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The official UFC rankings have been updated in the wake of last weekend’s “McGregor vs. Cowboy” pay-per-view (PPV) event, which took place last Sat. night (Jan. 18, 2020) inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
As expected, former lightweight champion, Conor McGregor, made his debut in the welterweight Top 15, thanks to a scintillating, first-round technical knockout finish over part-time 170-pounder, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone.
“Notorious” also improved at lightweight and pound-for-pound.
Alexa Grasso was punished two spots for missing weight and failing to compete at UFC 246, while former lightweight champion, Anthony Pettis, was bounced from the Top 15 after getting submitted by grappling wunderkind, Carlos Diego Ferreira.
Here’s 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).
POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Jon Jones
2. Khabib Nurmagomedov
3. Henry Cejudo
4. Stipe Miocic
5. Amanda Nunes
6. Daniel Cormier
7. Israel Adesanya
8. Kamaru Usman
9. Alexander Volkanovski
10. Tony Ferguson
11. Conor McGregor +2
12. Valentina Shevchenko -1
13. Max Holloway -1
14. Dustin Poirier +1
15. Tyron Woodley -1
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: HENRY CEJUDO
1. Joseph Benavidez
2. Jussier Formiga
3. Deiveson Figueiredo
4. Alexandre Pantoja
5. Brandon Moreno
6. Askar Askarov +6
7. Rogerio Bontorin -1
8. Kai Kara France
9. Matt Schnell
10. Tim Elliott -3
11. Jordan Espinosa -1
12. Alex Perez -1
13. Mark De La Rosa
14. Raulian Paiva
15. Ryan Benoit
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: HENRY CEJUDO
1. Marlon Moraes
2. Aljamain Sterling
3. Petr Yan
4. Cory Sandhagen
5. Raphael Assuncao
6. Pedro Munhoz
7. Jimmie Rivera
8. Jose Aldo
9. Cody Garbrandt
10. Rob Font
11. Cody Stamann
12. John Dodson
13. Song Yadong
14. Marlon Vera
15. Casey Kenny
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI
1. Max Holloway
2. Brian Ortega
3. Zabit Magomedsharipov
4. Chan Sung Jung
5. Yair Rodriguez
6. Frankie Edgar
7. Renato Moicano
8. Jeremy Stephens
9. (T) Jose Aldo
9. (T) Josh Emmett +1
11. Calvin Kattar
12. Shane Burgos
13. Ryan Hall +1
14. (T) Sodiq Yosef *NR
14. (T) Mirsad Bektic -1
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV
1. Tony Ferguson
2. Dustin Poirier
3. Conor McGregor +1
4. Justin Gaethje -1
5. Donald Cerrone
6. Paul Felder
7. Dan Hooker
8. Kevin Lee
9. Al Iaquinta
10. Edson Barboza
11. Diego Ferreira *NR
12. Gregor Gillespie
13. Charles Oliveira
14. Islam Makhachev +1
15. Alexander Hernandez -1
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: KAMARU USMAN
1. Tyron Woodley
2. Colby Covington
3. Jorge Masvidal
4. Leon Edwards
5. Rafael dos Anjos
6. Demian Maia
7. Stephen Thompson
8. Nate Diaz
9. Robbie Lawler +1
10. Geoff Neal +1
11. Anthony Pettis -2
12. Gilbert Burns +1
13. Vicente Luque -1
14. Conor McGregor *NR
15. Neal Magny -1
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: ISRAEL ADESANYA
1. Robert Whittaker
2. Paulo Costa
3. Yoel Romero
4. Jared Cannonier
5. Darren Till
6. Jack Hermansson
7. Kelvin Gastelum
8. Derek Brunson
9. Edmen Shahbazyan
10. Uriah Hall
11. Brad Tavares
12. Ian Heinisch
13. Omari Akhmedov
14. Antonio Carlos Junior
15. Anderson Silva
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: JON JONES
1. Thiago Santos
2. Daniel Cormier
3. Anthony Smith
4. Dominick Reyes
5. Corey Anderson
6. Jan Blachowicz
7. Alexander Gustafsson
8. Volkan Oezdemir
9. Glover Teixeira
10. Aleksandar Rakic
11. Johnny Walker
12. Ilir Latifi
13. Misha Cirkunov
14. Nikita Krylov
15. Ronaldo Souza
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: STIPE MIOCIC
1. Daniel Cormier
2. Francis Ngannou
3. Curtis Blaydes
4. Junior dos Santos
5. (T) Derrick Lewis
5. (T) Jairzinho Rozenstruik
7. Alexander Volkov
8. Alistair Overeem
9. Walt Harris
10. Shamil Abdurakhimov
11. Blagoy Ivanov
12. Aleksei Oleinik
13. Augusto Sakai
14. Sergei Pavlovich
15. Ciryl Gane
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: WEILI ZHANG
1. Jessica Andrade
2. Rose Namajunas
3. Tatiana Suarez
4. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
5. Nina Ansaroff
6. Claudia Gadelha
7. Carla Esparza
8. Michelle Waterson
9. Marina Rodriguez
10. Cynthia Calvillo
11. Felice Herrig +1
12. Tecia Torres +1
13. Alexa Grasso -2
14. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
15. Amanda Ribas
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: VALENTINA SHEVCHENKO
1. Katlyn Chookagian
2. Jessica Eye
3. Joanne Calderwood
4. Jennifer Maia
5. Roxanne Modafferi +2
6. Viviane Araujo -1
7. Lauren Murphy -1
8. Andrea Lee
9. Maycee Barber
10. Alexis Davis
11. Montana De La Rosa
12. Antonina Shevchenko
13. Mara Romero Borella
14. Ji Yeon Kim +1
15. Paige VanZant -1
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: AMANDA NUNES
1. Germaine de Randamie
2. Holly Holm +1
3. Aspen Ladd -1
4. Julianna Pena
5. Irene Aldana +1
6. Raquel Pennington -1
7. Ketlen Vieira
8. Yana Kunitskaya
9. Marion Reneau
10. Sara McMann
11. Lina Lansberg
12. Macy Chiasson
13. Bethe Correia
14. Nicco Montano
15. Sijara Eubanks
There you have it.
You can expect these standings to change around this time next week after the UFC Fight Night 166: “Blaydes vs. Dos Santos” event on Sat., Jan. 25, 2020 from inside PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina (see that fight card here).
For even more upcoming UFC events click here.