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Not much happened rankings-wise coming out of the last UFC event of 2019.
UFC Busan had a solid main top two fights, and not much else. But Chan Sung Jung’s huge stoppage win over Frankie Edgar didn’t exactly give him the rankings push he wanted. Yes, he’s up a couple of spots and firmly entrenched in the top five again. But he thought he should have been higher, and it’s tough to disagree with him.
In other news, welterweight slugger Santiago Ponzinibbio will start out 2020 outside of the welterweight rankings for the first time in ages, because the UFC arbitrarily decided to remove him. So…yeah. Weird.
Here’s a look at the final rankings of 2019.
P4P – McGregor is up a spot to 13. Tyron Woodley re-enters the rankings at 14.
Heavyweight – Three wins in four months got Ciryl Gane into the 15 spot for the first time.
Light Heavyweight – No changes.
Middleweight – No changes.
Welterweight – The Ponz is out due to “inactivity”. He had been in the seven spot. This let Stephen Thompson, Nate Diaz, Anthony Pettis, Robbie Lawler, and Geoff Neal move up a spot each two seven through 11. Vicente Luque is up two to 12. Neil Magny is up one to 14. Li Jingliang enters the rankings at 15.
Lightweight – McGregor drops from a tie for three to take over four on his own.
Featherweight – KZ and Edgar flipped the four and six spots. Jeremy Stephens is up one to nine, bumping Jose Aldo to ten. He should fall out of these rankings soon.
Bantamweight – Aldo is up one to eight, dropping Cody Garbrandt to nine. Marlon Vera and Casey Kenney flip-flopped the 14 and 15 spots.
Flyweight – Ryan Benoit fell two spots to 15 after a split decision loss to Heili Alateng in Busan. Mark De La Rosa and Raulian Pavia are up one each to 13 and 14.
Women’s Bantamweight – Irene Aldana drops from a tie for five to take over the six spot on her own.
Women’s Flyweight – No changes.
Women’s Strawweight – No changes.