Photo by Carmen Mandato/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Ribbit!
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently tied a ribbon around its UFC 253 pay-per-view (PPV) event, which took place last Sat. night (Sept. 26, 2020) inside Flash Forum on “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi. That’s where Israel Adesanya retained his 185-pound strap by smashing former undefeated title contender Paulo Costa.
The result was good enough to land him at No. 3 in the pound-for-pound rankings, one spot above UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic. And in case you’re too “dumb” to understand why, go ahead and read these comments from “The Last Stylebender,” who’s no stranger to “flatlining” larger opponents.
Elsewhere on the charts, newly-crowned light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz shook up the 205-pound list with his thumping of top contender Dominick Reyes. “The Devastator” drops to No. 2 behind Thiago Santos, while the rest of the field (with the exception of Ryan Spann) enjoys an extra rung on the ladder.
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 +1
4. Stipe Miocic -1
5. Kamaru Usman
6. Alexander Volkanovski
7. Dustin Poirier +1
8. Justin Gaethje -1
9. Max Holloway
10. Petr Yan +1
11. Conor McGregor -1
12. Deiveson Figueiredo +2
13. Tony Ferguson -1
14. Robert Whittaker -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. Brandon Royval +2
8. Kai Kara France -1
9. Rogerio Bontorin -1
10. Matt Schnell
11. David Dvorak
12. Raulian Paiva -1
13. Tim Elliott
14. Jordan Espinosa
15. Tyson Nam
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
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
9. Arnold Allen
10. (T) Dan Ige
10. (T) Shane Burgos +3
12. Sodiq Yusuff -1
13. Ryan Hall -1
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. Demian Maia
7. Tyron Woodley
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 +1
2. Dominick Reyes -1
3. Glover Teixeira +1
4. Aleksandar Rakic +1
5. Jiri Prochazka +1
6. Volkan Oezdemir +1
7. Anthony Smith +1
8. Nikita Krylov +1
9. Johnny Walker +1
10. Misha Cirkunov +1
11. Magomed Ankalaev +2
12. Ryan Spann
13. Mauricio Rua +1
14. Paul Craig +1
15. Ovince Saint Preux *NR
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. Sergei Pavlovich
13. Ciryl Gane +1
14. Blagoy Ivanov -2
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
15. Virna Jandiroba
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 women’s bantamweight division, following this weekend’s UFC Fight Island 4: “Holm vs. Aldana” mixed martial arts (MMA) event from “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi.
For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.