It was a night of big finishes at UFC 239 last weekend in Las Vegas (sample), so not surprisingly, it will also be a day of big movement. At least when it comes to the (cough) “official” UFC rankings, recently updated in the wake of the “Jones vs. Santos” pay-per-view (PPV) on July 6.
Welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal continued his march toward the 170-pound strap with a record-setting knockout over Ben Askren (highlights). Similarly, women’s “champ-champ” moved into the Top 5 at pound-for-pound by planishing Holly Holm (video).
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, T = tie, *NR = Not previously ranked).
POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Daniel Cormier
2 Jon Jones
3 Khabib Nurmagomedov
4 Henry Cejudo
5 Amanda Nunes +1
6 Max Holloway -1
7 Kamaru Usman
8 Dustin Poirier
9 Conor McGregor
10 Robert Whittaker
11 Stipe Miocic
12 Tony Ferguson
13 Valentina Shevchenko
14 Tyron Woodley
15 Jessica Andrade
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Henry Cejudo
1 Joseph Benavidez
2 Jussier Formiga
3 Alexandre Pantoja
4 Deiveson Figueiredo
5 Tim Elliott
6 Rogerio Bontorin
7 Ryan Benoit
8 Jordan Espinosa
9 Kai Kara France
10 Alex Perez
11 Raulian Paiva
12 Matt Schnell
13 VACANT
14 VACANT
15 VACANT
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Henry Cejudo
1 Marlon Moraes
2 Aljamain Sterling
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 Petr Yan
5 Pedro Munhoz
6 Dominick Cruz
7 Cody Garbrandt
8 Jimmie Rivera
9 Corey Sandhagen
10 Cody Stamann +1
11 Rob Font +1
12 John Dodson +1
13 Song Yadong *NR
14 Thomas Almeida +1
15 Ricky Simon *NR
(Note: John Lineker removed from bantamweight following UFC release)
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Max Holloway
1 Alexander Volkanovski
2 Brian Ortega
3 Jose Aldo
4 Frankie Edgar
5 Zabit Magomedsharipov
6 Chan Sung Jung
7 Yair Rodriguez +1
8 Jeremy Stephens -1
9 Renato Moicano +1
10 Josh Emmett -1
11 Calvin Kattar
12 Mirsad Bektic
13 Arnold Allen *NR
14 Shane Burgos
15 Ricardo Lamas -2
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Khabib Nurmagomedov
1 Dustin Poirier (Interim Champion)
2 Tony Ferguson
3 Conor McGregor
4 Donald Cerrone
5 Justin Gaethje
6 Al Iaquinta
7 Edson Barboza
8 Kevin Lee
9 Anthony Pettis
10 Paul Felder
11 Charles Oliveira
12 Gregor Gillespie
13 Alexander Hernandez
14 Islam Makhachev
15 James Vick
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Kamaru Usman
1 Tyron Woodley
2 Colby Covington
3 Jorge Masvidal +1
4 Rafael Dos Anjos -1
5 Darren Till +1
6 Stephen Thompson +1
7 Anthony Pettis +1
8 Santiago Ponzinibbio +1
9 Ben Askren -4
10 Robbie Lawler
11 (T) Leon Edwards
11 (T) Demian Maia +1
13 Neil Magny
14 Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
15 Vincente Luque
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Robert Whittaker
1 Israel Adesanya (Interim Champion)
2 Yoel Romero
3 Kelvin Gastelum
4 Jack Hermansson
5 Ronaldo Souza
6 Chris Weidman
7 Paulo Costa
8 Derek Brunson
9 Jared Cannonier
10 Ian Heinisch
11 Brad Tavares
12 Uriah Hall
13 Antonio Carlos Junior
14 David Branch
15 Anderson Silva
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Jon Jones
1 Daniel Cormier
2 Thiago Santos
3 Anthony Smith
4 Dominick Reyes
5 Jan Blachowicz +1
6 Alexander Gustafsson -1
7 Volkan Oezdemir
8 Corey Anderson
9 Ilir Latifi
10 Glover Teixeira
11 Aleksandar Rakic
12 Johnny Walker
13 Mauricio Rua
14 Nikita Krylov
15 Misha Cirkunov
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Stipe Miocic
2 Francis Ngannou
3 Junior Dos Santos
4 Curtis Blaydes
5 Derrick Lewis
6 Alexander Volkov
7 Alistair Overeem
8 Cain Velasquez
9 Aleksei Oleinik
10 Shamil Abdurakhimov
11 Blagoy Ivanov
12 Tai Tuivasa
13 Marcin Tybura
14 Walt Harris
15 Augusto Sakai
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Jessica Andrade
1 Rose Namajunas
2 Tatiana Suarez
3 Nina Ansaroff
4 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
5 Claudia Gadelha
6 Weili Zhang
7 Michelle Waterson
8 Tecia Torres
9 Carla Esparza
10 Alexa Grasso +1
11 Cynthia Calvillo -1
12 Felice Herrig
13 Karolina Kowalkiewicz
14 Cortney Casey +1
15 Yan Xiaonan *NR
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Valentina Shevchenko
1 Jessica Eye
2 Katlyn Chookagian
3 Liz Carmouche
4 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
5 Joanne Calderwood
6 Roxanne Modafferi -1
7 Andrea Lee
8 Alexis Davis
9 Jennifer Maia
10 Lauren Murphy
11 Montana De La Rosa
12 Mara Romero Borella
13 Maycee Barber
14 Paige VanZant
15 Poliana Botelho
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Amanda Nunes
1 Germaine de Randamie
2 Ketlen Vieira +1
3 Holly Holm -1
4 Aspen Ladd
5 Raquel Pennington
6 Cat Zingano
7 Yana Kunitskaya
8 Marion Reneau
9 Irene Aldana
10 Sara McMann
11 Macy Chiasson
12 Lina Lansberg
13 Tonya Evinger
14 Sijara Eubanks
15 Bethe Correia
There you have it.
You can expect these standings to change around this time next week, particularly in the women’s bantamweight division, after the UFC Fight Night 155: “De Randamie vs. Ladd” event this Sat. night (July 13, 2019) on ESPN+ from inside Golden1 Center in Sacramento, Calif. (more on that fight card here).
For even more upcoming UFC events click here.