Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has updated its official rankings in the wake of the UFC 244 pay-per-view (PPV) event, held last Sat. night (Nov. 2, 2019) inside Madison Square Garden in New York City (results here). As you might expect with a fight card of this magnitude, it had a major impact on the Top 15 in quite a few divisions.
Starting with welterweight, where Jorge Masvidal stopped Nate Diaz by way of lacerated face, sending the uncrowned prince of the 209 down to the No. 9 spot. In light heavyweight action, Corey Anderson jumped to No. 5 after smashing Johnny Walker, while Darren Till made his middleweight debut in the fifth spot by outlasting Kelvin Gastelum.
Kevin Lee also improved to No. 8 at 155 pounds by damn-near killing Gregor Gillespie (see it again here).
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. (T) Conor McGregor
12. (T) Dustin Poirier +1
14. Robert Whittaker
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. Frankie Edgar
5. Zabit Magomedsharipov
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 +1
15. Ryan Hall -1
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 +2
9. Al Iaquinta -1
10. Edson Barboza -1
11. Anthony Pettis +1
12. Gregor Gillespie -1
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 +1
8. Stephen Thompson +1
9. Nate Diaz -2
10. Anthony Pettis +1
11. Robbie Lawler +1
12. Ben Askren +1
13. Vicente Luque +1
14. Gilbert Burns +1
15. Geoff Neal *NR
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: ISRAEL ADESANYA
1. Robert Whittaker
2. Paulo Costa
3. Yoel Romero
4. Jared Cannonier +1
5. Darren Till *NR
6. Jack Hermansson
7. Kelvin Gastelum -3
8. Ronaldo Souza -1
9. Derek Brunson -1
10. Edmen Shahbazyan +3
11. Ian Heinisch -2
12. Uriah Hall -2
13. Brad Tavares -2
14. Antonio Carlos Junior -2
15. Omari Akhmedov -1
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: JON JONES
1. Daniel Cormier
2. Thiago Santos
3. Anthony Smith
4. Dominick Reyes
5. Corey Anderson +2
6. Jan Blachowicz -1
7. Alexander Gustafsson -1
8. Volkan Oezdemir
9. Glover Teixeira
10. Aleksandar Rakic
11. Johnny Walker
12. Ilir Latifi
13. Misha Cirkunov
14. Mauricio Rua
15. Nikita Krylov
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: STIPE MIOCIC
1. Daniel Cormier
2. Francis Ngannou
3. Curtis Blaydes
4. Junior dos Santos
5. Derrick Lewis
6. Alistair Overeem
7. Alexander Volkov
8. Shamil Abdurakhimov +2
9. Walt Harris +1
10. Blagoy Ivanov -2
11. Aleksei Oleinik
12. Augusto Sakai -1
13. Sergei Pavlovich +1
14. Jairzinho Rozenstruik *NR
15. Maurice Greene -1
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. Andrea Lee
8. Lauren Murphy +1
9. Roxanne Modafferi -1
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. Irene Aldana
9. Marion Reneau
10. Sara McMann
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 around this time next week, particularly in the featherweight division, after the UFC Fight Night 163: “Zabit vs. Kattar” mixed martial arts event on ESPN+ this Sat. (Nov. 9, 2019) inside CSKA Arena in Moscow, Russia (see that fight card here).
For even more upcoming UFC events click here.