Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently tied a ribbon around its UFC Fight Island 5 combat sports event on ESPN+, which took place last Sat. night (Oct. 10, 2020) inside Flash Forum on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. That’s where Cory Sandhagen improved his position in the bantamweight division with a knockout win over Marlon Moraes.
In the UFC Fight Island 5 featherweight co-main event, former lightweight striker Edson Barboza got back into the win column and protected his spot on the 145-pound ladder by outworking Finnish phenom Makwan Amirkhani.
Here’s a refresher on 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).
MEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Jon Jones
2. Khabib Nurmagomedov
3. Israel Adesanya
4. Stipe Miocic
5. Kamaru Usman
6. Alexander Volkanovski
7. Justin Gaethje
8. Dustin Poirier
9. Max Holloway
10. Petr Yan
11. Conor McGregor
12. Robert Whittaker +2
13. Deiveson Figueiredo -1
14. Tony Ferguson -1
15. Francis Ngannou
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Deiveson Figueiredo
1. Brandon Moreno +1
2. Joseph Benavidez -1
3. Askar Askarov
4. Alex Perez
5. Alexandre Pantoja
6. Brandon Royval
7. Jussier Formiga
8. (T) Kai Kara France
8. (T) Rogerio Bontorin
10. Matt Schnell
11. Raulian Paiva +1
12. David Dvorak -1
13. Tim Elliott
14. Jordan Espinosa
15. Tyson Nam
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Petr Yan
1. Aljamain Sterling +1
2. Cory Sandhagen +2
3. Marlon Moraes -2
4. Cody Garbrandt -1
5. Frankie Edgar
6. Pedro Munhoz
7. Jose Aldo
8. Jimmie Rivera
9. Raphael Assuncao
10. Dominick Cruz
11. Rob Font
12. Cody Stamann
13. Merab Dvalishvili
14. Song Yadong
15. Marlon Vera
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI
1. Max Holloway
2. Brian Ortega
3. Zabit Magomedsharipov
4. Chan Sung Jung
5. Yair Rodriguez
6. Calvin Kattar
7. Josh Emmett
8. Jeremy Stephens +1
9. Arnold Allen -1
10. Dan Ige
11. (T) Shane Burgos -1
11. (T) Sodiq Yusuff +1
13. Ryan Hall
14. Edson Barboza
15. Bryce Mitchell
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV
1. Justin Gaethje
2. Dustin Poirier
3. Tony Ferguson
4. Dan Hooker
5. Conor McGregor
6. Charles Oliveira
7. Paul Felder
8. Diego Ferreira
9. Al Iaquinta
10. Kevin Lee
11. Beneil Dariush
12. Islam Makhachev
13. Gregor Gillespie
14. Drew Dober
15. Donald Cerrone
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: KAMARU USMAN
1. Colby Covington
2. Gilbert Burns
3. Leon Edwards
4. Jorge Masvidal
5. Stephen Thompson
6. Tyron Woodley +1
7. Demian Maia -1
8. Michael Chiesa
9. Rafael dos Anjos
10. (T) Vicente Luque
10. (T) Neil Magny
12. Geoff Neal
13. Nate Diaz
14. Anthony Pettis
15. Robbie Lawler
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: ISRAEL ADESANYA
1. Robert Whittaker
2. Paulo Costa
3. Jared Cannonier
4. Jack Hermansson
5. Yoel Romero
6. Darren Till
7. Derek Brunson
8. Kelvin Gastelum
9. Chris Weidman
10. Uriah Hall
11. Edmen Shahbazyan
12. Brad Tavares
13. Omari Akhmedov
14. Marvin Vettori
15. Ian Heinisch
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Jan Blachowicz
1. Thiago Santos
2. Dominick Reyes
3. Glover Teixeira
4. Aleksandar Rakic
5. Jiri Prochazka
6. Anthony Smith +1
7. Volkan Oezdemir -1
8. Nikita Krylov
9. Johnny Walker
10. Misha Cirkunov
11. Magomed Ankalaev
12. Ryan Spann
13. Mauricio Rua
14. Paul Craig
15. Ovince Saint Preux
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: STIPE MIOCIC
1. Francis Ngannou
2. Curtis Blaydes
3. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
4. Derrick Lewis
5. Alistair Overeem
6. Alexander Volkov
7. Junior dos Santos
8. Walt Harris
9. (T) Shamil Abdurakhimov
9. (T) Augusto Sakai +1
11. Aleksei Oleinik
12. Sergei Pavlovich
13. Ciryl Gane -1
14. Blagoy Ivanov
15. Marcin Tybura *NR
WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Amanda Nunes
2. Weili Zhang
3. Valentina Shevchenko
4. Rose Namajunas
5. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
6. Jessica Andrade
7. Holly Holm
8. Germaine De Randamie
9. Aspen Ladd +1
10. Katlyn Chookagian +1
11. Cynthia Calvillo +1
12. Claudia Gadelha +1
13. Nina Ansaroff +1
14. Julianna Pena +1
15. Raquel Pennington *NR
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: WEILI ZHANG
1. Rose Namajunas
2. Jessica Andrade
3. Joanna Jedrzejczyk +1
4. Carla Esparza +2
5. Claudia Gadelha +2
6. Nina Ansaroff -1
7. Michelle Waterson +1
8. Marina Rodriguez +1
9. Yan Xiaonan +1
10. Amanda Ribas +2
11. Tecia Torres
12. Angela Hill +1
13. Mackenzie Dern +1
14. Virna Jandiroba +1
15. Felice Herrig *NR
Note: Tatiana Suarez removed from both strawweight and P4P rankings
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: VALENTINA SHEVCHENKO
1. Katlyn Chookagian
2. (T) Cynthia Calvillo
2. (T) Jennifer Maia +1
4. Lauren Murphy
5. Jessica Eye
6. Joanne Calderwood
7. Roxanne Modafferi
8. Viviane Araujo
9. Andrea Lee
10. Maycee Barber
11. Alexis Davis
12. Montana De La Rosa
13. Antonina Shevchenko
14. Alexa Grasso
15. Gillian Robertson
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: AMANDA NUNES
1. Germaine de Randamie
2. Holly Holm
3. Aspen Ladd
4. Raquel Pennington
5. Irene Aldana
6. Julianna Pena
7. Ketlen Vieira
8. Yana Kunitskaya
9. Sara McMann
10. Marion Reneau
11. Lina Lansberg +1
12. Macy Chiasson -1
13. Sijara Eubanks
14. Pannie Kianzad
15. Julia Avila
You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week, particularly in the featherweight division, following this weekend’s UFC Fight Island 6: “Ortega vs. Korean Zombie” mixed martial arts (MMA) event on ESPN+ from Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.
For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.