The “official” UFC rankings have been updated in the wake of the promotion’s UFC Vegas 15 event last weekend at APEX, and former light heavyweight title contender Anthony Smith took sole possession of the No. 6 spot after finishing Devin Clark in “Sin City.”
“Lionheart” was previously tied with Volkan Oezdemir.
Sadly, the heavyweight headliner between Curtis Blaydes and Derrick Lewis was scrapped due to COVID-19 so the heavyweight division will stay the same for the time being. As for the rest of the chart, there’s not much else to report outside of a few minor changes.
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. Khabib Nurmagomedov
2. Jon Jones
3. Israel Adesanya
4. Stipe Miocic
5. Kamaru Usman
6. Alexander Volkanovski
7. Dustin Poirier
8. Max Holloway
9. Petr Yan
10. Justin Gaethje
11. Deiveson Figueiredo
12. Conor McGregor
13. Robert Whittaker
14. Tony Ferguson
15. Francis Ngannou
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Deiveson Figueiredo
1. Brandon Moreno
2. Joseph Benavidez
3. Askar Askarov
4. Alex Perez
5. Alexandre Pantoja
6. Brandon Royval
7. (T) Kai Kara France
7. (T) Rogerio Bontorin +1
9. Matt Schnell
10. Raulian Paiva
11. David Dvorak
12. Tim Elliott
13. Tyson Nam +1
14. Jordan Espinosa -1
15. Amir Albazi
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Petr Yan
1. Aljamain Sterling
2. Cory Sandhagen
3. Marlon Moraes
4. Cody Garbrandt
5. Frankie Edgar
6. Pedro Munhoz
7. Jose Aldo
8. Jimmie Rivera
9. Raphael Assuncao
10. Dominick Cruz
11. Rob Font
12. Merab Dvalishvili
13. Cody Stamann
14. Song Yadong
15. Marlon Vera
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI
1. Max Holloway
2. Brian Ortega
3. Zabit Magomedsharipov
4. Yair Rodriguez
5. Chan Sung Jung
6. Calvin Kattar
7. Josh Emmett
8. (T) Jeremy Stephens
8. (T) Arnold Allen
10. Sodiq Yusuff
11. Dan Ige
12. Shane Burgos
13. Ryan Hall
14. Bryce Mitchell
15. Edson Barboza
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV
1. Justin Gaethje
2. Dustin Poirier
3. Tony Ferguson
4. Conor McGregor
5. Dan Hooker
6. Rafael dos Anjos
7. Charles Oliveira -1
8. Paul Felder
9. Diego Ferreira
10. Al Iaquinta
11. Kevin Lee
12. Beneil Dariush
13. Islam Makhachev
14. Gregor Gillespie
15. Drew Dober
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: KAMARU USMAN
1. Colby Covington
2. Gilbert Burns
3. Leon Edwards
4. Jorge Masvidal
5. Stephen Thompson
6. Tyron Woodley
7. Demian Maia
8. Michael Chiesa
9. Neil Magny
10. Vicente Luque
11. Geoff Neal
12. Anthony Pettis
13. Belal Muhammed
14. Robbie Lawler
15. Khamzat Chimaev
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. Chris Weidman
11. Edmen Shahbazyan
12. Omari Akhmedov
13. Marvin Vettori
14. Brad Tavares
15. Ian Heinisch
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Jan Blachowicz
1. Glover Teixeira
2. Thiago Santos
3. Dominick Reyes
4. Aleksandar Rakic
5. Jiri Prochazka
6. Anthony Smith
7. Volkan Oezdemir -1
8. Nikita Krylov
9. Johnny Walker
10. Misha Cirkunov
11. Magomed Ankalaev
12. Ryan Spann
13. Jim Crute
14. Paul Craig
15. Ovince Saint Preux
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: STIPE MIOCIC
1. Francis Ngannou
2. Curtis Blaydes
3. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
4. Derrick Lewis
5. Alistair Overeem
6. Alexander Volkov
7. Junior dos Santos
8. Shamil Abdurakhimov
9. Augusto Sakai
10. Aleksei Oleinik
11. Walt Harris
12. Sergei Pavlovich
13. Blagoy Ivanov
14. Ciryl Gane
15. Andrei Arlovski
WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Amanda Nunes
2. Valentina Shevchenko
3. Weili Zhang
4. Rose Namajunas
5. Jessica Andrade
6. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
7. Germaine De Randamie
8. Holly Holm
9. Aspen Ladd
10. Katlyn Chookagian
11. Nina Ansaroff
12. Cynthia Calvillo
13. Yan Xiaonan
14. Claudia Gadelha
15. Julianna Pena
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: WEILI ZHANG
1. Rose Namajunas
2. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
3. Yan Xiaonan
4. Carla Esparza
5. Nina Ansaroff
6. Claudia Gadelha
7. Michelle Waterson
8. Marina Rodriguez
9. (T) Tecia Torres
9. (T) Amanda Ribas
11. Mackenzie Dern
12. Angela Hill
13. Virna Jandiroba
14. Felice Herrig
15. Livinha Souza
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: VALENTINA SHEVCHENKO
1. Jessica Andrade
2. Katlyn Chookagian
3. Lauren Murphy
4. Cynthia Calvillo
5. Jennifer Maia
6. Jessica Eye
7. Joanne Calderwood
8. Roxanne Modafferi
9. Viviane Araujo
10. Maycee Barber
11. Andrea Lee
12. Gillian Robertson
13. Alexis Davis
14. Antonina Shevchenko
15. Montana De La Rosa
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: AMANDA NUNES
1. Germaine de Randamie
2. Holly Holm
3. Aspen Ladd
4. Raquel Pennington
5. Irene Aldana
6. Julianna Pena
7. Ketlen Vieira
8. Yana Kunitskaya
9. Sara McMann
10. Marion Reneau
11. Lina Lansberg
12. Macy Chiasson
13. Sijara Eubanks
14. Pannie Kianzad
15. Julia Avila
There you have it.
You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week, particularly in the middleweight division, following this weekend’s UFC Vegas 16: “Hermansson vs. Vettori” mixed martial arts (MMA) event on ESPN+ from inside UFC APEX in Las Vegas.
For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.