Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently updated its official rankings in the wake of its UFC Fight Night 164 mixed martial arts (MMA) event, which took place last Sat. night (Nov. 16, 2019) inside Ibirapuera Gymnasium in Sao Paulo, Brazil, live on ESPN+.
Despite losing a ho-hum decision to Jan Blachowicz, former middleweight contender Ronaldo Souza was able to replace fellow Brazilian Mauricio Rua in the light heavyweight line up, squeaking in at No. 15. “Shogun” also competed in Sao Paulo, returning a split-draw opposite Paul Craig.
Removing “Jacare” from the 185-pound list gave a spot for the returning Anderson Silva, while changes unrelated to last weekend’s event include drops for ex-champions Conor McGregor (pound-for-pound) and Daniel Cormier (light heavyweight).
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. Max Holloway
8. Israel Adesanya
9. Tony Ferguson
10. Kamaru Usman
11. Valentina Shevchenko
12. Dustin Poirier
13. Robert Whittaker +1
14. Conor McGregor -2
15. Tyron Woodley
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: HENRY CEJUDO
1. Joseph Benavidez
2. Jussier Formiga
3. Deiveson Figueiredo
4. Alexandre Pantoja
5. Brandon Moreno
6. Kai Kara France
7. Rogerio Bontorin
8. Tim Elliott
9. Matt Schnell
10. Jordan Espinosa
11. Alex Perez
12. Askar Askarov
13. Ryan Benoit
14. Mark De La Rosa
15. Raulian Paiva
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: HENRY CEJUDO
1. Marlon Moraes
2. Aljamain Sterling
3. Cory Sandhagen
4. Petr Yan
5. Raphael Assuncao
6. Pedro Munhoz
7. Jimmie Rivera
8. Cody Garbrandt
9. Cody Stamann
10. Rob Font
11. John Dodson
12. Urijah Faber
13. Song Yadong
14. Marlon Vera
15. Casey Kenney
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: MAX HOLLOWAY
1. Alexander Volkanovski
2. Brian Ortega
3. Jose Aldo
4. Zabit Magomedsharipov
5. Frankie Edgar
6. Yair Rodriguez
7. Chan Sung Jung
8. Renato Moicano
9. Jeremy Stephens
10. Josh Emmett
11. Calvin Kattar
12. Shane Burgos
13. Mirsad Bektic
14. Arnold Allen
15. Ryan Hall
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV
1. Tony Ferguson
2. Dustin Poirier
3. Conor McGregor
4. Justin Gaethje
5. Donald Cerrone
6. Paul Felder
7. Dan Hooker
8. Kevin Lee
9. Al Iaquinta
10. Edson Barboza
11. Anthony Pettis
12. Gregor Gillespie
13. Charles Oliveira
14. Alexander Hernandez
15. Islam Makhachev
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: KAMARU USMAN
1. Tyron Woodley
2. Colby Covington
3. Jorge Masvidal
4. Leon Edwards
5. Rafael dos Anjos
6. Demian Maia
7. Santiago Ponzinibbio
8. Stephen Thompson
9. Nate Diaz
10. Anthony Pettis
11. Robbie Lawler
12. Ben Askren
13. Vicente Luque
14. Gilbert Burns
15. Geoff Neal
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 +1
9. Edmen Shahbazyan +1
10. Ian Heinisch +1
11. Uriah Hall +1
12. Brad Tavares +1
13. Antonio Carlos Junior +1
14. Omari Akhmedov +1
15. Anderson Silva *NR
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: JON JONES
1. Thiago Santos +1
2. Daniel Cormier -1
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 +1
15. Ronaldo Souza *NR
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: STIPE MIOCIC
1. Daniel Cormier
2. Francis Ngannou
3. Curtis Blaydes
4. Junior dos Santos
5. Derrick Lewis
6. (T) Alistair Overeem
6. (T) Alexander Volkov
8. Walt Harris
9. Shamil Abdurakhimov
10. Blagoy Ivanov
11. Aleksei Oleinik
12. Augusto Sakai
13. Sergei Pavlovich
14. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
15. Maurice Greene
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. Alexa Grasso
12. Felice Herrig
13. Tecia Torres
14. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
15. Amanda Ribas
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: VALENTINA SHEVCHENKO
1. Katlyn Chookagian
2. Jessica Eye
3. Joanne Calderwood
4. Liz Carmouche
5. Jennifer Maia
6. Viviane Araujo
7. Lauren Murphy +1
8. Roxanne Modafferi +1
9. Andrea Lee -2
10. Maycee Barber
11. Alexis Davis
12. Montana De La Rosa
13. Antonina Shevchenko
14. Mara Romero Borella
15. Paige VanZant
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: AMANDA NUNES
1. Germaine de Randamie
2. Ketlen Vieira
3. Holly Holm
4. Julianna Pena
5. Aspen Ladd
6. Raquel Pennington
7. Yana Kunitskaya
8. Marion Reneau
9. Sara McMann
10. Irene Aldana
11. Lina Lansberg
12. Macy Chiasson
13. Nicco Montano
14. Sijara Eubanks
15. Bethe Correia
There you have it.
You can expect these standings to change early next month, particularly in the heavyweight division, after the UFC on ESPN 7: “Overeem vs. Rozenstruik” event on Sat., Dec. 7, 2019 from inside Capital One Arena in Washington D.C. (see that fight card here).
For even more upcoming UFC events click here.