Derrick Lewis’ huge knockout win over Gabriel Gonzaga gets him a well-earned spot in the UFC heavyweight division’s top 15 rankings.
The latest UFC rankings are out, and the heavyweight division has seen significant changes following Sunday’s fights in Zagreb. Junior dos Santos has climbed up to 4th after his big win over Ben Rothwell, who is now 6th. Derrick Lewis‘ emphatic KO vs. Gabriel Gonzaga earned him the #13 ranking, as he seeks a fight with Roy Nelson at UFC 200.
The full UFC rankings can be found here.
Before we go on any further, I want to note that some of the rankings you’ll see are the result of changes to the voting rules. Brian Hemminger explained this all a few days ago, and I’ve reposted his tweets here for clarity.
#1 change: Fighters can only be ranked in one weight class at a time (with a couple notable exceptions)
— Brian Hemminger (@BrianHemminger) April 11, 2016
#2: A fighter must continue being ranked in their old weight class until they actually fight in a new weight class. So Barao still a 135-er
— Brian Hemminger (@BrianHemminger) April 11, 2016
#3: A fighter announcing a weight class move should not be punished in their current weight class (until they actually fight at the new div)
— Brian Hemminger (@BrianHemminger) April 11, 2016
Lastly, here are the fighter currently exempt from the new rules who can be ranked in multiple classes: Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz & Cerrone
— Brian Hemminger (@BrianHemminger) April 11, 2016
Pound-for-Pound: No changes
Women’s Strawweight: Maryna Moroz’s win over Cristina Stanciu improves her positioning from 9th to 8th, ahead of Michelle Waterson.
Flyweight: No changes
Bantamweight: Renan Barao returned to 2nd now that fighters won’t be punished for announcing weight class changes without officially competing there. Urijah Faber, Raphael Assuncao, and Aljamain Sterling all drop one spot and make up 3rd-5th. Frankie Saenz also rose two spots to 11th, while Jimmie Rivera dipped to 13th.
Women’s Bantamweight: Sarah Kaufman was pulled from the list altogether. She was ranked 10th last week but now isn’t on there at all, indicating she’s been let go by the UFC. Valetina Shevchenko, Raquel Pennington, Germainde de Randamie, Lauren Murphy, and Marion Reneau all get the beneficial bump to 10th-14th. Ashlee Evans-Smith rounds out the list.
Featherweight: As per the new UFC rankings rules, Nik Lentz can no longer be ranked at 145 now that he’s back at 155, so Clay Guida has taken his old spot at 14, while Mirsad Bektic rounds out the list.
Lightweight: Donald Cerrone is back up to #6, which drops Michael Johnson into a tie for 7th with Beneil Dariush, and Edson Barboza moves down to 9th.
Welterweight: No changes
Middleweight: No changes
Light Heavyweight: No changes
Heavyweight: JDS is 4th, ahead of Andrei Arlovski at 5th and Rothwell at 6th. Roy Nelson re-enters the top 10 at 10th, while Frank Mir falls to 11th. Derrick Lewis is in at 13th, sending Ruslan Magomedov and Oleksiy Oliynyk to 14th and 15th, respectively. Stefan Struve is no longer ranked.