With the removal of a bunch of stars, the UFC rankings look very different today. Also, Yoel Romero is right back in the thick of things.
As mentioned on the weekend, the UFC rankings underweight a major upheaval with the removal of three stars – UFC interim light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, heavyweight Brock Lesnar, and middleweight Lyoto Machida. These weren’t the only changes though – another heavyweight and former champion has been removed as well, and there were some minor changes after last weekend’s event in Salt Lake City.
In addition to that, a middleweight coming off suspension also rocketed up the 185-pound charts.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at all the changes.
P4P – Jones was high on this list, so his removal has led to pretty much everyone moving up a spot. Conor McGregor is at 4, Jose Aldo is at 5, Eddie Alvarez is at six, and Joanna Jedrzejczyk is at 7. The rest of the top ten features Stipe Miocic, Tyron Woodley, and Michael Bisping. 11 through 15 is a list of former champions – Robbie Lawler, Rafael dos Anjos, Luke Rockhold, T.J. Dillashaw, and Frankie Edgar.
Heavyweight – Brock Lesnar wasn’t the only one removed from the list due to a USADA issue – his nemesis Frank Mir was as well. This let Mark Hunt get his eight spot back, with Josh Barnett, Derrick Lewis, and Roy Nelson covering nine through eleven. Ruslan Magomedov moved up three spots to 12. Stefan Struve is up one to 13. Francis Ngannou makes his rankings debut at 14, while Antonio Silva re-enters the list at 15.
Light Heavyweight – The interim title holder sits in the one spot traditionally, and with Jones getting pulled, that means everyone moved up. Anthony Johnson is the new number one contender, with Glover Teixeira, Alexander Gustafsson, Ryan Bader, and Ovince Saint Preux round out the top five. Six through ten is Shogun Rua, Rashad Evans, Jimi Manuwa, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, and Nikita Krylov. Corey Anderson, Ilir Latifi, and Patrick Cummins cover 11, 12, and 13. Misha Cirkunov makes his debut at 14. Gian Villante is the only guy on the whole list to maintain his position at 15.
205 sucks.
Middleweight – Machida’s out, but the rapid rise of Yoel Romero has balanced that out to a degree. The top contender recently returned from suspension, and jumped 11 spots from 15 to 4 on this week’s list. This caused Vitor Belfort, Anderson Silva, Robert Whittaker, and Gegard Mousasi to all drop one spot. Tim Kennedy also dropped from ten to a tie for twelve, allowing SLC winner Thales Leites to move up to 11. Title challenger Dan Henderson is the guy tied with Kennedy for 12. Thiago Santos re-entered the list at 15.
Welterweight – Things get quieter now. No changes.
Lightweight – No changes.
Featherweight -SLC headliner winner Yair Rodriguez moved up two spots to 11, dropping Darren Elkins to 12 and Doo Ho Choi to 13. Mirsad Bektic passed Tatsuya Kawajiri for the 14 spot.
Bantamweight – No changes.
Flyweight – No changes.
Women’s Bantamweight – No changes.
Women’s Strawweight – Randa Markos passed Jessica Aguilar for the 13 spot.