Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently tied a ribbon around its UFC on ESPN 11: “Blaydes vs. Volkov” mixed martial arts (MMA) event, which took place this past weekend (Sat., June 20, 2020) inside UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.
That means another update to the official rankings.
Curtis Blaydes hasn’t moved an inch despite his heavyweight victory over Alexander Volkov, who drops just one spot behind Alistair Overeem. The same can be said for featherweight power-puncher Josh Emmett, who holds steady at No. 8 after edging out Shane Burgos.
“The Hurricane,” however, dropped out of the Top 10.
Flyweight veteran Lauren Murphy was able to crack the Top 5 by turning away Roxanne Modafferi after three rounds of action. So too, was former title contender Raquel Pennington, who landed at No. 4 with her bantamweight decision over Marion Reneau.
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. Stipe Miocic
4. Israel Adesanya
5. Daniel Cormier
6. Kamaru Usman
7. Alexander Volkanovski
8. Conor McGregor
9. Max Holloway
10. Justin Gaethje
11. Dustin Poirier
12. Tony Ferguson
13. Robert Whittaker
14. Francis Ngannou
15. Dominick Reyes
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: VACANT
1. Deiveson Figueiredo
2. Joseph Benavidez
3. Brandon Moreno
4. Alexandre Pantoja
5. Alex Perez
6. Jussier Formiga
7. Askar Askarov
8. Kai Kara France
9. Rogerio Bontorin
10. Matt Schnell
11. Brandon Royval
12. Tim Elliott +1
13. Jordan Espinosa -1
14. Raulian Paiva
15. David Dvorak
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: VACANT
1. Marlon Moraes
2. Aljamain Sterling
3. Petr Yan
4. (T) Cory Sandhagen
4. (T) Cody Garbrandt +1
6. Jose Aldo
7. Pedro Munhoz
8. Raphael Assuncao
9. Jimmie Rivera
10. Cody Stamann
11. Rob Font
12. Dominick Cruz
13. John Dodson
14. Sean O’Malley
15. Song Yadong
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI
1. Max Holloway
2. Brian Ortega
3. Zabit Magomedsharipov
4. Chan Sung Jung
5. Yair Rodriguez
6. Calvin Kattar
7. Frankie Edgar
8. Josh Emmett
9. Jeremy Stephens
10. Dan Ige +1
11. Arnold Allen +1
12. Jose Aldo +1
13. Ryan Hall +1
14. (T) Sodiq Yosef +1
14. (T) Shane Burgos -4
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV
1. Justin Gaethje
2. Tony Ferguson
3. Dustin Poirier
4. Conor McGregor
5. Dan Hooker
6. Paul Felder
7. Charles Oliveira
8. Kevin Lee
9. Al Iaquinta
10. Diego Ferreira
11. Donald Cerrone +1
12. Gregor Gillespie -1
13. Islam Makhachev
14. Beneil Dariush
15. Drew Dober
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: KAMARU USMAN
1. Gilbert Burns
2. Colby Covington
3. Jorge Masvidal
4. Leon Edwards +1
5. Tyron Woodley -1
6. Stephen Thompson
7. Demian Maia
8. Michael Chiesa
9. Rafael dos Anjos
10. Nate Diaz
11. Geoff Neal
12. Vicente Luque +1
13. Robbie Lawler -1
14. Anthony Pettis
15. Neil Magny
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: ISRAEL ADESANYA
1. Robert Whittaker
2. Paulo Costa
3. Jared Cannonier
4. Yoel Romero
5. Darren Till -1
6. Jack Hermansson
7. Kelvin Gastelum
8. Derek Brunson
9. Edmen Shahbazyan
10. Uriah Hall
11. Omari Akhmedov
12. Brad Tavares
13. Ian Heinisch
14. Marvin Vettori
15. Antonio Carlos Junior
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: JON JONES
1. Dominick Reyes
2. Thiago Santos
3. Jan Blachowicz
4. Corey Anderson
5. Glover Teixeira
6. Anthony Smith
7. Volkan Oezdemir
8. Alexander Gustafsson
9. Aleksandar Rakic
10. Nikita Krylov
11. Johnny Walker
12. Misha Cirkunov
13. Ryan Spann
14. Magomed Ankalaev
15. Mauricio Rua
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: STIPE MIOCIC
1. Daniel Cormier
2. Francis Ngannou
3. Curtis Blaydes
4. Derrick Lewis
5. Junior dos Santos
6. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
7. Alistair Overeem +1
8. Alexander Volkov -1
9. Walt Harris
10. Augusto Sakai
11. Aleksei Oleinik
12. Shamil Abdurakhimov
13. Sergei Pavlovich
14. Fabricio Werdum
15. Ciryl Gane *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. Claudia Gadelha
13. Julianna Pena
14. Cynthia Calvillo +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. Yan Xiaonan
11. Tecia Torres
12. Alexa Grasso
13. Felice Herrig +2
14. Angela Hill -1
15. Amanda Ribas -1
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: VALENTINA SHEVCHENKO
1. Katlyn Chookagian
2. Cynthia Calvillo
3. Joanne Calderwood
4. (T) Jessica Eye
4. (T) Lauren Murphy +3
6. Jennifer Maia -1
7. Roxanne Modafferi -1
8. Viviane Araujo
9. Andrea Lee
10. Maycee Barber
11. Alexis Davis
12. Montana De La Rosa
13. Antonina Shevchenko
14. Ji Yeon Kim
15. Molly McCann
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: AMANDA NUNES
1. Germaine de Randamie
2. Holly Holm
3. Aspen Ladd
4. Julianna Pena
5. Raquel Pennington +1
6. Irene Aldana -1
7. Ketlen Vieira
8. Yana Kunitskaya
9. Sara McMann
10. Marion Reneau
11. Lina Lansberg
12. Macy Chiasson
13. Bethe Correia
14. Sijara Eubanks
15. Julia Avila *NR
There you have it.
You can expect these rankings to change in roughly one week, following the UFC on ESPN 12: “Poirier vs. Hooker” mixed martial arts (MMA) event, which takes place this Sat. night (June 27, 2020) from inside UFC APEX facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.
For much more on that upcoming event click here.