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Cruz also claims the UFC rankings panel smelled like alcohol and cigarettes.
After no MMA events for more than a month, UFC had a lot of catching up to do last Sat. night (May 9, 2020) and the UFC 249 PPV fight card delivered in spades. Not only did the promotion crown Justin Gaethje its new interim lightweight champion, the Jacksonville offering welcomed the comebacks of former champions Dominick Cruz and Fabricio Werdum, who also returned to the official UFC rankings.
Just probably not in the slots they were hoping for.
“The Dominator” — ranked No. 1 in the world at the time of his injury departure in early 2017 — returned at No. 12, thanks to his co-main event loss to reigning bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo. As for “Vai Cavalo,” a former heavyweight titleholder, he settled for No. 15 after falling to Aleksei Oleinik (No. 10).
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).
MEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Jon Jones
2. Khabib Nurmagomedov
3. Henry Cejudo
4. Stipe Miocic
5. Israel Adesanya
6. Daniel Cormier
7. Kamaru Usman
8. Alexander Volkanovski
9. Conor McGregor
10. Max Holloway +1
11. Justin Gaethje *NR
12. Dustin Poirier
13. Tony Ferguson -3
14. Robert Whittaker
15. Tyron Woodley -2
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: VACANT
1. Deiveson Figueiredo
2. Joseph Benavidez
3. Jussier Formiga
4. Brandon Moreno +1
5. Alexandre Pantoja -1
6. Askar Askarov
7. Kai Kara France
8. Rogerio Bontorin
9. Alex Perez
10. Matt Schnell
11. Tim Elliott
12. Jordan Espinosa
13. Raulian Paiva
14. David Dvorak +1
15. Mark De La Rosa -1
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: HENRY CEJUDO
1. Marlon Moraes
2. Aljamain Sterling
3. Petr Yan
4. Cory Sandhagen
5. Raphael Assuncao
6. Jose Aldo
7. Pedro Munhoz
8. Jimmie Rivera
9. Cody Garbrandt
10. Rob Font
11. Cody Stamann
12. Dominick Cruz *NR
13. John Dodson -1
14. Song Yadong -1
15. Marlon Vera -1
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI
1. Max Holloway
2. Brian Ortega
3. Zabit Magomedsharipov
4. Chan Sung Jung
5. Yair Rodriguez
6. Frankie Edgar
7. Calvin Kattar +2
8. Jeremy Stephens -1
9. Josh Emmett -1
10. Shane Burgos
11. Jose Aldo
12. Arnold Allen
13. Ryan Hall +1
14. Sodiq Yosef -1
15. Dan Ige
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV
1. Justin Gaethje +3
2. Tony Ferguson -1
3. Dustin Poirier -1
4. Conor McGregor -1
5. Dan Hooker
6. Paul Felder +1
7. Charles Oliveira +1
8. Al Iaquinta +1
9. Kevin Lee +1
10. Diego Ferreira +2
11. Edson Barboza
12. Donald Cerrone -6
13. Islam Makhachev +1
14. Gregor Gillespie -1
15. Alexander Hernandez
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: KAMARU USMAN
1. Tyron Woodley
2. Colby Covington
3. Jorge Masvidal
4. Leon Edwards
5. Stephen Thompson
6. Gilbert Burns
7. Demian Maia
8. Michael Chiesa
9. Rafael dos Anjos
10. Nate Diaz
11. Geoff Neal +1
12. Robbie Lawler -1
13. Vicente Luque
14. Conor McGregor
15. Anthony Pettis
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: ISRAEL ADESANYA
1. Robert Whittaker
2. Paulo Costa
3. Jared Cannonier
4. Yoel Romero
5. Darren Till
6. Jack Hermansson
7. Kelvin Gastelum
8. Derek Brunson
9. Edmen Shahbazyan
10. Uriah Hall
11. Brad Tavares
12. Omari Akhmedov
13. Ian Heinisch
14. Antonio Carlos Junior
15. Anderson Silva
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: JON JONES
1. Dominick Reyes
2. Thiago Santos
3. Jan Blachowicz +1
4. Anthony Smith -1
5. Corey Anderson
6. Volkan Oezdemir
7. Alexander Gustafsson
8. Glover Teixeira
9. Aleksandar Rakic
10. Nikita Krylov
11. Johnny Walker
12. Misha Cirkunov
13. Magomed Ankalaev
14. Ryan Spann *NR
15. Mauricio Rua
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: STIPE MIOCIC
1. Daniel Cormier
2. Francis Ngannou
3. Curtis Blaydes
4. Junior dos Santos
5. Derrick Lewis
6. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
7. Alexander Volkov
8. Alistair Overeem
9. Walt Harris
10. Aleksei Oleinik +2
11. Shamil Abdurakhimov -1
12. Blagoy Ivanov -1
13. Augusto Sakai
14. Sergei Pavlovich
15. Fabricio Werdum *NR
WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Amanda Nunes
2. Weili Zhang
3. Valentina Shevchenko
4. Jessica Andrade
5. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
6. Rose Namajunas
7. Tatiana Suarez
8. Holly Holm
9. Germaine De Randamie
10. Aspen Ladd
11. Katlyn Chookagian
12. Jessica Eye
13. Julianna Pena
14. Claudia Gadelha +1
15. Nina Ansaroff -1
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: WEILI ZHANG
1. Jessica Andrade
2. Rose Namajunas
3. Tatiana Suarez
4. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
5. Nina Ansaroff
6. Claudia Gadelha
7. Carla Esparza
8. Michelle Waterson
9. Marina Rodriguez
10. Cynthia Calvillo
11. Yan Xiaonan
12. Tecia Torres
13. Felice Herrig
14. Alexa Grasso
15. Amanda Ribas
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: VALENTINA SHEVCHENKO
1. Jessica Eye
2. Katlyn Chookagian
3. Joanne Calderwood
4. Jennifer Maia
5. Roxanne Modafferi
6. Lauren Murphy
7. Viviane Araujo
8. Andrea Lee
9. Maycee Barber
10. Alexis Davis
11. Montana De La Rosa
12. Antonina Shevchenko
13. Ji Yeon Kim
14. Molly McCann
15. Poliana Botelho
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: AMANDA NUNES
1. Germaine de Randamie
2. Holly Holm
3. Aspen Ladd
4. Julianna Pena
5. Irene Aldana
6. Raquel Pennington
7. Ketlen Vieira
8. Yana Kunitskaya
9. Sara McMann
10. Marion Reneau
11. Lina Lansberg
12. Macy Chiasson
13. Bethe Correia
14. Nicco Montano
15. Sijara Eubanks
There you have it.
The UFC rankings will likely stay this way — despite Wednesday night’s event on ESPN+ — until after the weekend, as we still have UFC on ESPN 8 to get through on Saturday and the panel typically votes once per week.
For more UFC 249 results and fallout click here.