Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw made his successful return to mixed martial arts (MMA) at UFC Vegas 32 on July 24 in Las Vegas, turning away top contender Cory Sandhagen after five rounds of electric, back-and-forth action.
Watch the fight video highlights here.
His victory over “The Sandman” — his first since getting stopped by Henry Cejudo back in early 2019 — was enough to place Dillashaw in the No. 2 spot at 135 pounds behind current champion Aljamain Sterling and former bantamweight titleholder Petr Yan.
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. Israel Adesanya
4. Alexander Volkanovski
5. Francis Ngannou
6. Dustin Poirier
7. Jan Blachowicz
8. Stipe Miocic
9. Max Holloway
10. Charles Oliveira
11. Brandon Moreno
12. Robert Whittaker
13. Petr Yan
14. Justin Gaethje
15. Aljamain Sterling
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Brandon Moreno
1. Deiveson Figueiredo
2. Askar Askarov
3. Alexandre Pantoja
4. Alex Perez
5. Joseph Benavidez
6. Brandon Royval
7. Kai Kara France
8. Rogerio Bontorin
9. Matt Schnell
10. Tim Elliott
11. David Dvorak
12. Matheus Nicolau +1
13. Su Mudaerji +1
14. Amir Albazi +1
15. Tyson Nam *NR
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Aljamain Sterling
1. Petr Yan
2. TJ Dillashaw *NR
3. Cory Sandhagen -1
4. Rob Font -1
5. Jose Aldo -1
6. Cody Garbrandt -1
7. Marlon Moraes -1
8. Frankie Edgar -1
9. Pedro Munhoz -1
10. Dominick Cruz -1
11. Merab Dvalishvili -1
12. Raphael Assuncao -1
13. Jimmie Rivera -1
14. Marlon Vera -1
15. Cody Stamann
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI
1. Max Holloway
2. Brian Ortega
3. Yair Rodriguez
4. Chan Sung Jung
5. Calvin Kattar
6. Arnold Allen
7. Josh Emmett
8. Dan Ige
9. Edson Barboza
10. Giga Chikadze
11. Bryce Mitchell
12. Sodiq Yusuff
13. Movsar Evloev
14. Shane Burgos
15. Ilia Topuria
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Charles Oliveira
1. Dustin Poirier
2. Justin Gaethje
3. Beneil Dariush
4. Michael Chandler
5. Islam Makhachev
6. Tony Ferguson
7. Rafael dos Anjos
8. Dan Hooker
9. Conor McGregor
10. Gregor Gillespie
11. Kevin Lee
12. Diego Ferreira
13. Brad Riddell
14. Arman Tsarukyan
15. Thiago Moises
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: KAMARU USMAN
1. Colby Covington
2. Gilbert Burns
3. Leon Edwards
4. Stephen Thompson
5. Michael Chiesa
6. Vicente Luque
7. Jorge Masvidal
8. Neil Magny
9. Belal Muhammed
10. Geoff Neal
11. Demian Maia
12. Li Jingliang
13. Santiago Ponzinibbio
14. Sean Brady
15. Muslim Salikhov
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: ISRAEL ADESANYA
1. Robert Whittaker
2. Paulo Costa
3. Jared Cannonier
4. Marvin Vettori
5. Derek Brunson
6. Jack Hermansson
7. Darren Till
8. Uriah Hall
9. Kelvin Gastelum
10. Edmen Shahbazyan
11. Sean Strickland
12. Chris Weidman
13. Brad Tavares
14. Kevin Holland
15. Andre Muniz
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. Paul Craig
13. Misha Cirkunov
14. Jim Crute
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. Marcin Tybura
9. Augusto Sakai
10. Chris Daukaus
11. Blagoy Ivanov
12. Walt Harris
13. Tom Aspinall
14. Sergey Spivac
15. Sergei Pavlovich
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. Carla Esparza
10. Aspen Ladd
11. Katlyn Chookagian
12. Mackenzie Dern
13. Lauen Murphy
14. Yan Xiaonan
15. Julianna Pena
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: ROSE NAMAJUNAS
1. Zhang Weili
2. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
3. Carla Esparza
4. Yan Xiaonan
5. (T) Mackenzie Dern
5. (T) 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. Viviane Araujo
8. Jessica Eye
9. Roxanne Modafferi
10. Alexa Grasso
11. Andrea Lee
12. Talia Santos
13. Maycee Barber +1
14. Miranda Maverick -1
15. Montana De La Rosa
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: AMANDA NUNES
1. Germaine de Randamie
2. Holly Holm
3. Aspen Ladd
4. Irene Aldana
5. Julianna Pena
6. Yana Kunitskaya
7. Ketlen Vieira
8. Miesha Tate
9. Sara McMann
10. Macy Chiasson
11. Lina Lansberg
12. Pannie Kianzad
13. Sijara Eubanks
14. Julia Avila
15. Karol Rosa
There you have it.
You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week — particularly in the middleweight division — following the UFC Vegas 33: “Hall vs. Strickland” event on Sat., July 31, 2021 from inside APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.
For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.