Darren Till has completed a massive rise up the rankings, but it’s sure to be controversial.
The 25-year-old future star won a close and controversial unanimous decision over former title contender Stephen Thompson in the main event of last weekend’s (Sun. May 27, 2018) UFC Liverpool, a fight that’s largely dominated recent MMA headlines for its head-scratching result.
It was a bout short on much relevant action following a ton of hype for the UFC’s debut in Liverpool, yet many questioned if Till truly deserved the victory overall, as he lacked many clear moments of offense. Two 49-46 scores in his favor were egregious if we’re honest, and many prominent MMA personalities have weighed in with the same opinion more or less.
However, that apparently doesn’t matter to the media members who vote on the official UFC rankings. Previous No. 8 Till rose a ridiculous six spots to No. 2 on the latest update, jumping him ahead of previous No. 3 Colby Covington, who will meet Rafael dos Anjos for the interim belt at June 9’s UFC 225, following a highly debatable decision in a fight that certainly didn’t deliver on the sizable buzz it brought.
The contentious victory also had a cascading effect on much of the Top 10 at 170 pounds, with Thompson dropping two spots to No. 3, Robbie Lawler dropping two spots to No. 5, Kamaru Usman and Demian Maia dropping one spot apiece to Nos. 6 and 7, respectively, and Jorge Masvidal falling two spots to No. 9. Neil Magny rose one spot to No. 8 for his TKO win against short-notice replacement Craig White in the UFC Liverpool co-main event.
In other rankings movement, the middleweight division saw a decent shakeup after Michael Bisping somewhat surprisingly announced his retirement this week.
Do you agree with Till’s massive rise for his not-so-impressive ‘win’?
Check out the full updated rankings via UFC.com here:
POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Demetrious Johnson
2 Georges St-Pierre
3 Conor McGregor
3 Stipe Miocic
5 Daniel Cormier
6 Max Holloway
7 TJ Dillashaw
8 Tyron Woodley
9 Khabib Nurmagomedov
10 Cris Cyborg
11 Tony Ferguson
12 Amanda Nunes
13 Robert Whittaker
14 Cody Garbrandt
15 Rose Namajunas
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Demetrious Johnson
1 Joseph Benavidez
2 Henry Cejudo
3 Ray Borg
4 Jussier Formiga
5 Sergio Pettis
6 John Moraga
7 Wilson Reis
8 Alexandre Pantoja
9 Brandon Moreno
10 Dustin Ortiz
11 Ben Nguyen
12 Matheus Nicolau
13 Tim Elliott
14 Deiveson Figueiredo
15 Magomed Bibulatov
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: TJ Dillashaw
1 Cody Garbrandt
2 Dominick Cruz
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 Jimmie Rivera
5 Marlon Moraes
6 John Lineker
7 John Dodson
8 Aljamain Sterling
9 Bryan Caraway
10 Pedro Munhoz
11 Cody Stamann
12 Rob Font
13 Thomas Almeida
14 Brett Johns
15 Eddie Wineland
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Max Holloway
1 Brian Ortega
2 Jose Aldo
3 Frankie Edgar
4 Jeremy Stephens
5 Cub Swanson
6 Josh Emmett
7 Ricardo Lamas
8 Chan Sung Jung
9 Renato Moicano
10 Darren Elkins
11 Mirsad Bektic
12 Zabit Magomedsharipov
13 Myles Jury
14 Dooho Choi
15 Calvin Kattar
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Khabib Nurmagomedov
1 Conor McGregor
2 Tony Ferguson
3 Eddie Alvarez
4 Dustin Poirier
5 Kevin Lee
6 Edson Barboza
7 Justin Gaethje
8 Nate Diaz
9 Michael Chiesa
10 Al Iaquinta
11 James Vick
12 Anthony Pettis
13 Alexander Hernandez
14 Paul Felder
15 Olivier Aubin-Mercier
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Tyron Woodley
1 Rafael Dos Anjos +1
2 Darren Till +6
3 Stephen Thompson -2
4 Colby Covington -1
5 Robbie Lawler -2
6 Kamaru Usman -1
7 Demian Maia -1
8 Neil Magny +1
9 Jorge Masvidal -2
10 Santiago Ponzinibbio
11 Donald Cerrone
12 Gunnar Nelson
13 Leon Edwards +1
14 Alex Oliveira -1
15 Dong Hyun Kim
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Robert Whittaker
1 Yoel Romero
2 Luke Rockhold
3 Chris Weidman
4 Kelvin Gastelum
5 Jacare Souza
6 Derek Brunson +1
7 David Branch +1
8 Lyoto Machida +1
8 Brad Tavares +1
10 Uriah Hall +1
11 Antonio Carlos Junior +1
12 Thiago Santos
13 Paulo Costa +1
14 Elias Theodorou +1
15 Krzysztof Jotko *NR
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Alexander Gustafsson
2 Volkan Oezdemir
3 Glover Teixeira
4 Ilir Latifi
5 Jan Blachowicz
6 Jimi Manuwa
7 Mauricio Rua
7 Ovince Saint Preux
9 Corey Anderson
10 Misha Cirkunov
11 Patrick Cummins
12 Dominick Reyes
13 Gadzhimurad Antigulov
14 Tyson Pedro
15 Gian Villante
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Stipe Miocic
1 Francis Ngannou
2 Alistair Overeem
3 Alexander Volkov
4 Curtis Blaydes
5 Derrick Lewis +1
6 Mark Hunt +1
7 Junior Dos Santos +8
8 Marcin Tybura
9 Andrei Arlovski
10 Aleksei Oleinik
11 Stefan Struve
12 Tai Tuivasa
13 Shamil Abdurakhimov
14 Justin Willis
15 Junior Albini *NR
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Rose Namajunas
1 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
2 Jessica Andrade
3 Claudia Gadelha
4 Karolina Kowalkiewicz
5 Tecia Torres
6 Carla Esparza
7 Michelle Waterson
8 Felice Herrig
9 Tatiana Suarez
10 Cortney Casey
11 Alexa Grasso
12 Randa Markos
13 Nina Ansaroff
14 Joanne Calderwood
15 Angela Hill
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Nicco Montano
1 Valentina Shevchenko
2 Sijara Eubanks
3 Lauren Murphy
4 Alexis Davis
5 Katlyn Chookagian
6 Barb Honchak
7 Liz Carmouche
8 Roxanne Modafferi
9 Jessica-Rose Clark
10 Jessica Eye
11 Ashlee Evans-Smith
12 Andrea Lee
13 Mara Romero Borella
14 Paige VanZant
15 Gillian Robertson *NR
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Amanda Nunes
1 Holly Holm
2 Ketlen Vieira
3 Julianna Pena
4 Raquel Pennington
5 Germaine de Randamie
6 Cat Zingano
7 Marion Reneau
8 Sara McMann
9 Aspen Ladd
10 Bethe Correia
11 Lina Lansberg +3
12 Irene Aldana -1
13 Lucie Pudilova -1
14 Sarah Moras -1
15 Gina Mazany
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