Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently wrapped its UFC on FOX 24: “Johnson vs. Reis” mixed martial arts (MMA) event on network television (full results here), which took place last weekend (Sat., April 15, 2017) inside Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
The big story coming out of “The Show-Me State” was the rise of middleweight power-puncher Robert “The Reaper” Whittaker, who showed us he’s a viable threat to any fighter at 185 pounds after smashing and trashing perennial contender Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (watch it).
Here’s 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, *NR = Not previously ranked).
POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Demetrious Johnson
2 Conor McGregor
3 Daniel Cormier
4 Jose Aldo
5 Cody Garbrandt
6 Stipe Miocic
7 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
8 Dominick Cruz
9 Tyron Woodley
10 Michael Bisping
11 Amanda Nunes
12 Max Holloway
13 TJ Dillashaw
14 Khabib Nurmagomedov
15 Yoel Romero
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Demetrious Johnson
1 Joseph Benavidez
2 Henry Cejudo
3 Ray Borg +1
4 Wilson Reis -1
5 Jussier Formiga
6 Sergio Pettis
7 Tim Elliott +2
8 Ian McCall -1
9 Dustin Ortiz -1
10 Brandon Moreno
11 John Moraga
12 Louis Smolka
13 Ben Nguyen
14 Alexandre Pantoja
15 Ryan Benoit
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Cody Garbrandt
1 Dominick Cruz
2 TJ Dillashaw
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 John Lineker
5 Jimmie Rivera
6 Bryan Caraway
7 John Dodson
8 Aljamain Sterling
9 Thomas Almeida
10 Eddie Wineland
11 Johnny Eduardo
12 Iuri Alcantara
13 Pedro Munhoz
14 Joe Soto
15 Rob Font
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Jose Aldo
1 Max Holloway (Interim Champion)
2 Frankie Edgar
3 Ricardo Lamas
4 Cub Swanson
5 Chan Sung Jung +1
6 Anthony Pettis +1
7 Yair Rodriguez +1
8 Jeremy Stephens -3
9 Brian Ortega
10 Dennis Bermudez
11 Renato Moicano *NR
12 Darren Elkins -1
13 Dooho Choi -1
14 Mirsad Bektic
15 Renan Barao -2
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Conor McGregor
1 Khabib Nurmagomedov
2 Tony Ferguson
3 Eddie Alvarez
4 Rafael Dos Anjos
5 Edson Barboza
6 Michael Johnson
7 Michael Chiesa
8 Nate Diaz
9 Dustin Poirier
10 Beneil Dariush
11 Kevin Lee
12 Evan Dunham
13 Gilbert Melendez
14 Al Iaquinta
15 Rashid Magomedov *NR
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Tyron Woodley
1 Stephen Thompson
2 Robbie Lawler
3 Demian Maia
4 Carlos Condit
5 Jorge Masvidal
6 Neil Magny
7 Dong Hyun Kim
8 Donald Cerrone
9 Gunnar Nelson
10 Kamaru Usman
11 Tarec Saffiedine
12 Ryan LaFlare
13 Santiago Ponzinibbio +1
13 Jake Ellenberger
15 Matt Brown
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Michael Bisping
1 Yoel Romero
2 Luke Rockhold
3 Robert Whittaker +3
4 Gegard Mousasi
5 Jacare Souza -2
6 Chris Weidman -1
7 Anderson Silva
8 Derek Brunson
9 Krzysztof Jotko
10 Vitor Belfort
11 Thales Leites +1
12 Uriah Hall +1
13 Sam Alvey +1
14 Daniel Kelly *NR
15 Tim Boetsch
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Alexander Gustafsson
2 Glover Teixeira
3 Jimi Manuwa
4 Mauricio Rua
5 Volkan Oezdemir +1
6 Corey Anderson +1
7 Misha Cirkunov +1
8 Ovince Saint Preux +1
9 Ilir Latifi +1
10 Rogerio Nogueira +1
11 Patrick Cummins +1
12 Tyson Pedro +2
13 Jan Blachowicz +2
14 Gian Villante -1
15 Jared Cannonier *NR
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Stipe Miocic
1 Fabricio Werdum
2 Cain Velasquez
3 Alistair Overeem
4 Junior Dos Santos
5 Francis Ngannou
6 Derrick Lewis
7 Mark Hunt
8 Andrei Arlovski
9 Travis Browne
10 Alexander Volkov +1
11 Stefan Struve -1
12 Tim Johnson
13 Marcin Tybura
14 Aleksei Oleinik
15 Daniel Omielanczuk
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Joanna Jedrzejczyk
1 Claudia Gadelha
2 Karolina Kowalkiewicz
3 Jessica Andrade
4 Rose Namajunas
5 Tecia Torres
6 Michelle Waterson
7 Joanne Calderwood
8 Randa Markos
9 Carla Esparza
10 Maryna Moroz
11 Paige VanZant
12 Jessica Aguilar
13 Felice Herrig
14 Jessica Penne
15 Justine Kish
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Amanda Nunes
1 Valentina Shevchenko
2 Julianna Pena
3 Ronda Rousey
4 Raquel Pennington
5 Holly Holm
6 Sara McMann
7 Cat Zingano
8 Liz Carmouche
9 Germaine de Randamie
10 Alexis Davis +1
11 Bethe Correia -1
12 Marion Reneau
13 Katlyn Chookagian +1
14 Ketlen Vieira *NR
15 Ashlee Evans-Smith -2
There you have it.
You can expect these standings to change in roughly one week — especially in the featherweight division — when UFC Fight Night 108: “Swanson vs. Lobov” takes place on FOX Sports 1 this weekend in Nashville, Tennessee (more on that fight card here).
Until then, let us know what you think of the latest rankings movement in the comments section below.