Dominick Cruz has taken a leap up the pound-for-pound list in the newest edition of the UFC rankings.
This week’s Cowboy vs. Cowboy event didn’t have much relevance on the rankings list at all, other than Donald Cerrone moving to welterweight so he fell down the lightweight list. Nonetheless, there was a lot of movement in some divisions, including a lot in the pound-for-pound list. And the biggest benefactor was UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz.
Cruz, who recently defeated rival T.J. Dillashaw for the belt, moved into the top five at P4P, which is up three spots. Another mover this week was Stephen Thompson, who passed Tyron Woodley on the 170-pound list. Here’s a look of how it all went down division-by-division.
P4P – As mentioned, Cruz is up three to the four spot. Fabricio Werdum dropped one to six. Luke Rockhold is up one to seven. Robbie Lawler dropped two spots to eight. Daniel Cormier and Jose Aldo flip-flopped the nine and ten spots. Frankie Edgar moved up one spot to 14, bumping Joanna Jedrzejczyk to 15.
Heavyweight – Andrei Arlovski dropped one spot to six. He had been in a tie with Junior dos Santos for five.
Light Heavyweight – Antonio Rogerio Nogueira moved back up one spot to 10, bumping Patrick Cummins to 11.
Middleweight – Anderson Silva has a fight coming up, so I guess that means he should move up the list. He jumped two spots to five, dropping Tim Kennedy to six and his opponent, Michael Bisping, to seven. Derek Brunson’s big win in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 83 helped him to move up one spot to 12. He passed Rafael Natal, who dropped to 13.
Welterweight – Thompson passed Tyron Woodley for the number two contender spot, which could be quite a big deal. Also, Hector Lombard quietly re-entered the rankings at 14, tied with Albert Tumenov.
Lightweight – Cerrone’s move to welterweight helped some people move up. Cowboy dropped four spots to nine. Nate Diaz, who will fight Conor McGregor at welterweight at UFC 196, moved up one spot to five. Michael Johnson is up one to six. Beneil Dariush is up two spots to seven.
Featherweight – Brian Ortega moved up one spot to 12, passing Tatsuya Kawajiri who was robbed at UFC Fight Night 83 by inept officiating and general biases. Crusher will be back.
Bantamweight – No changes.
Flyweight – No changes.
Women’s Bantamweight – Marion Reneau dropped three spots to 15. This allowed Raquel Pennington and Germaine de Randamie to move up one spot to 12 and 13 respectively. Lauren Murphy entered the list at 14.
Women’s Strawweight – Michelle Waterson moved up two spots to 8, with Joanne Calderwood dropping two spots to ten. Karolina Kowalkiewicz took the 11 spot from Randa Markos, dropping her to 12.