Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returned to network television last weekend with the UFC on FOX 29: “Poirier vs. Gaethje” mixed martial arts (MMA) extravaganza, which took place last Sat. night (April 14, 2018) inside Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
That means it’s time for a new set of “official” rankings.
UFC on FOX 29 was headlined by lightweight contender Dustin Poirier, who continued his ascension up the 155-pound ladder by melting Justin Gaethje (see it). That performance was good enough for a spot in the lightweight top five.
Elsewhere on the card, Carlos Condit returned to action in the welterweight co-headliner, only to be mangled and strangled by 170-pound “Cowboy” Alex Oliveira (replay), who makes his UFC rankings debut at No. 13.
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 Demetrious Johnson
2 Georges St-Pierre
3 Stipe Miocic +1
4 Conor McGregor -1
5 Daniel Cormier
6 Max Holloway
7 TJ Dillashaw
8 Tyron Woodley +1
8 Khabib Nurmagomedov
10 Cris Cyborg
11 Tony Ferguson
12 Amanda Nunes
13 Robert Whittaker
14 Cody Garbrandt
15 Rose Namajunas
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Demetrious Johnson
1 Joseph Benavidez
2 Henry Cejudo
3 Ray Borg
4 Jussier Formiga
5 Sergio Pettis
6 John Moraga +4
7 Brandon Moreno
8 Wilson Reis -2
9 Ben Nguyen -1
10 Dustin Ortiz -1
11 Matheus Nicolau +1
12 Alexandre Pantoja -1
13 Tim Elliott
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
8 Aljamain Sterling
9 Bryan Caraway -1
10 Pedro Munhoz
10 Cody Stamann +1
12 Rob Font
13 Thomas Almeida
14 Brett Johns
15 Eddie Wineland
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Max Holloway
1 Brian Ortega
2 Jose Aldo
3 Frankie Edgar
4 Cub Swanson
5 Jeremy Stephens
6 Josh Emmett
7 Ricardo Lamas
8 Chan Sung Jung
9 Renato Moicano
10 Darren Elkins
11 Yair Rodriguez
12 Mirsad Bektic
13 Dooho Choi
14 Zabit Magomedsharipov
15 Myles Jury
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Khabib Nurmagomedov
1 Conor McGregor
2 Tony Ferguson
3 Eddie Alvarez
4 Dustin Poirier +1
5 Edson Barboza -1
6 Kevin Lee +1
7 Justin Gaethje -1
8 Nate Diaz
9 Michael Chiesa
10 Al Iaquinta
11 James Vick
12 Anthony Pettis
13 Alexander Hernandez
14 Paul Felder
15 Olivier Aubin-Mercier
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Tyron Woodley
1 Stephen Thompson
2 Rafael Dos Anjos
3 Colby Covington
4 Robbie Lawler
5 Demian Maia
6 Jorge Masvidal
7 Kamaru Usman
7 Darren Till
9 Neil Magny
10 Santiago Ponzinibbio
11 Donald Cerrone
12 Gunnar Nelson +1
13 Alex Oliveira *NR
14 Leon Edwards
15 Dong Hyun Kim
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 Vitor Belfort
10 Uriah Hall
10 Brad Tavares +5
12 Thiago Santos -1
13 Lyoto Machida -1
14 Paulo Costa
15 Antonio Carlos Junior *NR
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Alexander Gustafsson
2 Volkan Oezdemir
3 Glover Teixeira
4 Ilir Latifi
5 Jan Blachowicz
6 Jimi Manuwa
7 Mauricio Rua
8 Ovince Saint Preux
9 Misha Cirkunov
10 Corey Anderson
11 Patrick Cummins
12 Tyson Pedro
13 Gadzhimurad Antigulov
14 Gian Villante
15 Jordan Johnson
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Stipe Miocic
1 Francis Ngannou
2 Alistair Overeem
3 Alexander Volkov
4 Curtis Blaydes
5 Fabricio Werdum
6 Mark Hunt
6 Derrick Lewis
8 Marcin Tybura
9 Andrei Arlovski
10 Aleksei Oleinik
11 Stefan Struve
12 Tai Tuivasa
13 Shamil Abdurakhimov
14 Junior Albini
15 Justin Ledet
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 Alexa Grasso
10 Cortney Casey
11 Randa Markos
12 Tatiana Suarez
13 Joanne Calderwood
14 Nina Ansaroff
15 Angela Hill
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 Ashlee Evans-Smith
12 Mara Romero Borella
13 Paige VanZant
14 Montana De La Rosa
15 Rachael Ostovich
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Amanda Nunes
1 Holly Holm
2 Raquel Pennington
3 Julianna Pena
4 Ketlen Vieira
5 Germaine de Randamie
6 Cat Zingano
7 Marion Reneau
8 Sara McMann
9 Leslie Smith
10 Aspen Ladd
11 Bethe Correia
12 Irene Aldana
13 Lucie Pudilova
14 Sarah Moras
15 Lina Lansberg
There you have it.
You can expect these standings to change — particularly in the lightweight division — in roughly one week, as the promotion is set to uncork its UFC Fight Night 128: “Barboza vs. Lee” mixed martial arts (MMA) fight card on Sat., April 21, 2018 inside Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey (more on that fight card here).
For even more upcoming UFC events click here.