Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently tied a ribbon around its UFC Fight Island 4 combat sports event on ESPN+, which took place last Sat. night (Oct. 3, 2020) inside Flash Forum on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. That’s where former women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm returned to form at the expense of Mexican bruiser Irene Aldana.
In the UFC Fight Island 4 co-main event, former women’s featherweight titleholder Germaine de Randamie proved she was more than just a deadly striker, submitting venerable ground specialist and former “Ultimate Fighter” champ Julianna Pena. Like Holm, the “Iron Lady” managed to improve her position on the women’s pound-for-pound list.
Here’s a refresher on 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).
MEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Jon Jones
2. Khabib Nurmagomedov
3. Israel Adesanya
4. Stipe Miocic
5. Kamaru Usman
6. Alexander Volkanovski
7. Justin Gaethje +1
8. Dustin Poirier -1
9. Max Holloway
10. Petr Yan
11. Conor McGregor
12. Deiveson Figueiredo
13. Tony Ferguson
14. Robert Whittaker
15. Francis Ngannou
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Deiveson Figueiredo
1. Joseph Benavidez
2. Brandon Moreno
3. Askar Askarov
4. Alex Perez
5. Alexandre Pantoja
6. Brandon Royval +1
7. Jussier Formiga -1
8. (T) Kai Kara France
8. (T) Rogerio Bontorin +1
10. Matt Schnell
11. David Dvorak
12. Raulian Paiva
13. Tim Elliott
14. Jordan Espinosa
15. Tyson Nam
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Petr Yan
1. Marlon Moraes
2. Aljamain Sterling
3. Cody Garbrandt
4. Cory Sandhagen
5. Frankie Edgar
6. Pedro Munhoz
7. Jose Aldo
8. Jimmie Rivera
9. Raphael Assuncao
10. Dominick Cruz
11. Rob Font
12. Cody Stamann
13. Merab Dvalishvili
14. Song Yadong
15. Marlon Vera
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI
1. Max Holloway
2. Brian Ortega
3. Zabit Magomedsharipov
4. Chan Sung Jung
5. Yair Rodriguez
6. Calvin Kattar
7. Josh Emmett
8. Arnold Allen +1
9. Jeremy Stephens -1
10. (T) Dan Ige
10. (T) Shane Burgos
12. Sodiq Yusuff
13. Ryan Hall
14. Edson Barboza
15. Bryce Mitchell
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV
1. Justin Gaethje
2. Dustin Poirier
3. Tony Ferguson
4. Dan Hooker
5. Conor McGregor
6. Charles Oliveira
7. Paul Felder
8. Diego Ferreira
9. Al Iaquinta
10. Kevin Lee
11. Beneil Dariush
12. Islam Makhachev
13. Gregor Gillespie
14. Drew Dober
15. Donald Cerrone
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: KAMARU USMAN
1. Colby Covington
2. Gilbert Burns
3. Leon Edwards
4. Jorge Masvidal
5. Stephen Thompson
6. Demian Maia
7. Tyron Woodley
8. Michael Chiesa
9. Rafael dos Anjos
10. (T) Vicente Luque
10. (T) Neil Magny
12. Geoff Neal
13. Nate Diaz
14. Anthony Pettis
15. Robbie Lawler
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: ISRAEL ADESANYA
1. Robert Whittaker
2. Paulo Costa
3. Jared Cannonier
4. Jack Hermansson
5. Yoel Romero
6. Darren Till
7. Derek Brunson
8. Kelvin Gastelum
9. Chris Weidman
10. Uriah Hall
11. Edmen Shahbazyan
12. Brad Tavares
13. Omari Akhmedov
14. Marvin Vettori
15. Ian Heinisch
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Jan Blachowicz
1. Thiago Santos
2. Dominick Reyes
3. Glover Teixeira
4. Aleksandar Rakic
5. Jiri Prochazka
6. Volkan Oezdemir
7. Anthony Smith
8. Nikita Krylov
9. Johnny Walker
10. Misha Cirkunov
11. Magomed Ankalaev
12. Ryan Spann
13. Mauricio Rua
14. Paul Craig
15. Ovince Saint Preux
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: STIPE MIOCIC
1. Francis Ngannou
2. Curtis Blaydes
3. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
4. Derrick Lewis
5. Alistair Overeem
6. Alexander Volkov
7. Junior dos Santos
8. Walt Harris
9. Shamil Abdurakhimov
10. Augusto Sakai
11. Aleksei Oleinik
12. (T) Sergei Pavlovich
12. (T) Ciryl Gane +1
14. Blagoy Ivanov
15. Tanner Boser
WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Amanda Nunes
2. Weili Zhang
3. Valentina Shevchenko
4. Rose Namajunas
5. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
6. Jessica Andrade
7. Holly Holm +1
8. Germaine De Randamie +1
9. Tatiana Suarez -2
10. Aspen Ladd
11. Katlyn Chookagian
12. Cynthia Calvillo +1
13. Claudia Gadelha -1
14. Nina Ansaroff +1
15. Julianna Pena -1
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: WEILI ZHANG
1. Rose Namajunas
2. Jessica Andrade
3. Tatiana Suarez
4. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
5. Nina Ansaroff
6. Carla Esparza
7. Claudia Gadelha
8. Michelle Waterson
9. Marina Rodriguez
10. Yan Xiaonan
11. Tecia Torres
12. Amanda Ribas
13. Angela Hill
14. Mackenzie Dern
15. Virna Jandiroba
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: VALENTINA SHEVCHENKO
1. Katlyn Chookagian
2. Cynthia Calvillo
3. Jennifer Maia
4. Lauren Murphy
5. Jessica Eye
6. Joanne Calderwood
7. Roxanne Modafferi
8. Viviane Araujo
9. Andrea Lee
10. Maycee Barber
11. Alexis Davis
12. Montana De La Rosa
13. Antonina Shevchenko
14. Alexa Grasso
15. Gillian Robertson
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: AMANDA NUNES
1. Germaine de Randamie
2. Holly Holm
3. Aspen Ladd
4. Raquel Pennington +1
5. Irene Aldana +1
6. Julianna Pena -2*
7. Ketlen Vieira
8. Yana Kunitskaya
9. Sara McMann
10. Marion Reneau
11. Macy Chiasson
12. Lina Lansberg
13. Sijara Eubanks
14. Pannie Kianzad
15. Julia Avila
*Unsolicited opinion — This is dumb. Pena and Aldana both lost to the No. 1 and No. 2 fighters in the division and yet somehow Aldana gains a spot in the rankings and is now seated above Pena, despite being ranked two spots below “Venezuelan Vixen” before the event.
You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week, particularly in the bantamweight division, following this weekend’s UFC Fight Island 5: “Moraes vs. Sandhagen” mixed martial arts (MMA) event on ESPN+ from Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.
For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.