Two years and eight months after he last competed, longtime Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight contender, Nate Diaz, has finally been removed from the promotion’s “official” Top 15 rankings.
If you’re wondering WTF took so long, I assure you, you’re not alone.
Elsewhere on the charts, Alistair Overeem jumped up to No. 6, where he remains stuck in a tie with fellow heavyweight contender Alexander Volkov. “The Reem” is fresh off his destruction of Alexey Oleinik at UFC Saint Petersburg last weekend on ESPN+.
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 Max Holloway
6 Amanda Nunes
7 Kamaru Usman
8 Dustin Poirier
9 Conor McGregor
10 Robert Whittaker
11 Stipe Miocic
12 Tony Ferguson
13 Tyron Woodley
14 Rose Namajunas
15 Cris Cyborg
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Henry Cejudo
1 Jussier Formiga
2 Joseph Benavidez
3 Alexandre Pantoja
4 Deiveson Figueiredo
5 Wilson Reis
6 Tim Elliott
7 Rogerio Bontorin
8 Magomed Bibulatov
9 Ryan Benoit
10 Jordan Espinosa
11 Kai Kara France
12 Eric Shelton
13 Alex Perez
14 Raulian Paiva
15 Matt Schnell
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: VACANT
1 Marlon Moraes
2 Raphael Assuncao
3 Aljamain Sterling
4 Pedro Munhoz
5 Dominick Cruz
6 Cody Garbrandt
7 Jimmie Rivera
8 John Lineker
9 Petr Yan
10 Cody Stamann
11 Rob Font
12 John Dodson
13 Alejandro Perez
14 Thomas Almeida
15 Ricky Simon
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Max Holloway
1 Jose Aldo
2 Brian Ortega
3 Frankie Edgar
4 Alexander Volkanovski
5 Renato Moicano
6 Zabit Magomedsharipov
7 Jeremy Stephens
8 Josh Emmett
9 Mirsad Bektic
10 Cub Swanson
11 Ricardo Lamas
12 Yair Rodriguez
13 Chan Sung Jung
14 Darren Elkins
15 Calvin Kattar
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Khabib Nurmagomedov
1 Dustin Poirier (Interim Champion)
2 Tony Ferguson
3 Conor McGregor
4 Al Iaquinta
5 Justin Gaethje
6 Kevin Lee
7 Edson Barboza
8 Donald Cerrone -1
9 Anthony Pettis
10 Paul Felder
11 Gregor Gillespie
12 Alexander Hernandez -1
13 James Vick
14 Charles Oliveira
15 Islam Makhachev *NR
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Kamaru Usman
1 Tyron Woodley
2 Colby Covington
3 Rafael Dos Anjos
4 Jorge Masvidal
5 Ben Askren
6 Darren Till
7 Stephen Thompson
8 Anthony Pettis
9 Santiago Ponzinibbio
10 Robbie Lawler
11 Leon Edwards
12 Demian Maia
13 Neil Magny
14 Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
15 Vincente Luque
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Robert Whittaker
1 Israel Adesanya (Interim Champion)
2 Yoel Romero
3 Luke Rcokhold
4 Ronaldo Souza
5 Kelvin Gastelum
6 Chris Weidman
7 Paulo Costa
8 Derek Brunson
9 Jared Cannonier
10 Jack Hermansson
11 Brad Tavares
12 Antonio Carlos Junior
13 (T) Elias Theodorou +1
13 (T) Uriah Hall
15 Anderson Silva
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Jon Jones
1 Daniel Cormier
2 Alexander Gustafsson
3 Thiago Santos
4 Anthony Smith
5 Dominick Reyes
6 Jan Blachowicz
7 Volkan Oezdemir
8 Corey Anderson
9 Ilir Latifi
10 Jimi Manuwa
11 Glover Teixeira
12 Johnny Walker
13 Mauricio Rua
14 Misha Cirkunov
15 Nikita Krylov
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Stipe Miocic
2 Francis Ngannou
3 Junior Dos Santos
4 Curtis Blaydes
5 Derrick Lewis
6 (T) Alexander Volkov
6 (T) Alistair Overeem +1
8 Cain Velasquez
9 Aleksei Oleinik
10 Shamil Abdurakhimov
11 Justin Willis
12 Tai Tuivasa
13 Marcin Tybura -3
14 Blagoy Ivanov
15 Andrei Arlovski
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Rose Namajunas
1 Jessica Andrade
2 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
3 Tatiana Suarez
4 Nina Ansaroff
5 Claudia Gadelha
6 Weili Zhang
7 Michelle Waterson
8 Tecia Torres
9 Carla Esparza
10 Karolina Kowalkiewicz -1
11 Cynthia Calvillo
12 Felice Herrig
13 Alexa Grasso
14 Randa Markos
15 Cortney Casey
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Valentina Shevchenko
1 Jessica Eye
2 Katlyn Chookagian
3 Liz Carmouche
4 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
7 Roxanne Modafferi +2
5 Joanne Calderwood
7 Alexis Davis -1
8 (T) Lauren Murphy
8 (T) Jennifer Maia +1
10 Andrea Lee
11 Montana De La Rosa
12 Mara Romero Borella
13 Maycee Barber +1
14 Paige VanZant +1
15 Poliana Botelho
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Amanda Nunes
1 Germaine de Randamie
2 Holly Holm
3 Ketlen Vieira
4 Raquel Pennington
5 Cat Zingano
6 Aspen Ladd
7 Yana Kunitskaya
8 Marion Reneau
9 Sara McMann
10 Irene Aldana
11 Tonya Evinger
12 Bethe Correia
13 Lina Lansberg
14 Macy Chiasson
15 Talita Bernardo
There you have it.
You can expect these standings to change next week after the UFC on ESPN+ 8: “Jacare vs. Hermansson” event taking place this Sat. night (April 27, 2019) inside BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida (more on that fight card here).
For even more upcoming UFC events click here.