Jasmin Frank-USA TODAY Sports
Former UFC heavyweight champion, Cain Velasquez, has been removed from the official rankings in light of his jump to pro wrestling.
The official UFC rankings have been updated in the wake of the UFC 243 pay-per-view (PPV) event, which took place last Sat. night (Oct. 5, 2016) on ESPN+ from inside Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Israel Adesanya climbed the promotion’s pound-for-pound ladder and also captured the 185-pound title with his second-round knockout of Robert Whittaker (video). In the UFC 243 co-main event, Dan Hooker cracked the lightweight Top 10 by knocking around longtime veteran Al Iaquinta (recap).
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, T = tie, *NR = Not previously ranked).
POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Jon Jones
2. Khabib Nurmagomedov
3. Henry Cejudo
4. Stipe Miocic
5. Amanda Nunes
6. Daniel Cormier
7. Max Holloway
8. Israel Adesanya +6
9. Kamaru Usmann -1
10. Tony Ferguson
11. Valentina Shevchenko
12. Conor McGregor
13. Dustin Poirier
14. Robert Whittaker -5
15. Tyron Woodley
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: HENRY CEJUDO
1. Joseph Benavidez
2. Jussier Formiga
3. Deiveson Figueiredo
4. Alexandre Pantoja
5. Sergio Pettis
6. Tim Elliott
7. Brandon Moreno
8. Rogerio Bontorin
9. Kai Kara France
10. Matt Schnell
11. Jordan Espinosa
12. Alex Perez
13. Askar Askarov +1
14. Ryan Benoit -1
15. Mark De La Rosa
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: HENRY CEJUDO
1. Marlon Moraes
2. Aljamain Sterling
3. Cory Sandhagen
4. Petr Yan
5. Raphael Assuncao
6. Pedro Munhoz
7. (T) Dominick Cruz
7. (T) Jimmie Rivera +1
9. Cody Garbrandt
10. Cody Stamann
11. Rob Font
12. John Dodson
13. Song Yadong
14. Urijah Faber
15. Thomas Almeida
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: MAX HOLLOWAY
1. Alexander Volkanovski
2. Brian Ortega
3. Jose Aldo
4. Frankie Edgar
5. Zabit Magomedsharipov
6. Chan Sung Jung
7. Yair Rodriguez
8. Jeremy Stephens
9. Renato Moicano
10. Josh Emmett
11. Calvin Kattar
12. Shane Burgos
13. Mirsad Bektic
14. Ryan Hall
15. Arnold Allen
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV
1. Tony Ferguson
2. Dustin Poirier
3. Conor McGregor
4. Justin Gaethje
5. Donald Cerrone
6. Paul Felder +1
7. Dan Hooker +8
8. Al Iaquinta -2
9. Edson Barboza
10. Kevin Lee -2
11. Gregor Gillespie
12. Anthony Pettis -2
13. Charles Oliveira -1
14. Alexander Hernandez -1
15. Islam Makhachev -1
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: KAMARU USMAN
1. Tyron Woodley
2. Colby Covington
3. Jorge Masvidal
4. Leon Edwards
5. Rafael dos Anjos
6. Nate Diaz
7. Santiago Ponzinibbio
8. Stephen Thompson +1
9. Darren Till -1
10. Demian Maia
11. Ben Askren
12. Anthony Pettis
13. Robbie Lawler
14. Vicente Luque
15. Gilbert Burns *NR
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: ISRAEL ADESANYA
1. Robert Whittaker -1
2. Paulo Costa
3. Yoel Romero
4. Kelvin Gastelum
5. Jared Cannonier
6. Jack Hermansson
7. Ronaldo Souza
8. Chris Weidman
9. Derek Brunson
10. Ian Heinisch
11. Uriah Hall
12. Brad Tavares
13. Antonio Carlos Junior
14. Edmen Shahbazyan
15. Omari Akhmedov
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: JON JONES
1. Daniel Cormier
2. Thiago Santos
3. Anthony Smith
4. Dominick Reyes
5. Jan Blachowicz
6. Alexander Gustafsson
7. Corey Anderson
8. Volkan Oezdemir
9. Glover Teixeira
10. (T) Johnny Walker
10. (T) Aleksandar Rakic
12. Ilir Latifi
13. Misha Cirkunov
15. Nikita Krylov
14. Mauricio Rua
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: STIPE MIOCIC
1. Daniel Cormier
2. Francis Ngannou
3. Curtis Blaydes
4. Junior dos Santos
5. Derrick Lewis
6. Alexander Volkov
7. Alistair Overeem
8. Blagoy Ivanov +1
9. Shamil Abdurakhimov +1
10. Walt Harris
11. Augusto Sakai +1
12. Aleksei Oleinik +1
13. Maurice Greene +2
14. Sergei Pavlovich *NR
15. Marcin Tybura *NR
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: WEILI ZHANG
1. Jessica Andrade
2. Rose Namajunas
3. Tatiana Suarez
4. Nina Ansaroff
5. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
6. Claudia Gadelha
7. Michelle Waterson
8. Carla Esparza
9. Marina Rodriguez
10. Cynthia Calvillo
11. Alexa Grasso
12. Felice Herrig
13. Tecia Torres
14. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
15. Cortney Casey
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: VALENTINA SHEVCHENKO
1. Katlyn Chookagian
2. Jessica Eye
3. Joanne Calderwood
4. Liz Carmouche
5. Jennifer Maia
6. Viviane Araujo
7. Andrea Lee
8. (T) Roxanne Modafferi
8. (T) Lauren Murphy
10. Alexis Davis
11. Montana De La Rosa
12. Maycee Barber
13. Mara Romero Borella
14. Antonina Shevchenko
15. Gillian Robertson
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: AMANDA NUNES
1. Germaine de Randamie
2. Ketlen Vieira
3. Holly Holm
4. Aspen Ladd +1
5. Julianna Pena -1
6. Raquel Pennington
7. Yana Kunitskaya
8. Irene Aldana +1
9. Marion Reneau -1
10. Sara McMann
11. (T) Macy Chiasson +1
11. (T) Lina Lansberg
13. Nicco Montano
14. Sijara Eubanks
15. Bethe Correia
There you have it.
You can expect these standings to change around this time next week, particularly in the women’s strawweight division, after the UFC Fight Night 161: “Joanna vs. Waterson” event on ESPN+ this Sat. (Oct. 12, 2019) inside Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida (see that fight card here).
For even more upcoming UFC events click here.