Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
The flyweight division has been restored!
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently updated its official rankings, following the UFC Fight Night 155 mixed martial arts (MMA) event last weekend in Sacramento, Calif., and there were plenty of big moves across the board.
Urijah Faber debuted at No. 14 after returning from retirement and finishing the now-unranked Ricky Simon in the first round of their co-main event (highlights). In the “Sac-Town” headliner, Germaine de Randamie held on to her No. 1 spot by popping and dropping Aspen Ladd, who fell to No. 4 in defeat.
Elsewhere on the charts, Julianna Pena returned from maternity leave to outpoint fellow bantamweight Nicco Montano, securing her place at No. 4 in the process. In addition, featherweight bruiser Josh Emmett jumped to No. 9 after laying waste to Mirsad Bektic.
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 Amanda Nunes
6 Max Holloway
7 Kamaru Usman
8 Robert Whittaker +2
9 Conor McGregor
10 Dustin Poirier -2
11 Stipe Miocic
12 Tony Ferguson
13 Valentina Shevchenko
14 Tyron Woodley
15 Jessica Andrade
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Henry Cejudo
1 Joseph Benavidez
2 Jussier Formiga
3 Alexandre Pantoja
4 Deiveson Figueiredo
5 Tim Elliott
6 Sergio Pettis *NR
7 Rogerio Bontorin -1
8 (T) Jordan Espinosa
8 (T) Ryan Benoit -1
10 Brandon Moreno *NR
11 Kai Kara France -2
12 Alex Perez -2
13 Raulian Paiva -2
14 Matt Schnell -2
15 Mark de la Rosa *NR
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Henry Cejudo
1 Marlon Moraes
2 Aljamain Sterling
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 Petr Yan
5 Pedro Munhoz
6 Dominick Cruz
7 Cody Garbrandt
8 Jimmie Rivera
9 Corey Sandhagen
10 Cody Stamann
11 Rob Font
12 John Dodson
13 Song Yadong
14 Urijah Faber *NR
15 Thomas Almeida -1
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Max Holloway
1 Alexander Volkanovski
2 Brian Ortega
3 Jose Aldo
4 Frankie Edgar
5 Zabit Magomedsharipov
6 Chan Sung Jung
7 Yair Rodriguez
8 Jeremy Stephens
9 Josh Emmett +1
10 Renato Moicano -1
11 Calvin Kattar
12 Arnold Allen +1
13 Shane Burgos +1
14 Ryan Hall *NR
15 Mirsad Bektic -3
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Khabib Nurmagomedov
1 Dustin Poirier (Interim Champion)
2 Tony Ferguson
3 Conor McGregor
4 Donald Cerrone
5 Justin Gaethje
6 Al Iaquinta
7 Edson Barboza
8 Kevin Lee
9 Anthony Pettis
10 Paul Felder
11 Charles Oliveira
12 Gregor Gillespie
13 Alexander Hernandez
14 Islam Makhachev
15 James Vick
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Kamaru Usman
1 Tyron Woodley
2 Colby Covington
3 Jorge Masvidal
4 Rafael Dos Anjos
5 Darren Till
6 Stephen Thompson
7 Anthony Pettis
8 Santiago Ponzinibbio
9 Ben Askren
10 Robbie Lawler
11 Demian Maia
12 Leon Edwards -1
13 Neil Magny
14 Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
15 Vincente Luque
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Robert Whittaker
1 Israel Adesanya (Interim Champion)
2 Yoel Romero
3 Kelvin Gastelum
4 Jack Hermansson
5 Ronaldo Souza
6 Chris Weidman
7 Paulo Costa
8 Derek Brunson
9 Jared Cannonier
10 Ian Heinisch
11 Uriah Hall +1
12 Brad Tavares -1
13 Antonio Carlos Junior
14 David Branch
15 Anderson Silva
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Jon Jones
1 Daniel Cormier
2 Thiago Santos
3 Anthony Smith
4 Dominick Reyes
5 (T) Jan Blachowicz
5 (T) Alexander Gustafsson +1
7 Volkan Oezdemir
8 Corey Anderson
9 Ilir Latifi
10 Glover Teixeira
11 Aleksandar Rakic
12 Johnny Walker
13 Mauricio Rua
14 Nikita Krylov
15 Misha Cirkunov
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Stipe Miocic
2 Francis Ngannou
3 Junior Dos Santos
4 Curtis Blaydes
5 Derrick Lewis
6 Alexander Volkov
7 Alistair Overeem
8 Cain Velasquez
9 Aleksei Oleinik
10 Shamil Abdurakhimov
11 Blagoy Ivanov
12 Tai Tuivasa
13 Marcin Tybura
14 Walt Harris
15 Augusto Sakai
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Jessica Andrade
1 Rose Namajunas
2 Tatiana Suarez
3 Nina Ansaroff
4 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
5 Claudia Gadelha
6 Weili Zhang
7 Michelle Waterson
8 Tecia Torres
9 Carla Esparza
10 Alexa Grasso
11 Cynthia Calvillo
12 Felice Herrig
13 Karolina Kowalkiewicz
14 Cortney Casey
15 Yan Xiaonan
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Valentina Shevchenko
1 Jessica Eye
2 Katlyn Chookagian
3 Liz Carmouche
4 Joanne Calderwood +1
5 Roxanne Modafferi +1
6 Jennifer Maia +3
7 Andrea Lee
8 Alexis Davis
9 Lauren Murphy +1
10 Mara Romero Borella +2
11 Montana De La Rosa
12 Maycee Barber +1
13 Paige VanZant +1
14 Poliana Botelho +1
15 Antonina Shevchenko *NR
Note: Strawweight contender Joanna Jedrzejczyk removed from flyweight rankings.
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Amanda Nunes
1 Germaine de Randamie
2 Ketlen Vieira
3 Holly Holm
4 Julianna Pena *NR
5 Aspen Ladd -1
6 Raquel Pennington -1
7 Cat Zingano -1
8 Yana Kunitskaya -1
9 Marion Reneau -1
10 Irene Aldana -1
11 Sara McMann -1
12 Macy Chiasson -1
13 Lina Lansberg -1
14 Sijara Eubanks
15 Viviane Araujo *NR
There you have it.
You can expect these standings to change around this time next week, particularly in the welterweight division, after the UFC on ESPN 4: “Dos Anjos vs. Edwards” event this Sat. night (July 20, 2019) from inside AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas (more on that fight card here).
For even more upcoming UFC events click here.