Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently updated its “official” rankings in the wake of the UFC Vegas 55 mixed martial arts (MMA) event, which took place last Sat. night (May 21, 2022) inside the promotion’s APEX facility in Las Vegas, Nevada. That’s where former champion Holly Holm was bested by bantamweight up-and-comer Ketlen Vieira, sending “The Preacher’s Daughter” down one spot to No. 3 at 135 pounds.
The Brazilian jumps three places to No. 2.
Elsewhere on the charts, welterweight slugger Michel Pereira made his UFC rankings debut with a decision victory over fellow 170-pound bruiser Santiago Ponzinibbio. “Demolidor” took over the No. 14 spot — previously held by “The Argentine Dagger” — and could find himself inside the Top 10 with another big victory later this year. Outside of the main and co-main events, not much else happened at UFC Vegas 55 to influence the leaderboards.
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. Kamaru Usman
2. Alexander Volkanovski
3. Israel Adesanya
4. Charles Oliveira
5. Francis Ngannou
6. Max Holloway
7. Dustin Poirier
8. Glover Teixeira
9. Aljamain Sterling
10. Jon Jones
11. Deiveson Figueiredo
12. Stipe Miocic
13. Petr Yan
14. Robert Whittaker
15. Brandon Moreno
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Deiveson Figueiredo
1. Brandon Moreno
2. Kai Kara France
3. (T) Askar Askarov
3. (T) Alexandre Pantoja
5. Brandon Royval
6. Alex Perez
7. Matheus Nicolau
8. Rogerio Bontorin
9. Matt Schnell
10. David Dvorak
11. Tim Elliott
12. Su Mudaerji
13. Amir Albazi
14. Manel Kape
15. Tagir Ulanbekov
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Aljamain Sterling
1. Petr Yan
2. T.J. Dillashaw
3. Jose Aldo
4. Cory Sandhagen
5. Marlon Vera
6. Merab Dvalishvili
7. Rob Font
8. Dominick Cruz
9. Song Yadong
10. Pedro Munhoz
11. Frankie Edgar
12. Ricky Simon
13. Sean O’Malley
14. Jack Shore
15. Raphael Assuncao
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Alexander Volkanovski
1. Max Holloway
2. Brian Ortega
3. Yair Rodriguez
4. Calvin Kattar
5. Chan Sung Jung
6. Arnold Allen
7. Josh Emmett
8. Giga Chikadze
9. Bryce Mitchell
10. Dan Ige
11. Sodiq Yusuff
12. Edson Barboza
13. Movsar Evloev
14. Shane Burgos
15. Ilia Topuria
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: VACANT
1. Charles Oliveira
2. Dustin Poirier
3. Justin Gaethje
4. Islam Makhachev
5. Michael Chandler
6. Beneil Dariush
7. Rafael dos Anjos
8. Conor McGregor
9. Tony Ferguson
10. Rafael Fiziev
11. Arman Tsarukyan
12. Mateusz Gamrot
13. Dan Hooker
14. Brad Riddell
15. Diego Ferreira
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Kamaru Usman
1. Colby Covington
2. Leon Edwards
3. Khamzat Chimaev
4. Gilbert Burns
5. Belal Muhammed
6. Vicente Luque
7. Stephen Thompson
8. Jorge Masvidal
9. Sean Brady
10. Neil Magny
11. Michael Chiesa
12. Geoff Neal
13. Li Jingliang
14. Michel Pereira *NR
15. Shavkat Rakhmonov
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Israel Adesanya
1. Robert Whittaker
2. Jared Cannonier
3. Marvin Vettori
4. (T) Derek Brunson
4. (T) Paulo Costa
4. (T) Sean Strickland
7. Jack Hermansson
8. Darren Till
9. Uriah Hall
10. Kelvin Gastelum
11. Nassourdine Imavov
12. Brad Tavares
13. Andre Muniz
14. Chris Weidman
15. Edmen Shahbazyan
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Glover Teixeira
1. Jan Blachowicz
2. Jiri Prochazka
3. Aleksandar Rakic
4. Magomed Ankalaev
5. Anthony Smith
6. Thiago Santos
7. Dominick Reyes
8. Paul Craig
9. Volkan Oezdemir
10. Jamahal Hill
11. Nikita Krylov
12. Ryan Spann
13. Johnny Walker
14. Jim Crute
15. Dustin Jacoby
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Francis Ngannou
1. Ciryl Gane
2. Stipe Miocic
3. Tai Tuivasa
4. Curtis Blaydes
5. Derrick Lewis
6. Tom Aspinall
7. Alexander Volkov
8. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
9. Chris Daukaus
10. Marcin Tybura
11. Sergei Pavlovich
12. Shamil Abdurakhimov
13. Alexandr Romanov
14. Augusto Sakai
15. Blagoy Ivanov
WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Valentina Shevchenko
2. Amanda Nunes
3. Julianna Pena
4. Rose Namajunas
5. Weili Zhang
6. Carla Esparza
7. Jessica Andrade
8. Marina Rodriguez +1
9. Holly Holm -1
10. Katlyn Chookagian
11. Ketlen Vieira *NR
12. Yan Xiaonan -1
13. Mackenzie Dern-1
14. Irene Aldana -1
15. Raquel Pennington
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Carla Esparza
1. Rose Namajunas
2. Zhang Weili
3. Marina Rodriguez
4. Mackenzie Dern
5. Yan Xiaonan
6. Jessica Andrade
7. Nina Nunes
8. Tecia Torres
9. Amanda Ribas
10. Michelle Waterson
11. Amanda Lemos
12. Virna Jandiroba
13. Angela Hill
14. Jessica Penne
15. Luana Pinheiro
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Valentina Shevchenko
1. Katlyn Chookagian
2. Lauren Murphy
3. Jessica Andrade
4. Talia Santos
5. Alexa Grasso
6. Manon Fiorot
7. Viviane Araujo
8. Jennifer Maia
9. Andrea Lee
10. Joanne Wood
11. Jessica Eye
12. Cynthia Calvillo
13. Casey O’Neill
14. Maycee Barber
15. Tracy Cortez
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Julianna Pena
1. Amanda Nunes
2. Ketlen Vieira +3
3. Holly Holm -1
4. Irene Aldana -1
5. Raquel Pennington -1
6. Yana Kunitskaya
7. Aspen Ladd
8. Sara McMann
9. Pannie Kianzad
10. Miesha Tate
11. Macy Chiasson
12. Lina Lansberg
13. Karol Rosa
14. Julia Avila
15. Norma Dumont
There you have it.
You can expect these rankings to change in roughly two weeks, particularly in the light heavyweight division, after current champion Glover Teixeira collides with top contender Jiri Prochazka in the UFC 275 pay-per-view (PPV) main event on June 11 in Singapore.
For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.