Photo by Zhe Ji/Getty Images
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) crowned a new strawweight champion in the UFC Fight Night 157 main event, scheduled for five rounds on ESPN+ (but lasting only one) last Sat. (Aug. 31, 2019) from inside Universiade Sports Centre in Shenzhen, China.
Hometown hero Weili Zhang became China’s first UFC champion by smashing former 115-pound titleholder Jessica Andrade. The first-round finish (see it again here) sent “Bate Estaca” down to strawweight’s No. 1 contender spot and completely eliminated her from the pound-for-pound rankings.
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. Max Holloway
7. Daniel Cormier
8. Dustin Poirier
9. Kamaru Usman
10. Tony Ferguson
11. Robert Whittaker
12. Valentina Shevchenko
13. Conor McGregor
14. Tyron Woodley
15. Israel Adesanya *NR
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: HENRY CEJUDO
1. Joseph Benavidez
2. Jussier Formiga
3. Deiveson Figueiredo
4. Alexandre Pantoja
5. Sergio Pettis
6. Tim Elliott
7. (T) Kai Kara France +3
7. (T) Rogerio Bontorin
9. Brandon Moreno -1
10. Matt Schnell -1
11. Jordan Espinosa
12. Ryan Benoit
13. Alex Perez
14. Mark De La Rosa
15. Raulian Paiva
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: HENRY CEJUDO
1. Marlon Moraes
2. Aljamain Sterling
3. Cory Sandhagen
4. (T) Petr Yan
4. (T) Raphael Assuncao +1
6. Pedro Munhoz
7. Dominick Cruz
8. Cody Garbrandt
9. Jimmie Rivera
10. Cody Stamann
11. Rob Font
12. John Dodson
13. Song Yadong
14. Urijah Faber
15. Thomas Almeida
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: MAX HOLLOWAY
1. Alexander Volkanovski
2. Brian Ortega
3. Jose Aldo
4. Frankie Edgar
5. Zabit Magomedsharipov
6. Chan Sung Jung
7. Yair Rodriguez
8. Jeremy Stephens
9. Renato Moicano
10. Josh Emmett
11. Calvin Kattar
12. Arnold Allen
13. Shane Burgos
14. Mirsad Bektic
15. Ryan Hall
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV
1. Dustin Poirier INTERIM
2. Tony Ferguson
3. Conor McGregor
4. Donald Cerrone
5. Justin Gaethje
6. Al Iaquinta
7. Edson Barboza
8. Kevin Lee
9. Anthony Pettis
10. Paul Felder
11. Gregor Gillespie
12. Charles Oliveira
13. Alexander Hernandez
14. Dan Hooker
15. Islam Makhachev
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: KAMARU USMAN
1. Tyron Woodley
2. Colby Covington
3. Jorge Masvidal
4. Leon Edwards
5. Rafael dos Anjos
6. Nate Diaz +1
7. Darren Till -1
8. Santiago Ponzinibbio
9. Stephen Thompson
10. Demian Maia
11. Ben Askren
12. Anthony Pettis
13. Robbie Lawler
14. Vicente Luque +1
15. Neil Magny *NR
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: ROBERT WHITTAKER
1. Israel Adesanya (Interim champion)
2. Paulo Costa
3. Yoel Romero
4. Kelvin Gastelum
5. Jack Hermansson
6. Ronaldo Souza
7. Chris Weidman
8. Derek Brunson
9. Jared Cannonier
10. Ian Heinisch
11. Brad Tavares
12. Uriah Hall
13. Antonio Carlos Junior
14. Anderson Silva
15. Krzysztof Jotko
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: JON JONES
1. Daniel Cormier
2. Thiago Santos
3. Anthony Smith
4. Dominick Reyes
5. Jan Blachowicz
6. Alexander Gustafsson
7. (T) Volkan Oezdemir
7. (T) Corey Anderson
9. Glover Teixeira
10. Aleksandar Rakic
11. Johnny Walker
12. Ilir Latifi
13 Nikita Krylov
14 Mauricio Rua
15 Misha Cirkunov
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: STIPE MIOCIC
1. Daniel Cormier
2. Francis Ngannou
3. Junior dos Santos
4. Curtis Blaydes
5. Derrick Lewis
6. Alexander Volkov
7. Alistair Overeem
8. Cain Velasquez
9. Shamil Abdurakhimov
10. Blagoy Ivanov
11. Walt Harris
12. Aleksei Oleinik
13. Tai Tuivasa
14. Marcin Tybura
15. Augusto Sakai
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: WEILI ZHANG
1. Jessica Andrade -1
2. Rose Namajunas -1
3. Tatiana Suarez -1
4. Nina Ansaroff -1
5. Joanna Jedrzejczyk -1
6. Claudia Gadelha -1
7. Michelle Waterson
8. Carla Esparza
9. Alexa Grasso
10. Marina Rodriguez
11. Cynthia Calvillo
12. Felice Herrig
13. Tecia Torres
14. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
15. Cortney Casey
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: VALENTINA SHEVCHENKO
1. Jessica Eye
2. Katlyn Chookagian
3. Liz Carmouche
4. Jennifer Maia
5. Joanne Calderwood
6. Andrea Lee
7. Viviane Araujo
8. Roxanne Modafferi
9. Lauren Murphy
10. Alexis Davis
11. Montana De La Rosa
12. Maycee Barber
13. Antonina Shevchenko
14. Mara Romero Borella
15. Gillian Robertson
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. Marion Reneau
9. Sara McMann
10. Irene Aldana
11. Macy Chiasson
12. Lina Lansberg
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 lightweight division, after the UFC 242: “Khabib vs. Poirier” pay-per-view (PPV) event this Sat. (Sept. 7, 2019) from inside The Arena on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.
For even more upcoming UFC events click here.