Former UFC 205-pound champion, Jon Jones, has returned from his drug-test suspension and is now eligible to be ranked at both light heavyweight and pound-for-pound, though he’s no longer atop either field after being out of action — and having his UFC 214 win overturned — in the wake of last July’s misstep.
Might just be a matter of time.
Those top slots (plus one more) are now occupied by longtime rival and current champ-champ, Daniel Cormier, who continued his winning ways at UFC 230 last weekend in New York, the same event that saw Ronaldo Souza and Israel Adesanya rise, while watching Chris Weidman and Derek Brunson fall.
Here’s how the rankings work, courtesy of UFC.com:
Rankings were generated by a voting panel made up of media members. The media members were asked to vote for who they feel are the top fighters in the UFC by weight-class and pound-for-pound. A fighter is only eligible to be voted on if they are in active status in the UFC. A fighter can appear in more than one weight division at a time. The champion and interim champion are considered to be in the top positions of their respective divisions and therefore are not eligible for voting by weight-class. However, the champions can be voted on for the pound-for-pound rankings.
Take a look at what the latest rankings field looks like courtesy of UFC.com. Note: (+/- = movement in rankings, *NR = Not previously ranked).
POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Daniel Cormier
2 Khabib Nurmagomedov
3 Jon Jones *NR
4 TJ Dillashaw -1
5 Max Holloway -1
6 Georges St-Pierre -1
7 Tyron Woodley -1
8 Conor McGregor
9 Stipe Miocic +1
10 Henry Cejudo -1
11 Cris Cyborg
12 Robert Whittaker
13 Tony Ferguson
14 Amanda Nunes
15 Rose Namajunas
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Henry Cejudo
1 Jussier Formiga
2 Sergio Pettis
3 Joseph Benavidez
4 Ray Borg
5 Deiveson Figueiredo
6 John Moraga
7 Wilson Reis
8 Dustin Ortiz
9 Alexandre Pantoja
10 Brandon Moreno
11 Ben Nguyen
12 Matheus Nicolau +1
13 Tim Elliott -1
14 Alex Perez +1
15 Ulka Sasaki -1
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: TJ Dillashaw
1 Cody Garbrandt
2 Dominick Cruz
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 Marlon Moraes
5 Jimmie Rivera
6 John Lineker
7 Aljamain Sterling
8 John Dodson
9 Pedro Munhoz
10 Cody Stamann
11 Rob Font
12 Alejandro Perez
13 Thomas Almeida
14 Douglas Silva de Andrade
15 Rani Yahya
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Max Holloway
1 Brian Ortega
2 Jose Aldo
3 Frankie Edgar
4 Renato Moicano
5 Chad Mendes
6 Jeremy Stephens
7 Cub Swanson
8 Mirsad Bektic
8 Josh Emmett
10 Chan Sung Jung
11 Alexander Volkanovski
12 Ricardo Lamas
13 Darren Elkins
14 Zabit Magomedsharipov
15 Yair Rodriguez
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Khabib Nurmagomedov
1 Tony Ferguson
2 Conor McGregor
3 Dustin Poirier
4 Kevin Lee
5 Edson Barboza
6 Justin Gaethje
7 Anthony Pettis
8 Al Iaquinta
9 Nate Diaz
10 Michael Chiesa
11 James Vick
12 Alexander Hernandez
13 Francisco Trinaldo
14 Dan Hooker
15 Paul Felder
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Tyron Woodley
1 Colby Covington (Interim Champion)
2 Darren Till
3 Rafael Dos Anjos
4 Stephen Thompson
5 Robbie Lawler
6 Kamaru Usman
7 Demian Maia
8 Neil Magny
9 Jorge Masvidal
10 Santiago Ponzinibbio
11 Leon Edwards
12 Donald Cerrone
13 Alex Oliveira
14 Gunnar Nelson
15 Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Robert Whittaker
1 Yoel Romero
2 Luke Rockhold
3 Jacare Souza +2
4 Kelvin Gastelum
5 Chris Weidman -2
6 Israel Adesanya +3
7 Paulo Costa +1
8 Derek Brunson -2
9 Jared Cannonier *NR
9 Brad Tavares +1
11 David Branch -4
12 Antonio Carlos Junior -1
13 Uriah Hall -1
14 Elias Theodorou -1
15 Thiago Santos -1
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Jon Jones *NR
2 Alexander Gustafsson -1
3 Anthony Smith -1
4 Jan Blachowicz -1
5 Ilir Latifi -1
6 Volkan Oezdemir -1
7 Jimi Manuwa -1
8 Dominick Reyes -1
9 Corey Anderson -1
10 Glover Teixeira -1
10 Ovince Saint Preux -1
12 Misha Cirkunov -1
13 Mauricio Rua -1
14 Tyson Pedro
15 Nikita Krylov -2
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Stipe Miocic
2 Derrick Lewis
3 Curtis Blaydes
4 Francis Ngannou
5 Alexander Volkov
6 Alistair Overeem
7 Junior Dos Santos
8 Aleksei Oleinik
9 Marcin Tybura
10 Mark Hunt
11 Tai Tuivasa
12 Shamil Abdurakhimov
13 Andrei Arlovski
14 Stefan Struve
15 Justin Willis
WOMEN'S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Rose Namajunas
1 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
2 Jessica Andrade
3 Claudia Gadelha
4 Tatiana Suarez
5 Karolina Kowalkiewicz
6 Tecia Torres
7 Michelle Waterson
8 Carla Esparza
9 Felice Herrig
10 Cortney Casey
11 Nina Ansaroff
12 Alexa Grasso
13 Randa Markos
14 Angela Hill
15 Mackenzie Dern
WOMEN'S FLYWEIGHT
1 Valentina Shevchenko
2 Nicco Montano
3 Katlyn Chookagian
4 Sijara Eubanks
5 Alexis Davis
6 Liz Carmouche
7 Roxanne Modafferi
7 Lauren Murphy +1
9 Jessica Eye
10 Jessica-Rose Clark
11 Ashlee Evans-Smith
12 Joanne Calderwood
13 Mara Romero Borella
14 Jennifer Maia
15 Andrea Lee
WOMEN'S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Amanda Nunes
1 Holly Holm
2 Ketlen Vieira
3 Julianna Pena
4 Raquel Pennington
5 Germaine de Randamie
6 Cat Zingano
7 Marion Reneau
8 Aspen Ladd
9 Sara McMann
10 Yana Kunitskaya
11 Irene Aldana
12 Bethe Correia
13 Tonya Evinger
14 Lucie Pudilova
15 Lina Lansberg
There you have it.
You can expect these standings to change -- particularly in the featherweight division -- in roughly one week, as the promotion is set to uncork the UFC Fight Night 139: “Korean Zombie vs. Rodriguez” mixed martial arts (MMA) event on Sat., Nov. 10, 2018 inside Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado (more on that fight card here).
For even more upcoming UFC events click here.
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