Jason Silva-USA TODAY Sports
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently updated its official rankings following the UFC Vegas 5 mixed martial arts (MMA) event, which took place last Sat. night (Aug. 1, 2020) inside the UFC APEX facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Streaking middleweight contender Derek Brunson took over the No. 7 spot — displacing Kelvin Gastelum in the process — by disposing of fellow 185-pound contender Edmen Shahbazyan. The once-beaten “Golden Boy” slipped one spot to No. 10.
In the UFC Vegas 5 co-main event, flyweight submission specialist Jennifer Maia jumped to No. 3 with her first-round finish over Joanne Calderwood, who fell two places to No. 5. In addition, Vicente Luque cracked the Top 10 at 170 pounds by turning away Randy Brown.
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
6. Daniel Cormier
7. Alexander Volkanovski
8. Max Holloway
9. Dustin Poirier
10. Justin Gaethje
11. Conor McGregor
12. Petr Yan
13. Deiveson Figueiredo
14. Robert Whittaker
15. Tony Ferguson
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Deiveson Figueiredo
1. Joseph Benavidez
2. Brandon Moreno
3. Askar Askarov
4. Alex Perez
5. Alexandre Pantoja
6. Jussier Formiga
7. Kai Kara France
8. Rogerio Bontorin
9. Matt Schnell
10. Brandon Royval
11. Tim Elliott
12. Raulian Paiva
13. Jordan Espinosa
14. David Dvorak
15. Amir Albazi
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Petr Yan
1. Marlon Moraes
2. Aljamain Sterling
3. Cody Garbrandt
4. Cory Sandhagen
5. Pedro Munhoz
6. Jose Aldo
7. Jimmie Rivera
8. Raphael Assuncao
9. Cody Stamann
10. Rob Font
11. Dominick Cruz
12. John Dodson
13. Song Yadong
14. Sean O’Malley
15. Merab Dvalishvili
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI
1. Max Holloway
2. Brian Ortega
3. Zabit Magomedsharipov
4. Chan Sung Jung
5. Yair Rodriguez
6. Calvin Kattar
7. Josh Emmett
8. Frankie Edgar
9. Jeremy Stephens
10. Arnold Allen
11. Sodiq Yosef
12. Dan Ige
13. Ryan Hall
14. Shane Burgos
15. Jose Aldo
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. Al Iaquinta
10. Kevin Lee
11. Islam Makhachev
12. Gregor Gillespie
13. Donald Cerrone
14. Beneil Dariush
15. Drew Dober
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: KAMARU USMAN
1. Gilbert Burns
2. Colby Covington
3. Leon Edwards
4. Jorge Masvidal
5. Tyron Woodley
6. Stephen Thompson
7. Demian Maia
8. Michael Chiesa
9. Rafael dos Anjos
10. Vicente Luque +1
11. Geoff Neal -1
12. Nate Diaz
13. Robbie Lawler
14. Neil Magny
15. Anthony Pettis
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: ISRAEL ADESANYA
1. Robert Whittaker
2. Paulo Costa
3. Jared Cannonier
4. Jack Hermansson
5. Yoel Romero
6. Darren Till
7. Derek Brunson +1
8. Kelvin Gastelum -1
9. Uriah Hall +1
10. Edmen Shahbazyan -1
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. Jiri Prochazka
8. Volkan Oezdemir
9. Aleksandar Rakic
10. Nikita Krylov
11. Misha Cirkunov
12. Johnny Walker
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
10. Aleksei Oleinik
11. Walt Harris -1
12. Shamil Abdurakhimov
13. Fabricio Werdum
14. Sergei Pavlovich
15. Ciryl Gane
WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Amanda Nunes
2. Weili Zhang
3. Valentina Shevchenko
4. Rose Namajunas
5. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
6. Jessica Andrade
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
2. Jessica Andrade
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. Amanda Ribas
13. Angela Hill
14. Alexa Grasso
15. Felice Herrig
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: VALENTINA SHEVCHENKO
1. Katlyn Chookagian
2. Cynthia Calvillo
3. Jennifer Maia +3
4. Lauren Murphy
5. (T) Joanne Calderwood -2
5. (T) Jessica Eye
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. Gillian Robertson
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: AMANDA NUNES
1. Germaine de Randamie
2. Holly Holm
3. Aspen Ladd
4. Julianna Pena
5. Raquel Pennington
6. Irene Aldana
7. Ketlen Vieira
8. Yana Kunitskaya
9. Sara McMann
10. Marion Reneau
11. Lina Lansberg
12. Macy Chiasson
13. Pannie Kianzad
14. Julia Avila
15. Sijara Eubanks
There you have it.
You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week, particularly in the heavyweight division, following this weekend’s UFC Vegas 6: “Lewis vs. Oleinik” mixed martial arts (MMA) event on ESPN+ from inside UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.
For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.