Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently updated its official rankings and oh hey, look who it is, Junior dos Santos is back in the heavyweight Top 5 after putting a Brazilian beatdown on “Black Beast” last weekend in Wichita.
If you’re too cheap for an ESPN+ subscription you can watch the highlights here.
In defeat, Lewis drops to No. 5, though I will say the most surprising update of them all in terms of this week’s movement is the specific non-movement of Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos, who captured his seventh straight win by wrecking Curtis Millender (video).
Whatever.
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 Daniel Cormier
2 Jon Jones
3 Khabib Nurmagomedov
4 Max Holloway
5 Henry Cejudo
6 Amanda Nunes
7 TJ Dillashaw
8 Conor McGregor
9 Kamaru Usman
10 Stipe Miocic
11 Robert Whittaker
12 Tony Ferguson
13 Tyron Woodley
14 Rose Namajunas
15 Cris Cyborg
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Henry Cejudo
1 Jussier Formiga
2 Joseph Benavidez
3 Ray Borg
4 Deiveson Figueiredo
5 Wilson Reis
6 Alexandre Pantoja
7 Alex Perez
8 Tim Elliott
9 Rogerio Bontorin
10 TJ Dillashaw +3
11 Magomed Bibulatov -1
12 Eric Shelton -1
13 Ryan Benoit -1
14 Kai Kara-France
15 Jordan Espinosa *NR
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: TJ Dillashaw
1 Marlon Moraes
2 Raphael Assuncao
3 Aljamain Sterling
4 Pedro Munhoz
5 Dominick Cruz
6 Cody Garbrandt
7 Jimmie Rivera
8 John Lineker
9 Petr Yan
10 Cody Stamann
11 Rob Font
12 John Dodson
13 Alejandro Perez
14 Thomas Almeida
15 Ricky Simon
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Max Holloway
1 Jose Aldo
2 Brian Ortega
3 Frankie Edgar
4 Alexander Volkanovski
5 Renato Moicano
6 Zabit Magomedsharipov
7 Jeremy Stephens
8 Cub Swanson
9 Mirsad Bektic
10 Josh Emmett
11 Ricardo Lamas
12 Yair Rodriguez
13 Chan Sung Jung
14 Darren Elkins
15 Calvin Kattar
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Khabib Nurmagomedov
1 Tony Ferguson
2 Conor McGregor
3 Dustin Poirier
4 Al Iaquinta
5 Kevin Lee
6 Edson Barboza
7 Justin Gaethje
8 Anthony Pettis
9 Donald Cerrone
10 Paul Felder
11 Gregor Gillespie
12 Alexander Hernandez
13 Nate Diaz
14 James Vick
15 Charles Oliveira
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Kamaru Usman
1 Tyron Woodley
2 Colby Covington
3 Darren Till
4 Stephen Thompson
5 Rafael Dos Anjos
6 Ben Askren
7 Santiago Ponzinibbio
8 Robbie Lawler
9 Demian Maia
10 Leon Edwards
11 Jorge Masvidal
12 Neil Magny
13 Gunnar Nelson
14 Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
15 Rocco Martin *NR
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Robert Whittaker
1 Yoel Romero
2 Luke Rockhold
3 Jacare Souza
4 Kelvin Gastelum
5 Israel Adesanya
6 Chris Weidman
7 Paulo Costa
8 Derek Brunson
9 Jared Cannonier
10 Brad Tavares
11 David Branch
12 Antonio Carlos Junior
13 Uriah Hall
14 Elias Theodorou
15 Anderson Silva
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Jon Jones
1 Daniel Cormier
2 Alexander Gustafsson
3 Thiago Santos
4 Anthony Smith
5 Jan Blachowicz
6 Volkan Oezdemir
7 Corey Anderson
8 Dominick Reyes
9 Ilir Latifi
10 Jimi Manuwa
11 Glover Teixeira
12 Ovince Saint Preux
13 Johnny Walker
14 Mauricio Rua
15 Misha Cirkunov
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Stipe Miocic
2 Francis Ngannou
3 Junior Dos Santos +5
4 Curtis Blaydes
5 Derrick Lewis -2
6 Alexander Volkov -1
7 Alistair Overeem -1
8 Cain Velasquez -1
9 Aleksei Oleinik
10 Justin Willis
11 Marcin Tybura -1
12 Tai Tuivasa
13 Shamil Abdurakhimov
14 Blagoy Ivanov +1
15 Andrei Arlovski -1
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Rose Namajunas
1 Jessica Andrade
2 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
3 Nina Ansaroff
3 Tatiana Suarez
5 Claudia Gadelha
6 Karolina Kowalkiewicz
7 Weili Zhang
8 Tecia Torres
9 Michelle Waterson
10 Carla Esparza
11 Cynthia Calvillo
12 Felice Herrig
13 Cortney Casey
14 Alexa Grasso
15 Randa Markos
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Valentina Shevchenko
1 Jessica Eye
2 Sijara Eubanks
3 Katlyn Chookagian
4 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
5 Alexis Davis
6 Liz Carmouche
7 Joanne Calderwood
8 Roxanne Modafferi
9 Lauren Murphy
10 Andrea Lee
10 Jessica-Rose Clark
12 Montana De La Rosa
13 Mara Romero Borella
14 Paige VanZant
15 Antonina Shevchenko
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Amanda Nunes
1 Germaine de Randamie
2 Holly Holm
3 Ketlen Vieira
4 Raquel Pennington
5 Cat Zingano
6 Aspen Ladd +1
7 Yana Kunitskaya +2
8 Marion Reneau -2
9 Sara McMann -1
10 Irene Aldana
11 Tonya Evinger
12 Bethe Correia
13 Lina Lansberg
14 Macy Chiasson
15 Talita Bernardo
There you have it.
You can expect these standings to change around this time next week, particularly in the welterweight division, as the promotion is set to uncork the UFC on ESPN+ 5: “Till vs. Masvidal” event this Sat. (March 16, 2019) inside O2 Arena in London, England (more on that fight card here).
For even more upcoming UFC events click here.