Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Despite her strong showing, Joanna Jedrzejczyk holds steady at No. in the strawweight division.
I don’t think the media members charged with the official UFC rankings understand what pound-for-pound means. If they did, there is no way strawweight champion Weili Zhang would have been voted ahead of current flyweight titleholder Valentina Shevchenko.
Zhang (21-1) has dominated one weight class in five trips to the Octagon.
Shevchenko (19-3), on the other hand, beat top bantamweight contenders like Holly Holm and Julianna Pena before dropping down in weight to capture the 125-pound title, proving she is equally dangerous in either weight class.
Whatever.
The UFC rankings were recently updated in the wake of the UFC 248 pay-per-view (PPV) event last Sat. night (March 7, 2020) on ESPN+, held inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, where Zhang outlasted former champion, Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
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).
MEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Jon Jones
2. Khabib Nurmagomedov
3. Henry Cejudo
4. Stipe Miocic
5. Israel Adesanya +1
6. Daniel Cormier -1
7. Kamaru Usman
8. Alexander Volkanovski
9. Conor McGregor
10. Tony Ferguson
11. Max Holloway
12. Dustin Poirier
13. Tyron Woodley
14. Robert Whittaker
15. Dominick Reyes
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: VACANT
1. Deiveson Figueiredo
2. Joseph Benavidez
3. Jussier Formiga
4. Alexandre Pantoja
5. Brandon Moreno
6. Askar Askarov
7. Kai Kara France
8. Rogerio Bontorin
9. Alex Perez
10. Matt Schnell
11. Tim Elliott
12. Jordan Espinosa
13. Raulian Paiva
14. Mark De La Rosa
15. Tyson Nam
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: HENRY CEJUDO
1. Marlon Moraes
2. Aljamain Sterling
3. Petr Yan
4. Cory Sandhagen
5. Raphael Assuncao
6. Jose Aldo
7. Pedro Munhoz
8. Jimmie Rivera
9. Cody Garbrandt
10. Rob Font
11. Cody Stamann
12. John Dodson
13. Song Yadong
14. Marlon Vera
15. Raoni Barcelos
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI
1. Max Holloway
2. Brian Ortega
3. Zabit Magomedsharipov
4. Chan Sung Jung
5. Yair Rodriguez
6. Frankie Edgar
7. Renato Moicano
8. Jeremy Stephens
9. Josh Emmett
10. Calvin Kattar
11. Jose Aldo
12. Shane Burgos
13. Ryan Hall
14. Sodiq Yosef
15. Arnold Allen
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV
1. Tony Ferguson
2. Dustin Poirier
3. Conor McGregor
4. Justin Gaethje
5. Dan Hooker
6. Donald Cerrone
7. Paul Felder
8. Kevin Lee
9. Al Iaquinta
10. Edson Barboza
11. Diego Ferreira
12. Gregor Gillespie
13. Charles Oliveira
14. Islam Makhachev
15. Alexander Hernandez
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: KAMARU USMAN
1. Tyron Woodley
2. Colby Covington
3. Jorge Masvidal
4. Leon Edwards
5. Demian Maia
6. Stephen Thompson
7. Michael Chiesa
8. Rafael dos Anjos
9. Nate Diaz
10. Geoff Neal
11. Robbie Lawler
12. Gilbert Burns
13. Anthony Pettis +1
14. Vicente Luque -1
15. Conor McGregor
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: ISRAEL ADESANYA
1. Robert Whittaker
2. Paulo Costa
3. Jared Cannonier +1
4. Yoel Romero -1
5. Darren Till
6. Jack Hermansson
7. Kelvin Gastelum
8. Derek Brunson
9. Edmen Shahbazyan
10. Uriah Hall
11. Brad Tavares
12. Omari Akhmedov
13. Ian Heinisch
14. Antonio Carlos Junior
15. Anderson Silva
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: JON JONES
1. Dominick Reyes
2. Thiago Santos
3. Anthony Smith
4. Jan Blachowicz
5. Corey Anderson
6. Volkan Oezdemir +1
7. Alexander Gustafsson +1
8. Glover Teixeira +1
9. Aleksandar Rakic +1
10. Johnny Walker +1
11. Misha Cirkunov +1
12. Nikita Krylov +1
13. Magomed Ankalaev +2
14. Ronaldo Souza
15. Mauricio Rua *NR
Note: Inactivity leaves Daniel Cormier ineligible to be ranked at 205 pounds.
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: STIPE MIOCIC
1. Daniel Cormier
2. Francis Ngannou
3. Curtis Blaydes
4. Junior dos Santos
5. Derrick Lewis
6. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
7. Alexander Volkov
8. Alistair Overeem
9. Walt Harris
10. Shamil Abdurakhimov
11. Blagoy Ivanov
12. Aleksei Oleinik
13. Augusto Sakai
14. Sergei Pavlovich
15. Ciryl Gane
WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Amanda Nunes
2. Weili Zhang +1
3. Valentina Shevchenko -1
4. Jessica Andrade
5. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
6. Rose Namajunas
7. Tatiana Suarez
8. Holly Holm -1
9. Germaine De Randamie
10. Aspen Ladd
11. Katlyn Chookagian
12. Jessica Eye
13. Julianna Pena
14. Nina Ansaroff
15. Claudia Gadelha
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. Yan Xiaonan
12. Felice Herrig
13. Tecia Torres
14. Alexa Grasso
15. Angela Hill
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: VALENTINA SHEVCHENKO
1. Jessica Eye
2. Katlyn Chookagian
3. Joanne Calderwood
4. Jennifer Maia
5. Roxanne Modafferi
6. Lauren Murphy
7. Viviane Araujo
8. Andrea Lee
9. Maycee Barber
10. Alexis Davis
11. Montana De La Rosa
12. Antonina Shevchenko
13. Ji Yeon Kim
14. Molly McCann
15. Poliana Botelho
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: AMANDA NUNES
1. Germaine de Randamie
2. Holly Holm
3. Aspen Ladd
4. Julianna Pena
5. Irene Aldana
6. Raquel Pennington
7. Ketlen Vieira
8. Yana Kunitskaya
9. Sara McMann
10. Marion Reneau
11. Lina Lansberg
12. Macy Chiasson
13. Bethe Correia
14. Nicco Montano
15. Sijara Eubanks
There you have it.
You can expect these standings to change around this time next week, particularly in the lightweight division, following the UFC Fight Night 170: “Lee vs. Oliveira” mixed martial arts (MMA) event, which takes places this Sat. night (March 14, 2020) from inside Nilson Nelson Gymnasium in Brasilia, Brazil (see that fight card here).
For even more upcoming UFC events click here.