Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently updated its official rankings in the wake of the UFC Vegas 37 mixed martial arts (MMA) event last Sat. night (Sept. 18, 2021) inside APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, where longtime light heavyweight contender Anthony Smith improved his position by turning away fellow 205-pound bruiser Devin Clark.
Elsewhere on the charts, the flyweight division went into the shop for repairs following the retirement of former title contender Joseph Benavidez. In addition, women’s bantamweight standout Raquel Pennington returned to the Top 10 with her winning performance against Pannie Kianzad on the UFC Vegas 37 undercard.
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. Ciryl Gane
15. Justin Gaethje
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Brandon Moreno
1. Deiveson Figueiredo
2. Askar Askarov
3. Alexandre Pantoja
4. Alex Perez
5. Brandon Royval +1
6. Kai Kara France +1
7. Rogerio Bontorin +1
8. Matt Schnell +1
9. Tim Elliott +1
10. David Dvorak +1
11. Matheus Nicolau +1
12. Su Mudaerji +1
13. Amir Albazi +1
14. Tyson Nam +1
15. Tagir Ulanbekov *NR
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Aljamain Sterling
1. Petr Yan
2. TJ Dillashaw
3. Cory Sandhagen
4. Rob Font
5. Jose Aldo
6. Marlon Moraes
7. Cody Garbrandt
8. Frankie Edgar
9. Pedro Munhoz
10. Dominick Cruz
11. Merab Dvalishvili
12. Raphael Assuncao
13. Marlon Vera
14. Cody Stamann
15. Raulian Paiva *NR
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. Giga Chikadze
9. Dan Ige
10. Edson Barboza
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. Diego Ferreira
12. Brad Riddell
13. Arman Tsarukyan +1
14. Rafael Fiziev -1
15. Thiago Moises
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: KAMARU USMAN
1. Colby Covington
2. Gilbert Burns
3. Leon Edwards
4. Vicente Luque
5. Stephen Thompson
6. Jorge Masvidal
7. Michael Chiesa
8. Neil Magny
9. Belal Muhammed
10. Geoff Neal
11. Li Jingliang
12. Santiago Ponzinibbio
13. Sean Brady
14. Muslim Salikhov
15. Daniel Rodriguez
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: ISRAEL ADESANYA
1. Robert Whittaker
2. Paulo Costa
3. Jared Cannonier
4. Derek Brunson
5. Marvin Vettori
6. Jack Hermansson
7. Sean Strickland
8. Darren Till
9. Uriah Hall
10. Kelvin Gastelum
11. Edmen Shahbazyan
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. Anthony Smith +2
5. Thiago Santos -1
6. Dominick Reyes -1
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. Ciryl Gane (Interim Champion)
2. Stipe Miocic
3. Derrick Lewis
4. Curtis Blaydes
5. Alexander Volkov
6. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
7. Shamil Abdurakhimov
8. Marcin Tybura
9. Augusto Sakai
10. Chris Daukaus
11. Tom Aspinall
12. Walt Harris
13. Blagoy Ivanov
14. Sergei Pavlovich
15. Serghei Spivac
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 -1
15. Julianna Pena
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: ROSE NAMAJUNAS
1. Zhang Weili
2. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
3. Carla Esparza
4. (T)Yan Xiaonan
4. (T) Mackenzie Dern
6. Marina Rodriguez
7. Nina Nunes
8. Claudia Gadelha
9. Tecia Torres
10. Michelle Waterson
11. Amanda Ribas
12. Virna Jandiroba
13. Amanda Lemos
14. Angela Hill
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
14. Miranda Maverick
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. Raquel Pennington *NR
11. Macy Chiasson -1
12. Lina Lansberg -1
13. Julia Avila
14. Pannie Kianzad -2
15. Karol Rosa -1
There you have it.
You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week — particularly in the featherweight division — following the UFC 266: “Volkanovski vs. Ortega” pay-per-view (PPV) event this Sat. night (Sept. 25, 2021) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.