Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has updated its official rankings in the wake of the UFC Fight Night 158: “Cowboy vs. Gaethje” mixed martial arts (MMA) event (full results here), which took place last Sat. night (Sept. 14, 2019) inside Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
While there was plenty to talk about in the wake of the ESPN+ broadcast, the biggest story of the weekend was Justin Gaethje’s destruction of veteran “Cowboy,” Donald Cerrone (see it again here). The finish could earn “The Highlight” a crack at Conor McGregor, assuming “Notorious” will agree to make his Octagon return for a non-title fight.
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. Jon Jones
2. Khabib Nurmagomedov
3. Henry Cejudo
4. Stipe Miocic
5. Amanda Nunes
6. Daniel Cormier
7. Max Holloway
8. Kamaru Usman
9. Tony Ferguson
10. Robert Whittaker
11. (T) Conor McGregor
11. (T) Valentina Shevchenko +1
13. Dustin Poirier
14. Israel Adesanya
15. Tyron Woodley
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: HENRY CEJUDO
1. Joseph Benavidez
2. Jussier Formiga
3. Deiveson Figueiredo
4. Alexandre Pantoja
5. Sergio Pettis
6. Tim Elliott
7. (T) Rogerio Bontorin
7. (T) Kai Kara France +1
9. Brandon Moreno
10. Matt Schnell
11. Jordan Espinosa
12. Ryan Benoit
13. Alex Perez
14. Mark De La Rosa
15. Raulian Paiva
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: HENRY CEJUDO
1. Marlon Moraes
2. Aljamain Sterling
3. Cory Sandhagen
4. Petr Yan
5. Raphael Assuncao -1
6. Pedro Munhoz
7. Dominick Cruz
8. Jimmie Rivera +1
9. Cody Garbrandt -1
10. Cody Stamann
11. Rob Font
12. John Dodson
13. Song Yadong
14. Urijah Faber
15. Thomas Almeida
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. Renato Moicano
10. Josh Emmett
11. Calvin Kattar
12. Shane Burgos +1
13. Mirsad Bektic +1
14. Ryan Hall +1
15. Arnold Allen -3
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV
1. Tony Ferguson
2. Dustin Poirier
3. Conor McGregor
4. Justin Gaethje +1
5. Donald Cerrone -1
6. Al Iaquinta
7. Paul Felder
8. Kevin Lee
9. Edson Barboza
10. Anthony Pettis
11. Gregor Gillespie
12. Charles Oliveira
13. Alexander Hernandez
14. Islam Makhachev
15. Dan Hooker
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: KAMARU USMAN
1. Tyron Woodley
2. Colby Covington
3. Jorge Masvidal
4. Leon Edwards
5. Rafael dos Anjos
6. Nate Diaz
7. Santiago Ponzinibbio +1
8. Darren Till -1
9. Stephen Thompson
10. Demian Maia
11. Ben Askren
12. Anthony Pettis
13. Robbie Lawler
14. Vicente Luque
15. Neil Magny
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: ROBERT WHITTAKER
1. Israel Adesanya (Interim champion)
2. Paulo Costa
3. Yoel Romero
4. Kelvin Gastelum
5. Jack Hermansson
6. Ronaldo Souza
7. Chris Weidman
8. Derek Brunson
9. Jared Cannonier
10. Ian Heinisch
11. Uriah Hall +1
12. Brad Tavares -1
13. Antonio Carlos Junior
14. Edmen Shahbazyan *NR
15. Omari Akhmedov -1
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: JON JONES
1. Daniel Cormier
2. Thiago Santos
3. Anthony Smith
4. Dominick Reyes
5. Jan Blachowicz
6. Alexander Gustafsson
7. Corey Anderson
8. Volkan Oezdemir -1
9. Glover Teixeira
10. (T) Johnny Walker +1
10. (T) Aleksandar Rakic
12. Ilir Latifi
13. Misha Cirkunov +2
14. Mauricio Rua
15. Nikita Krylov -2
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: STIPE MIOCIC
1. Daniel Cormier
2. Francis Ngannou
3. Curtis Blaydes
4. Junior dos Santos
5. Derrick Lewis
6. Alexander Volkov
7. Alistair Overeem
8. Cain Velasquez
9. Blagoy Ivanov
10. Shamil Abdurakhimov
10. Walt Harris +1
12. Augusto Sakai +3
13. Aleksei Oleinik -1
14. Tai Tuivasa -1
15. Maurice Greene *NR
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: WEILI ZHANG
1. Jessica Andrade
2. Rose Namajunas
3. Tatiana Suarez
4. Nina Ansaroff
5. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
6. Claudia Gadelha
7. Michelle Waterson
8. Carla Esparza
9. Alexa Grasso
10. Marina Rodriguez
11. Cynthia Calvillo
12. Felice Herrig
13. Tecia Torres
14. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
15. Cortney Casey
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: VALENTINA SHEVCHENKO
1. Katlyn Chookagian
2. Jessica Eye -1
3. Joanne Calderwood
4. Liz Carmouche
5. Jennifer Maia
6. Viviane Araujo
7. Andrea Lee
8. (T) Roxanne Modafferi
8. (T) Lauren Murphy +1
10. Alexis Davis
11. Montana De La Rosa
12. Maycee Barber
13. Mara Romero Borella +1
14. Antonina Shevchenko -1
15. Gillian Robertson
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: AMANDA NUNES
1. Germaine de Randamie
2. Ketlen Vieira
3. Holly Holm
4. Julianna Pena
5. Aspen Ladd
6. Raquel Pennington
7. Yana Kunitskaya
8. Marion Reneau
9. Sara McMann
10. Irene Aldana
11. Macy Chiasson
12. Lina Lansberg
13. Nicco Montano
14. Sijara Eubanks
15. Bethe Correia
There you have it.
You can expect these standings to change around this time next week, particularly in the featherweight division, after the UFC Fight Night 159 “Rodriguez vs. Stephens” event on ESPN+, taking place this Sat. (Sept. 21, 2019) inside Arena Ciudad de Mexico in Mexico City, Mexico.
For even more upcoming UFC events click here.