UFC featherweight phenom Giga Chikadze, who considers himself to be the best boxer in his class, took one step closer to title contention last Sat. night (Aug. 28) by smashing Edson Barboza in the UFC Vegas 35 main event.
“Ninja” improved to No. 8 at 145 pounds, while the Brazilian fell to No. 10.
Elsewhere on the charts, up-and-coming welterweight Daniel Rodriguez turned away longtime UFC veteran Kevin Lee to grab the No. 15 spot at 170 pounds. “The Motown Phenom” is currently unranked after losing his second straight.
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. Joseph Benavidez
6. Brandon Royval
7. Kai Kara France
8. Rogerio Bontorin
9. Matt Schnell
10. Tim Elliott
11. David Dvorak
12. Matheus Nicolau
13. Su Mudaerji
14. Amir Albazi
15. Tyson Nam
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 +1
14. Cody Stamann +1
15. Song Yadong *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 +2
9. Dan Ige -1
10. Edson Barboza -1
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 +1
12. Brad Riddell +1
13. Rafael Fiziev +1
14. Arman Tsarukyan +1
15. Thiago Moises *NR
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 +1
12. Santiago Ponzinibbio +1
13. Sean Brady +1
14. Muslim Salikhov +1
15. Daniel Rodriguez *NR
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: ISRAEL ADESANYA
1. Robert Whittaker
2. Paulo Costa
3. Jared Cannonier
4. Marvin Vettori
5. Derek Brunson
6. Jack Hermansson
7. Darren Till
8. Sean Strickland
9. Kelvin Gastelum
10. Uriah Hall
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. Thiago Santos
5. Dominick Reyes
6. Anthony Smith
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. Walt Harris
12. Blagoy Ivanov
13. Tom Aspinall
14. Sergey Spivac
15. Sergei Pavlovich
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. (T) Lauen Murphy
13. (T) 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. Macy Chiasson
11. Lina Lansberg
12. Pannie Kianzad
13. Sijara Eubanks
14. Julia Avila
15. Karol Rosa
There you have it.
You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week — particularly in the middleweight division — following the UFC Vegas 36: “Brunson vs. Till” event this Sat. (Sept. 4, 2021) on ESPN+ from inside APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.
For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.