Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently updated its official rankings in the wake of its UFC on ESPN 15 mixed martial arts (MMA) event, which took place last Sat. night (Aug. 22, 2020) inside the promotion’s APEX facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Frankie Edgar captured a split-decision victory in the five-round headliner, which pulled him from the featherweight division and dropped him at No. 5 on the 135-pound charts. As a result, opponent Pedro Munhoz fell one spot to No. 6.
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. Alexander Volkanovski
7. Daniel Cormier
8. Justin Gaethje
9. Dustin Poirier
10. Max Holloway
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. Frankie Edgar *NR
6. Pedro Munhoz -1
7. Jose Aldo -1
8. Jimmie Rivera -1
9. Raphael Assuncao -1
10. Rob Font -1
11. Dominick Cruz -1
12. Cody Stamann -2
13. Merab Dvalishvili -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. Calvin Kattar
7. Josh Emmett
8. Jeremy Stephens +1
9. Arnold Allen +1
10. Dan Ige +1
11. Sodiq Yusuff
12. Ryan Hall +1
13. Shane Burgos +1
14. Jose Aldo +1
15. Bryce Mitchell *NR
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 +1
10. Kevin Lee -1
11. Beneil Dariush
12. Islam Makhachev
13. Gregor Gillespie
14. Donald Cerrone
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
11. Geoff Neal
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
8. Kelvin Gastelum
9. Uriah Hall
10. Edmen Shahbazyan
11. Chris Weidman
12. Brad Tavares
13. Omari Akhmedov
14. Ian Heinisch
15. Marvin Vettori
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: VACANT
1. Dominick Reyes
2. Thiago Santos
3. Jan Blachowicz
4. Glover Teixeira
5. Anthony Smith
6. Jiri Prochazka
7. Volkan Oezdemir
8. Aleksandar Rakic
9. Nikita Krylov
10. Misha Cirkunov
11. Johnny Walker
12. Ryan Spann
13. Magomed Ankalaev +1
14. Mauricio Rua -1
15. Paul Craig
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: STIPE MIOCIC
1. Francis Ngannou
2. Curtis Blaydes
3. Daniel Cormier
4. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
5. Derrick Lewis -1
6. Alistair Overeem
7. Junior dos Santos
8. Alexander Volkov
9. Augusto Sakai
10. Walt Harris
11. Shamil Abdurakhimov
12. Aleksei Oleinik
13. Sergei Pavlovich
14. Ciryl Gane
15. Blagoy Ivanov
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. Virna Jandiroba
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: VALENTINA SHEVCHENKO
1. Katlyn Chookagian
2. Cynthia Calvillo
3. Jennifer Maia
4. Lauren Murphy
5. (T) Joanne Calderwood
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 light heavyweight division, following this weekend’s UFC Vegas 8: “Smith vs. Rakic” mixed martial arts (MMA) event from inside UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.
For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.