The UFC heavyweight rankings just got turned upside down.
We can thank new heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier for that, who not only jumbled up the 265-pound puzzle by knocking out Stipe Miocic, but also took over the top pound-for-pound spot, previously held by flyweight deity Demetrious Johnson.
In addition, Derrick Lewis climbed the heavyweight ladder to No. 2 after sucking less than Francis Ngannou in the UFC 226 pay-per-view (PPV) co-main event, held last Saturday night (July 7, 2018) inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Making his middleweight debut was The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 27 Finale headliner Israel Adesanya, who turned away Brad Tavares on Friday night (July 6), also in “Sin City.” Elsewhere on the charts, Anthony Pettis and Roxanne Modafferi both jumped four places following their respective wins at UFC 226 and TUF 27 Finale, respectively.
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 +3
2 Demetrious Johnson -1
3 Max Holloway +3
3 Conor McGregor
5 Georges St-Pierre
6 TJ Dillashaw +1
7 Stipe Miocic -5
8 Tyron Woodley
9 Khabib Nurmagomedov
10 Robert Whittaker +1
11 Cris Cyborg -1
12 Tony Ferguson
13 Amanda Nunes
14 Cody Garbrandt
15 Rose Namajunas
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Demetrious Johnson
1 Henry Cejudo
2 Sergio Pettis
3 Joseph Benavidez
4 Ray Borg
5 Jussier Formiga
6 John Moraga
7 Wilson Reis
8 Alexandre Pantoja
9 Brandon Moreno
10 Dustin Ortiz
11 Ben Nguyen
12 Matheus Nicolau
13 Tim Elliott
14 Deiveson Figueiredo
15 Ulka Sasaki
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: TJ Dillashaw
1 Cody Garbrandt
2 Dominick Cruz
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 Marlon Moraes
5 Jimmie Rivera
6 John Lineker
7 John Dodson
8 Aljamain Sterling
9 Cody Stamann
10 Pedro Munhoz
11 Rob Font
12 Thomas Almeida
13 Alejandro Perez
14 Brett Johns
15 Eddie Wineland
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Max Holloway
1 Brian Ortega
2 Jose Aldo
3 Frankie Edgar
4 Jeremy Stephens
5 Cub Swanson
6 Josh Emmett
7 Mirsad Bektic
8 Chan Sung Jung
9 Renato Moicano
10 Darren Elkins
11 Ricardo Lamas
12 Myles Jury
13 Zabit Magomedsharipov
14 Dooho Choi
15 Yair Rodriguez *NR
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Khabib Nurmagomedov
1 Tony Ferguson +1
2 Conor McGregor -1
3 Eddie Alvarez
4 Dustin Poirier
5 Kevin Lee
6 Edson Barboza
7 Justin Gaethje
8 Anthony Pettis +4
8 Nate Diaz
10 Al Iaquinta
11 James Vick
12 Michael Chiesa -3
13 Alexander Hernandez
14 Dan Hooker *NR
15 Francisco Trinaldo
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 Gunnar Nelson
14 Alex Oliveira
15 Dong Hyun Kim
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Robert Whittaker
1 Yoel Romero
2 Luke Rockhold
3 Chris Weidman
4 Kelvin Gastelum
5 Jacare Souza
6 Derek Brunson
7 David Branch
8 Paulo Costa +2
9 Israel Adesanya *NR
10 Brad Tavares -2
11 Antonio Carlos Junior
12 Uriah Hall -3
13 Thiago Santos -1
14 Elias Theodorou -1
15 Krzysztof Jotko -1
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Alexander Gustafsson
2 Volkan Oezdemir
3 Glover Teixeira
4 Ilir Latifi
5 Jan Blachowicz
6 Jimi Manuwa
7 Ovince Saint Preux
8 Mauricio Rua
9 Corey Anderson
10 Misha Cirkunov
11 Dominick Reyes
12 Patrick Cummins
13 Tyson Pedro
14 Gadzhimurad Antigulov
15 Sam Alvey
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Stipe Miocic -1
2 Derrick Lewis +3
3 Curtis Blaydes -1
4 Francis Ngannou -3
5 Alexander Volkov -2
6 Alistair Overeem -2
7 Mark Hunt -1
8 Junior Dos Santos -1
9 Marcin Tybura -1
10 Tai Tuivasa -1
11 Aleksei Oleinik -1
12 Andrei Arlovski -1
13 Stefan Struve -1
14 Shamil Abdurakhimov -1
15 Justin Willis -1
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 Tatiana Suarez
10 Cortney Casey
11 Alexa Grasso
12 Randa Markos
13 Nina Ansaroff
14 Joanne Calderwood
15 Angela Hill
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Nicco Montano
1 Valentina Shevchenko
2 Sijara Eubanks
3 Alexis Davis
4 Roxanne Modafferi +4
5 Lauren Murphy -1
6 Katlyn Chookagian -1
7 Liz Carmouche -1
8 Jessica Eye +1
9 Barb Honchak -2
10 Jessica-Rose Clark
11 Ashlee Evans-Smith
12 Andrea Lee
13 Mara Romero Borella
14 Paige VanZant
15 Montana De La Rosa *NR
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 Sara McMann
9 Aspen Ladd
10 Bethe Correia
11 Lina Lansberg
12 Irene Aldana
13 Lucie Pudilova
14 Sarah Moras
15 Gina Mazany
There you have it.
You can expect these standings to change — particularly in the heavyweight division — in roughly one week, as the promotion is set to uncork the UFC Fight Night 133: “Dos Santos vs. Ivanov” mixed martial arts (MMA) event on Sat., July 14, 2018 inside CenturyLink Arena in Boise, Idaho (more on that fight card here).
For even more upcoming UFC events click here.