Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently updated its official rankings in the wake of its UFC Vegas 11 mixed martial arts (MMA) event, which took place last Sat. night (Sept. 19, 2020) inside the promotion’s APEX facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley continued his 170-pound free fall, dropping to No. 7 following his third consecutive loss, courtesy of longtime rival Colby Covington, who takes over the No. 2 spot with his fifth-round finish.
Much to the chagrin of Gilbert Burns.
Despite his sensational 17-second knockout over Gerald Meerschaert (watch it here), undefeated prospect Khamzat Chimaev will not make his debut in the official rankings just yet, simply because “Borz” has yet to face (and defeat) a ranked opponent.
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. Stipe Miocic
4. Israel Adesanya
5. Kamaru Usman
6. Alexander Volkanovski
7. Justin Gaethje
8. Dustin Poirier
9. Max Holloway
10. Conor McGregor
11. Petr Yan
12. Tony Ferguson +2
13. Robert Whittaker -1
14. Deiveson Figueiredo -1
15. Francis Ngannou
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Deiveson Figueiredo
1. Joseph Benavidez
2. Brandon Moreno
3. Askar Askarov
4. Alex Perez
5. Alexandre Pantoja
6. Jussier Formiga
7. Kai Kara France
8. Rogerio Bontorin
9. Brandon Royval +1
10. Matt Schnell -1
11. (T) Raulian Paiva
11. (T) David Dvorak +3
13. Tim Elliott -1
14. Jordan Espinosa -1
15. Tyson Nam *NR
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Petr Yan
1. Marlon Moraes
2. Aljamain Sterling
3. Cody Garbrandt
4. Cory Sandhagen
5. Frankie Edgar
6. Pedro Munhoz
7. Jose Aldo
8. Jimmie Rivera
9. Raphael Assuncao
10. Dominick Cruz +1
11. Rob Font -1
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
9. Arnold Allen
10. Dan Ige
11. Sodiq Yusuff
12. Ryan Hall
13. Shane Burgos
14. Edson Barboza +1
15. Bryce Mitchell *NR
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV
1. Justin Gaethje
2. Dustin Poirier
3. Tony Ferguson
4. Dan Hooker +1
5. Conor McGregor -1
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 +1
15. Donald Cerrone -1
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: KAMARU USMAN
1. Colby Covington +1
2. Gilbert Burns -1
3. Leon Edwards
4. Jorge Masvidal
5. Stephen Thompson +1
6. Demian Maia +1
7. Tyron Woodley -2
8. Michael Chiesa
9. Rafael dos Anjos
10. (T) Vicente Luque
10. (T) Neil Magny +1
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: VACANT
1. Dominick Reyes
2. Thiago Santos
3. Jan Blachowicz
4. Glover Teixeira
5. Aleksandar Rakic
6. Jiri Prochazka
7. Volkan Oezdemir
8. Anthony Smith
9. Nikita Krylov
10. Johnny Walker +1
11. Misha Cirkunov -1
12. Ryan Spann
13. Magomed Ankalaev
14. Mauricio Rua
15. Paul Craig
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. Shamil Abdurakhimov
10. Augusto Sakai
11. Aleksei Oleinik
12. (T) Sergei Pavlovich
12. (T) Blagoy Ivanov
14. Ciryl Gane
15. Tanner Boser
WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Amanda Nunes
2. Weili Zhang
3. Valentina Shevchenko
4. Rose Namajunas
5. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
6. Jessica Andrade
7. Tatiana Suarez
8. Holly Holm
9. Germaine De Randamie
10. Aspen Ladd
11. Katlyn Chookagian
12. Claudia Gadelha
13. Cynthia Calvillo
14. Julianna Pena
15. Nina Ansaroff
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: WEILI ZHANG
1. Rose Namajunas
2. Jessica Andrade
3. Tatiana Suarez
4. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
5. Nina Ansaroff
6. Carla Esparza
7. Claudia Gadelha
8. Michelle Waterson
9. Marina Rodriguez
10. Yan Xiaonan
11. Tecia Torres
12. Amanda Ribas
13. Angela Hill
14. Mackenzie Dern +1
15. Virna Jandiroba -1
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: VALENTINA SHEVCHENKO
1. Katlyn Chookagian
2. Cynthia Calvillo
3. Jennifer Maia
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. Julianna Pena
5. Raquel Pennington
6. Irene Aldana
7. Ketlen Vieira
8. Yana Kunitskaya
9. Sara McMann
10. Marion Reneau
11. Macy Chiasson
12. Lina Lansberg
13. Sijara Eubanks
14. Pannie Kianzad
15. Julia Avila
There you have it.
You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week, particularly in the middleweight division, following this weekend’s UFC 253: “Adesanya vs. Costa” pay-per-view (PPV) event from inside Flash Forum on “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi.
For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.