Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Sorry, no Top 15 for Mike Perry.
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier has taken over the No. 2 spot in the official 155-pound rankings, thanks to his unanimous decision victory — and “Fight of the Night” performance — against Dan Hooker in the UFC on ESPN 12 main event last weekend in Las Vegas.
That drops Tony Ferguson down one spot to No. 3.
Poirier also cracked the Top 10 on the pound-for-pound list and his position at No. 8 puts him two places ahead of Justin Gaethje. That makes things a bit messy in terms of the bigger picture, as “The Highlight” is ranked higher than “The Diamond” at 155 pounds. Not that anyone takes these rankings seriously but it’s more proof that MMA math never works.
Example: Dustin Poirier beat Justin Gaethje who beat Tony Ferguson who beat Danny Castillo who beat Dustin Poirier who beat Jim Miller who beat Danny Castillo who beat Ricardo Lamas who beat Cub Swanson who beat Dustin Poirier.
You could run yourself in circles all day with this crap.
Anyway, let’s get to the updated rankings, but first here’s a refresher on how everything works, 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. Dustin Poirier +2
10. Max Holloway -1
11. Justin Gaethje -1
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
13. Jordan Espinosa
14. Raulian Paiva
15. David Dvorak
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: VACANT
1. Marlon Moraes
2. Aljamain Sterling
3. Petr Yan
4. Cody Garbrandt
5. Cory Sandhagen -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. Zabit Magomedsharipov +1
3. Brian Ortega -1
4. Chan Sung Jung
5. Yair Rodriguez
6. Calvin Kattar
7. (T) Frankie Edgar
7. (T) Josh Emmett +1
9. Jeremy Stephens
10. Dan Ige
11. Jose Aldo +1
12. Arnold Allen -1
13. Ryan Hall
14. Shane Burgos
15. Sodiq Yosef -1
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV
1. Justin Gaethje
2. Dustin Poirier +1
3. Tony Ferguson -1
4. Conor McGregor
5. Dan Hooker
6. Charles Oliveira +1
7. Paul Felder -1
8. Diego Ferreira +2
9. Kevin Lee -1
10. Al Iaquinta -1
11. Islam Makhachev +2
12. Gregor Gillespie
13. Donald Cerrone -2
14. Drew Dober +1
15. Beneil Dariush -1
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: KAMARU USMAN
1. Gilbert Burns
2. Colby Covington
3. Jorge Masvidal
4. Leon Edwards
5. Tyron Woodley
6. Stephen Thompson
7. Demian Maia
8. Michael Chiesa
9. Rafael dos Anjos
10. Geoff Neal +1
11. Nate Diaz -1
12. Vicente Luque
13. Robbie Lawler
14. (T) Anthony Pettis
14. (T) Neil Magny +1
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. 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. Misha Cirkunov +1
12. Johnny Walker -1
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
8. Alexander Volkov
9. Augusto Sakai +1
10. Walt Harris -1
11. Aleksei Oleinik
12. Shamil Abdurakhimov
13. Sergei Pavlovich
14. Fabricio Werdum
15. Ciryl Gane
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. Cynthia Calvillo +1
14. Julianna Pena -1
15. Nina Ansaroff
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. Angela Hill +1
14. Amanda Ribas +1
15. Felice Herrig -2
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: VALENTINA SHEVCHENKO
1. Katlyn Chookagian
2. Cynthia Calvillo
3. Joanne Calderwood
4. Lauren Murphy
5. Jessica Eye -1
6. Jennifer Maia
7. Roxanne Modafferi
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. (T) Julianna Pena
4. (T) Raquel Pennington +1
6. Irene Aldana
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
There you have it.
You can expect these rankings to change in roughly two weeks, following the UFC 251: “Usman vs. Burns” pay-per-view (MMA) event, which takes place a week from Sat. night (July 11, 2020) from Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.
For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.