Former UFC champion Conor McGregor returns to the lightweight Top 5, but was removed from the promotion’s pound-for-pound chart.
Big things are happening in the UFC lightweight division now that UFC 262 is bagged and tagged. Not only did the promotion crown a new 155-pound champion on May 15 in Houston, thanks to Charles Oliveira’s destruction of Michael Chandler, streaking contender Beneil Dariush has now entered the Top 5 mix.
At the expense of Tony Ferguson, who continues his downward spiral.
Elsewhere on the chart, longtime veteran Edson Barboza finally managed to crack the Top 10 by cracking featherweight striker Shane Burgos. In addition, Antonina Shevchenko fell all the way down to No. 15 after falling to Andrea Lee, while Rogerio Bontorin and Matt Schnell swapped places at 125 pounds.
Here’s how UFC compiles its “official” rankings:
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. Kamaru Usman
3. Alexander Volkanovski
4. Israel Adesanya
5. Francis Ngannou
6. Dustin Poirier
7. Jan Blachowicz +1
8. Stipe Miocic -1
9. Max Holloway
10. Deiveson Figueiredo
11. Charles Oliveira *NR
12. Robert Whittaker -1
13. Petr Yan -1
14. Justin Gaethje -2
15. Aljamain Sterling -1
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Deiveson Figueiredo
1. Brandon Moreno
2. Askar Askarov
3. Alexandre Pantoja
4. Alex Perez
5. Joseph Benavidez
6. Brandon Royval
7. Kai Kara France
8. Rogerio Bontorin +1
9. Matt Schnell -1
10. Tim Elliott
11. David Dvorak
12. Raulian Paiva
13. Su Mudaerji
14. Matheus Nicolau
14. Amir Albazi
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Aljamain Sterling
1. Petr Yan
2. Cory Sandhagen
3. Rob Font
4. Cody Garbrandt
5. Jose Aldo
6. Marlon Moraes
7. Frankie Edgar
8. Pedro Munhoz
9. Dominick Cruz
10. Merab Dvalishvili
11. Raphael Assuncao
12. Jimmie Rivera
13. Cody Stamann
14. Kyler Phillips
15. Marlon Vera
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI
1. Max Holloway
2. Brian Ortega
3. Yair Rodriguez
4. Chan Sung Jung
5. Calvin Kattar
6. Josh Emmett
7. Arnold Allen
8. Dan Ige
9. Edson Barboza +4
10. Giga Chikadze
11. Sodiq Yusuff
12. Bryce Mitchell
13. Shane Burgos -4
14. Movsar Evloev
15. Hakeem Dawodu
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Charles Oliveira
1. Dustin Poirier
2. Justin Gaethje
3. Beneil Dariush +6
4. Michael Chandler
5. Conor McGregor +1
6. Tony Ferguson -1
7. Rafael dos Anjos
8. Dan Hooker
9. Paul Felder +1
10. Islam Makhachev
11. Gregor Gillespie +1
12. Kevin Lee +1
13. Diego Ferreira +1
14. Drew Dober +1
15. Thiago Moises *NR
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: KAMARU USMAN
1. Colby Covington
2. Gilbert Burns
3. Leon Edwards
4. Stephen Thompson
5. Vicente Luque
6. Michael Chiesa
7. Jorge Masvidal
8. Neil Magny
9. Demian Maia
10. Geoff Neal
11. Li Jingliang
12. Belal Muhammed
13. Sean Brady
14. Robbie Lawler
15. Khamzat Chimaev
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: ISRAEL ADESANYA
1. Robert Whittaker
2. Paulo Costa
3. Marvin Vettori
4. Jared Cannonier
5. Derek Brunson
6. Darren Till
7. Jack Hermansson
8. Uriah Hall
9. Kelvin Gastelum
10. Edmen Shahbazyan
11. Sean Strickland +1
12. Chris Weidman -1
13. Omari Akhmedov +1
14. Kevin Holland -1
15. Brad Tavares
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Jan Blachowicz
1. Glover Teixeira
2. Jiri Prochazka
3. Aleksandar Rakic
4. Thiago Santos
5. Dominick Reyes
6. Anthony Smith
7. Magomed Ankalaev
8. Volkan Oezdemir
9. Nikita Krylov
10. Johnny Walker
11. Ryan Spann
12. Misha Cirkunov
13. Jim Crute
14. Paul Craig
15. Jamall Hill
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Francis Ngannou
1. Stipe Miocic
2. Derrick Lewis
3. Ciryl Gane
4. Curtis Blaydes
5. Alexander Volkov
6. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
7. Shamil Abdurakhimov
8. Walt Harris
9. Augusto Sakai
10. Chris Daukaus
11. Blagoy Ivanov
12. Marcin Tybura
13. Tom Aspinall
14. Sergei Pavlovich
15. Aleksei Oleinik
WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Amanda Nunes
2. Valentina Shevchenko
3. Rose Namajunas
4. Weili Zhang
5. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
6. Jessica Andrade
7. Germaine De Randamie
8. Holly Holm
9. Aspen Ladd
10. Katlyn Chookagian
11. Yan Xiaonan
12. Mackenzie Dern
13. Carla Esparza
14. Claudia Gadelha
15. Nina Nunes
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: ROSE NAMAJUNAS
1. Zhang Weili
2. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
3. Yan Xiaonan
4. Carla Esparza
5. Mackenzie Dern
6. Marina Rodriguez
7. Nina Nunes
8. Claudia Gadelha
9. Michelle Waterson
10. Tecia Torres
11. Amanda Ribas
12. Angela Hill
13. Virna Jandiroba
14. Amanda Lemos
15. Felice Herrig
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: VALENTINA SHEVCHENKO
1. Jessica Andrade
2. Katlyn Chookagian
3. Lauren Murphy
4. Jennifer Maia
5. Cynthia Calvillo
6. Joanne Calderwood
7. Jessica Eye +1
8. Viviane Araujo -1
9. Roxanne Modafferi
10. Alexa Grasso
11. Andrea Lee
12. Talia Santos +1
13. Miranda Maverick +2
14. Maycee Barber
15. Antonina Shevchenko -3
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: AMANDA NUNES
1. Germaine de Randamie
2. Holly Holm
3. Aspen Ladd
4. Irene Aldana
5. Yana Kunitskaya
6. Julianna Pena
7. Ketlen Vieira
8. Sara McMann
9. Macy Chiasson
10. Lina Lansberg
11. Pannie Kianzad
12. Marion Reneau
13. Sijara Eubanks
14. Karol Rosa
15. Julia Avila
There you have it.
You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week — particularly in the bantamweight division — following the UFC Vegas 27: “Font vs. Garbrandt” mixed martial arts (MMA) event on Sat., May 22, 2021 from inside APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.
For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.