Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently updated its official rankings in the wake of its UFC on ESPN 3: “Ngannou vs. Dos Santos” mixed martial arts (MMA) event, held last Sat. night (June 29, 2019) inside Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Despite knocking out Junior dos Santos in the opening frame, Francis Ngannou remains in the No. 2 spot behind former heavyweight champion (and the last man to defeat him), Stipe Miocic. Similarly, “Cigano” holds steady at No. 3, one spot above Curtis Blaydes.
Taking over the No. 1 spot at 125 pounds is longtime flyweight contender, Joseph Benavidez, thanks to his dominant performance against Jussier Formiga. The Brazilian falls one spot to No. 2 in defeat, behind Alexandre Pantoja.
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 Daniel Cormier
2 Jon Jones
3 Khabib Nurmagomedov
4 Henry Cejudo
5 Max Holloway
6 Amanda Nunes
7 Kamaru Usman
8 Dustin Poirier
9 Conor McGregor +1
10 Robert Whittaker +1
11 Stipe Miocic -2
12 Tony Ferguson
13 Valentina Shevchenko
14 Tyron Woodley
15 Jessica Andrade
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Henry Cejudo
1 Joseph Benavidez +1
2 Jussier Formiga -1
3 Alexandre Pantoja
4 Deiveson Figueiredo
5 Tim Elliott
6 Rogerio Bontorin
7 Ryan Benoit
8 Jordan Espinosa
9 Kai Kara France
10 Alex Perez
11 Raulian Paiva
12 Matt Schnell
13 VACANT
14 VACANT
15 VACANT
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Henry Cejudo
1 Marlon Moraes
2 Aljamain Sterling
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 Petr Yan
5 Pedro Munhoz
6 Dominick Cruz
7 Cody Garbrandt
8 Jimmie Rivera
9 Corey Sandhagen
10 John Lineker
11 Cody Stamann
12 Rob Font
13 John Dodson
14 Alejandro Perez
15 Thomas Almeida
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Max Holloway
1 Alexander Volkanovski
2 Brian Ortega
3 Jose Aldo
4 Frankie Edgar
5 Zabit Magomedsharipov
6 Chan Sung Jung
7 Jeremy Stephens +1
8 Yair Rodriguez -1
9 Josh Emmett +1
10 Renato Moicano -1
11 Calvin Kattar
12 Mirsad Bektic
13 Ricardo Lamas
14 Shane Burgos
15 Darren Elkins
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Khabib Nurmagomedov
1 Dustin Poirier (Interim Champion)
2 Tony Ferguson
3 Conor McGregor
4 Donald Cerrone
5 Justin Gaethje
6 Al Iaquinta
7 Edson Barboza
8 Kevin Lee
9 Anthony Pettis
10 Paul Felder
11 Charles Oliveira
12 Gregor Gillespie
13 Alexander Hernandez
14 Islam Makhachev
15 James Vick
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Kamaru Usman
1 Tyron Woodley
2 Colby Covington
3 Rafael Dos Anjos
4 Jorge Masvidal
5 Ben Askren
6 Darren Till
7 Stephen Thompson
8 Anthony Pettis
9 Santiago Ponzinibbio
10 Robbie Lawler
11 Leon Edwards
12 Demian Maia
13 Neil Magny
14 Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
15 Vincente Luque
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Robert Whittaker
1 Israel Adesanya (Interim Champion)
2 Yoel Romero
3 Kelvin Gastelum +1
4 Jack Hermansson +1
5 Ronaldo Souza +1
6 Chris Weidman +1
7 Paulo Costa +1
8 Derek Brunson +1
9 Jared Cannonier +1
10 Ian Heinisch +1
11 Brad Tavares +1
12 Uriah Hall +2
13 Antonio Carlos Junior
14 David Branch +1
15 Anderson Silva *NR
(Note: Luke Rockhold has been removed from the middleweight rankings after moving up to light heavyweight.)
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Jon Jones
1 Daniel Cormier
2 Thiago Santos
3 Anthony Smith
4 Dominick Reyes +1
5 Alexander Gustafsson -1
6 Jan Blachowicz
7 Volkan Oezdemir
8 Corey Anderson
9 Ilir Latifi
10 Glover Teixeira
11 Aleksandar Rakic
12 Johnny Walker
13 Mauricio Rua
14 Nikita Krylov
15 Misha Cirkunov
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Stipe Miocic
2 Francis Ngannou
3 Junior Dos Santos
4 Curtis Blaydes
5 Derrick Lewis
6 Alexander Volkov
7 Alistair Overeem -1
8 Cain Velasquez
9 Aleksei Oleinik
10 Shamil Abdurakhimov
11 Blagoy Ivanov
12 Tai Tuivasa
13 Marcin Tybura
14 Walt Harris
15 Augusto Sakai
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Jessica Andrade
1 Rose Namajunas
2 Tatiana Suarez
3 Nina Ansaroff
4 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
5 Claudia Gadelha +1
6 Weili Zhang -1
7 Michelle Waterson
8 Tecia Torres
9 Carla Esparza
10 Cynthia Calvillo
11 Alexa Grasso +1
12 Felice Herrig -1
13 Karolina Kowalkiewicz
14 Randa Markos
15 Cortney Casey
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Valentina Shevchenko
1 Jessica Eye
2 Katlyn Chookagian
3 Liz Carmouche
4 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
5 (T) Roxanne Modafferi
5 (T) Joanne Calderwood +1
7 Andrea Lee
8 Alexis Davis
9 Jennifer Maia
10 Lauren Murphy
11 Montana De La Rosa
12 Mara Romero Borella
13 Maycee Barber
14 Paige VanZant
15 Poliana Botelho
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Amanda Nunes
1 Germaine de Randamie +2
2 Holly Holm -1
3 Ketlen Vieira -1
4 Aspen Ladd
5 Raquel Pennington
6 Cat Zingano
7 Yana Kunitskaya
8 Marion Reneau
9 Irene Aldana +1
10 Sara McMann -1
11 Macy Chiasson
12 Lina Lansberg
13 Tonya Evinger
14 Sijara Eubanks
15 Bethe Correia
There you have it.
You can expect these standings to change around this time next week, particularly in the light heavyweight division, after the UFC 239: “Jones vs. Santos” event this Sat. night (July 6, 2019) inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada (more on that fight card here).
For even more upcoming UFC events click here.