Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently tied a ribbon around its UFC 251 pay-per-view (PPV) event, which took place last Sat. night (July 11, 2020) on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi, featuring Kamaru Usman’s championship victory over welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal.
That cost “Gamebred” one spot in the 170-pound rankings.
In addition, Petr Yan broke into the promotion’s pound-for-pound list with his violent stoppage over Jose Aldo, while Rose Namajunas made up some ground in the 115-pound rankings by outlasting strawweight nemesis Jessica Andrade.
Here’s a refresher on 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. Kamaru Usman +1
6. Daniel Cormier -1
7. Alexander Volkanovski
8. Dustin Poirier +1
9. Max Holloway +1
10. Conor McGregor -2
11. Justin Gaethje -1
12. Tony Ferguson
13. Petr Yan *NR
14. Robert Whittaker -1
15. Francis Ngannou -1
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. Raulian Paiva +2
13. Tim Elliott -1
14. Jordan Espinosa -1
15. David Dvorak
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Petr Yan
1. Marlon Moraes
2. Aljamain Sterling
3. Cody Garbrandt +1
4. Cory Sandhagen +1
5. Pedro Munhoz +2
6. Jose Aldo
7. Raphael Assuncao +1
8. Jimmie Rivera +1
9. Cody Stamann +1
10. Rob Font +1
11. Dominick Cruz +1
12. John Dodson +1
13. Song Yadong +2
14. Sean O’Malley
15. Merab Dvalishvili *NR
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI
1. Max Holloway
2. Zabit Magomedsharipov
3. Brian Ortega
4. Chan Sung Jung
5. Yair Rodriguez
6. Calvin Kattar
7. (T) Frankie Edgar
7. (T) Josh Emmett
9. Jeremy Stephens
10. Dan Ige
11. Arnold Allen +1
12. Shane Burgos +2
13. Ryan Hall
14. Sodiq Yosef +1
15. Jose Aldo -4
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV
1. Justin Gaethje
2. Dustin Poirier
3. Tony Ferguson
4. Conor McGregor
5. Dan Hooker
6. Charles Oliveira
7. Paul Felder
8. Diego Ferreira
9. Kevin Lee
10. Al Iaquinta
11. Islam Makhachev
12. Gregor Gillespie
13. Donald Cerrone
14. Beneil Dariush +1
15. Drew Dober -1
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: KAMARU USMAN
1. Gilbert Burns
2. Colby Covington
3. Leon Edwards +1
4. Jorge Masvidal -1
5. Tyron Woodley
6. Stephen Thompson
7. Demian Maia
8. Michael Chiesa
9. Rafael dos Anjos
10. Geoff Neal
11. Nate Diaz
12. Vicente Luque
13. Robbie Lawler
14. Neil Magny
15. Anthony Pettis -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. Alexander Gustafsson +1
8. Jiri Prochazka *NR
9. Volkan Oezdemir -2
10. Aleksandar Rakic -1
11. Nikita Krylov -1
12. Misha Cirkunov -1
13. Johnny Walker -1
14. Ryan Spann -1
15. Magomed Ankalaev -1
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
10. Walt Harris
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. Rose Namajunas +2
5. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
6. Jessica Andrade -2
7. Tatiana Suarez
8. Holly Holm
9. Germaine De Randamie
10. Aspen Ladd
11. Katlyn Chookagian
12. Claudia Gadelha
13. Cynthia Calvillo
14. Julianna Pena
15. Nina Ansaroff
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: WEILI ZHANG
1. Rose Namajunas +1
2. Jessica Andrade -1
3. (T) Tatiana Suarez
3. (T) Joanna Jedrzejczyk +1
5. Nina Ansaroff
6. Claudia Gadelha
7. Carla Esparza
8. Michelle Waterson
9. Marina Rodriguez
10. Yan Xiaonan
11. Tecia Torres
12. Amanda Ribas +2
13. Alexa Grasso -1
14. Angela Hill -1
15. Felice Herrig
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: VALENTINA SHEVCHENKO
1. Katlyn Chookagian
2. Cynthia Calvillo
3. Joanne Calderwood
4. Lauren Murphy
5. Jessica Eye
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
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 around this time next week, following the upcoming UFC events on Weds. (Kattar vs. Ige on ESPN) and Sat. (Figuredo vs. Benavidez 2 on ESPN+), both on “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi.
For much more on those upcoming fight cards click here and here.