; that should have never happened,” White remarked at the post-event press conference after Pimblett stormed the cage.

“I was already back in my room, or that would have never happened…

“His [Topuria] wife and kid were in the Octagon. It shouldn’t happen… It was a bad call by whoever let him in there.”