UFC fighter rankings: New entry in pound-for-pound top five, new top contender at 170

UFC 211 didn’t put a big dent in the UFC rankings, but there were a couple of significant moves.

UFC 211 was high on excitement but turned out to be low on relevancy, at least in terms of the rankings. If the results had gone in a different direction, there would have been major rankings upheaval – but that didn’t happen. A big knockout in the main event did move the heavyweight champ up on the mythical pound-for-pound list, and a close welterweight win cemented a Brazilian’s position as the number one contender at 170.

Here’s a look at all the changes.

P4P – UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic’s swift knockout of Junior dos Santos moved him up one spot on the P4Ps to five, dropping Cody Garbrandt to six. Frankie Edgar re-entered the list at 15 after totally dominating Yair Rodriguez.

Heavyweight – No changes.

Light Heavyweight – Gian Villante moved up one spot to 13, dropping Jan Blachowicz to 15. Gadzhimurad Antigulov entered the list at 15 following a submission win in Dallas.

Middleweight – Former WSOF champ David Branch’s narrow win over Krzysztof Jotko helped him enter the list at a tie for nine with Jotko. This dropped Vitor Belfort one spot to 11, Thales Leites one to 12, Uriah Hall one to 13, Sam Alvey one to 14, and Daniel Kelly one to 15.

Welterweight – Demian Maia is now the number one contender following his win over Jorge Masvidal. This dropped Stephen Thompson and Robbie Lawler to two and three respectively.

Lightweight – Edson Barboza moved up one spot to four, dropping former champ Rafael dos Anjos to five. RDA is moving to welterweight.

Featherweight – No changes.

Bantamweight – No changes.

Flyweight – No changes.

Women’s Bantamweight – No changes.

Women’s Strawweight – The busiest division by far in terms of changes. Rose Namajunas moves up one spot to three, dropping Jessica Andrade one to four following her blowout loss to champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Carla Esparza is up one to eight, dropping Randa Markos to nine. Cortney Casey entered the rankings at 11 after her victory over Jessica Aguilar. Paige VanZant fell one spot to 12. Cynthia Calvillo is up one to 14. Aguilar dropped three to 15.

UFC 211 didn’t put a big dent in the UFC rankings, but there were a couple of significant moves.

UFC 211 was high on excitement but turned out to be low on relevancy, at least in terms of the rankings. If the results had gone in a different direction, there would have been major rankings upheaval – but that didn’t happen. A big knockout in the main event did move the heavyweight champ up on the mythical pound-for-pound list, and a close welterweight win cemented a Brazilian’s position as the number one contender at 170.

Here’s a look at all the changes.

P4P – UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic’s swift knockout of Junior dos Santos moved him up one spot on the P4Ps to five, dropping Cody Garbrandt to six. Frankie Edgar re-entered the list at 15 after totally dominating Yair Rodriguez.

Heavyweight – No changes.

Light Heavyweight – Gian Villante moved up one spot to 13, dropping Jan Blachowicz to 15. Gadzhimurad Antigulov entered the list at 15 following a submission win in Dallas.

Middleweight – Former WSOF champ David Branch’s narrow win over Krzysztof Jotko helped him enter the list at a tie for nine with Jotko. This dropped Vitor Belfort one spot to 11, Thales Leites one to 12, Uriah Hall one to 13, Sam Alvey one to 14, and Daniel Kelly one to 15.

Welterweight – Demian Maia is now the number one contender following his win over Jorge Masvidal. This dropped Stephen Thompson and Robbie Lawler to two and three respectively.

Lightweight – Edson Barboza moved up one spot to four, dropping former champ Rafael dos Anjos to five. RDA is moving to welterweight.

Featherweight – No changes.

Bantamweight – No changes.

Flyweight – No changes.

Women’s Bantamweight – No changes.

Women’s Strawweight – The busiest division by far in terms of changes. Rose Namajunas moves up one spot to three, dropping Jessica Andrade one to four following her blowout loss to champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Carla Esparza is up one to eight, dropping Randa Markos to nine. Cortney Casey entered the rankings at 11 after her victory over Jessica Aguilar. Paige VanZant fell one spot to 12. Cynthia Calvillo is up one to 14. Aguilar dropped three to 15.