The UFC held their third pay-per-view (PPV) event of the year with last weekend’s (Sat., March 3, 2018) UFC 222 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, and several pivotal rankings changes resulted.
The most notable shift undoubtedly went to surging featherweight contender Brian Ortega, who overtook the No. 1 spot at 145 pounds for his scintillating knockout of UFC great Frankie Edgar.
Previously ranked at No. 3 following his submission of Cub Swanson, Ortega pushed longtime former champion Jose Aldo out of the top spot, dropping him to No. 2 and Edgar to No. 3. The previously No. 3-ranked ‘T-City’ filled in for injured champion Max Holloway against Edgar at UFC 222, and will now move on to a title bout with “Blessed” according to UFC president Dana White.
In other rankings movement, former heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski rose two spots after a surprisingly wrestling-focused win over Stefan Struve on the main card. Struve fell two spots to No. 12. Debuting lightweight Alexander Hernandez stormed on to the Top 15 with his explosive first-round knockout over previous No. 12 Beneil Dariush, debuting at No. 13 while allowing Anthony Pettis to rise to 12 and dropping Dariush to 15.
John Dodson rose up a spot to No. 7 at bantamweight after a close win over Pedro Munhoz, and Bryan Caraway dropped two spots to No. 9 after a split decision loss to Cody Stamann, who debuted on the 135-pound rankings at No. 12. Finally, at women’s bantamweight, rising contender Ketlen Vieira moved up a spot to No. 4 after her decision win over No. 6 Cat Zingano while writers continue to rank Ronda Rousey, even though she fell two spots, despite her clearly being a WWE-employed pro wrestler.
Here are the fully updated rankings from the official UFC website:
POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Demetrious Johnson
2 Conor McGregor
3 Daniel Cormier
4 Stipe Miocic
5 Max Holloway
6 Georges St-Pierre
7 TJ Dillashaw
8 Tyron Woodley
9 Cris Cyborg
10 Tony Ferguson
11 Robert Whittaker
12 Khabib Nurmagomedov +2
12 Cody Garbrandt
14 Amanda Nunes -1
15 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
FLYWEIGHT
Champion : Demetrious Johnson
1 Joseph Benavidez
2 Henry Cejudo
3 Ray Borg
4 Jussier Formiga
5 Sergio Pettis
6 Wilson Reis
7 Brandon Moreno
8 Ben Nguyen
9 Dustin Ortiz
10 John Moraga
11 Matheus Nicolau
12 Tim Elliott
13 Alexandre Pantoja
14 Deiveson Figueiredo
15 Magomed Bibulatov
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion : TJ Dillashaw
1 Cody Garbrandt
2 Dominick Cruz
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 Jimmie Rivera
5 Marlon Moraes
6 John Lineker
7 John Dodson +1
8 Aljamain Sterling +1
9 Bryan Caraway -2
10 Pedro Munhoz
11 Rob Font
12 Cody Stamann *NR
13 Thomas Almeida -1
14 Brett Johns -1
15 Eddie Wineland -1
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion : Max Holloway
1 Brian Ortega +2
2 Jose Aldo -1
3 Frankie Edgar -1
4 Cub Swanson
5 Jeremy Stephens
6 Josh Emmett
7 Ricardo Lamas
8 Chan Sung Jung
9 Darren Elkins
10 Yair Rodriguez
11 Renato Moicano
12 Mirsad Bektic
13 Calvin Kattar +1
14 Dooho Choi -1
15 Myles Jury
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion : Conor McGregor
1 Tony Ferguson (Interim Champion)
2 Khabib Nurmagomedov
3 Eddie Alvarez
4 Edson Barboza
5 Dustin Poirier
6 Justin Gaethje
7 Kevin Lee
8 Nate Diaz
9 Michael Chiesa
10 Al Iaquinta
11 James Vick
12 Anthony Pettis +1
13 Alexander Hernandez *NR
14 Evan Dunham
15 Beneil Dariush -3
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion : Tyron Woodley
1 Stephen Thompson
2 Rafael Dos Anjos
3 Colby Covington
4 Robbie Lawler
5 Demian Maia
6 Jorge Masvidal
7 Darren Till
8 Kamaru Usman
9 Neil Magny
10 Santiago Ponzinibbio
11 Donald Cerrone
12 Carlos Condit
13 Gunnar Nelson
14 Dong Hyun Kim
15 Leon Edwards
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion : Robert Whittaker
1 Yoel Romero
2 Jacare Souza
3 Luke Rockhold
4 Chris Weidman
5 Kelvin Gastelum
6 Michael Bisping
7 Derek Brunson
8 David Branch
9 Uriah Hall
10 Vitor Belfort
11 Thiago Santos
12 Lyoto Machida
13 Krzysztof Jotko
14 Paulo Costa
15 Brad Tavares
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion : Daniel Cormier
1 Alexander Gustafsson
2 Volkan Oezdemir
3 Glover Teixeira
4 Jimi Manuwa
5 Ilir Latifi
6 Ovince Saint Preux
7 Mauricio Rua
8 Misha Cirkunov
9 Corey Anderson
10 Patrick Cummins
11 Jan Blachowicz
12 Tyson Pedro
13 Gadzhimurad Antigulov
14 Gian Villante
15 Jordan Johnson *NR
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion : Stipe Miocic
1 Francis Ngannou
2 Alistair Overeem
3 Fabricio Werdum
4 Cain Velasquez
5 Curtis Blaydes
6 Derrick Lewis
6 Mark Hunt
8 Alexander Volkov
9 Marcin Tybura
10 Andrei Arlovski +2
11 Aleksei Oleinik
12 Stefan Struve -2
13 Junior Albini -1
14 Tai Tuivasa -1
15 Shamil Abdurakhimov *NR
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion : Rose Namajunas
1 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
2 Jessica Andrade
3 Claudia Gadelha
4 Karolina Kowalkiewicz
5 Tecia Torres
6 Carla Esparza
7 Michelle Waterson
8 Felice Herrig
9 Cynthia Calvillo
10 Alexa Grasso
11 Cortney Casey +1
12 Randa Markos -1
13 Joanne Calderwood
14 Tatiana Suarez
15 Nina Ansaroff
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion : Nicco Montano
1 Valentina Shevchenko
2 Sijara Eubanks
3 Lauren Murphy
4 Alexis Davis
5 Roxanne Modafferi
6 Barb Honchak
7 Liz Carmouche
8 Katlyn Chookagian
9 Jessica-Rose Clark
10 Jessica Eye
11 Montana De La Rosa
12 Rachael Ostovich
13 Mara Romero Borella
14 Paige VanZant
15 Shana Dobson
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion : Amanda Nunes
1 Holly Holm
2 Raquel Pennington
3 Julianna Pena
4 Ketlen Vieira +1
5 Germaine de Randamie -1
6 Cat Zingano
7 Marion Reneau
8 Sara McMann
9 Bethe Correia
10 Leslie Smith -1
11 Aspen Ladd +1
12 Lucie Pudilova +1
13 Ronda Rousey -2
14 Irene Aldana
15 Sarah Moras
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