Francis Ngannou has risen to the top spot in the latest UFC rankings.
The surging heavyweight star improved three spots to No. 1 after his scintillating first-round knockout of former title challenger in the co-main event of last Saturday’s (Dec. 2, 2017) UFC 218 from Detroit.
It’s the expected result, as news broke last night that Ngannou would be taking on current champion Stipe Miocic in the main event of January 20’s UFC 220 from Boston, Massachusetts. Miocic has also finished Overeem in the main event of September 2016’s UFC 203, but it wasn’t without some adversity, as ‘The Demolition Man’ dropped the Ohioan in the first frame and had him in trouble before getting stopped with strikes himself.
‘The Predator’ had no such trouble with Overeem, which undoubtedly played into him opening as the betting favorite over Miocic. Ngannou has won six straights fights in the UFC while Miocic has won five, making their title fight one of the best in the recent memory of the UFC’s star power-void heavyweight division.
For now, check out the full updated rankings courtesy of the UFC’s official website right here:
POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Demetrious Johnson
2 Georges St-Pierre
3 Conor McGregor
4 Max Holloway
5 Daniel Cormier
6 TJ Dillashaw
7 Stipe Miocic
8 Tyron Woodley
9 Tony Ferguson
10 Cris Cyborg
11 Cody Garbrandt
12 Amanda Nunes
12 Robert Whittaker +1
14 Joanna Jedrzejczyk +1
15 Dominick Cruz *NR
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Demetrious Johnson
1 Joseph Benavidez
2 Henry Cejudo
3 Ray Borg
4 Jussier Formiga +1
5 Sergio Pettis -1
6 Wilson Reis
7 Brandon Moreno
8 Ben Nguyen
9 John Moraga
10 Dustin Ortiz
11 Tim Elliott
12 Alexandre Pantoja
13 Louis Smolka
14 Deiveson Figueiredo
15 Magomed Bibulatov
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: TJ Dillashaw
1 Cody Garbrandt
2 Dominick Cruz
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 Jimmie Rivera
5 John Lineker
6 Bryan Caraway
7 Marlon Moraes
8 Aljamain Sterling
9 John Dodson
10 Thomas Almeida
11 Pedro Munhoz
12 Eddie Wineland
13 Brett Johns *NR
14 Rob Font -1
15 Matthew Lopez -1
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Max Holloway
1 Jose Aldo
2 Frankie Edgar
3 Ricardo Lamas
4 Cub Swanson
5 Chan Sung Jung
6 Brian Ortega
7 Yair Rodriguez
8 Jeremy Stephens
9 Darren Elkins
10 Renato Moicano
11 Dennis Bermudez
12 Dooho Choi
13 Mirsad Bektic
14 Myles Jury
15 Jason Knight
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Conor McGregor
1 Tony Ferguson (Interim Champion)
2 Khabib Nurmagomedov
3 Eddie Alvarez +1
4 Edson Barboza -1
5 Justin Gaethje
6 Nate Diaz
7 Dustin Poirier
8 Kevin Lee
9 Michael Chiesa
10 Michael Johnson +1
11 Al Iaquinta -1
12 Beneil Dariush
13 Anthony Pettis
14 Francisco Trinaldo *NR
15 James Vick -1
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Tyron Woodley
1 Stephen Thompson
2 Robbie Lawler
3 Colby Covington
4 Rafael Dos Anjos
5 Demian Maia
6 Jorge Masvidal
7 Darren Till
8 Carlos Condit
9 Donald Cerrone
10 Santiago Ponzinibbio
11 Neil Magny
12 Kamaru Usman
13 Gunnar Nelson
14 Dong Hyun Kim
15 Yancy Medeiros *NR
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Georges St-Pierre
1 Robert Whittaker (Interim Champion)
2 Yoel Romero
3 Luke Rockhold
4 Jacare Souza
5 Chris Weidman
6 Kelvin Gastelum
7 Michael Bisping
8 Derek Brunson
9 Anderson Silva
10 David Branch
11 Uriah Hall
12 Vitor Belfort
13 Krzysztof Jotko
14 Lyoto Machida
15 Paulo Costa
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Alexander Gustafsson
2 Volkan Oezdemir
3 Glover Teixeira
4 Jimi Manuwa
5 Ovince Saint Preux
6 Mauricio Rua
7 Misha Cirkunov
8 Corey Anderson
9 Ilir Latifi
10 Patrick Cummins
11 Rogerio Nogueira
12 Gadzhimurad Antigulov
13 Tyson Pedro
14 Jared Cannonier
15 Jan Blachowicz
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Stipe Miocic
1 Francis Ngannou +3
2 Alistair Overeem -1
3 Fabricio Werdum -1
4 Cain Velasquez -1
5 Mark Hunt
6 Derrick Lewis
7 Alexander Volkov
8 Marcin Tybura
9 Curtis Blaydes
10 Stefan Struve
11 Aleksei Oleinik
12 Andrei Arlovski
13 Junior Albini
14 Travis Browne
15 Tim Johnson
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Rose Namajunas
1 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
2 Jessica Andrade
3 Claudia Gadelha
4 Karolina Kowalkiewicz
5 Tecia Torres
6 Cynthia Calvillo +1
7 Michelle Waterson -1
8 Felice Herrig +1
9 Carla Esparza -1
10 Alexa Grasso
11 Cortney Casey
12 Paige VanZant
13 Joanne Calderwood
14 Randa Markos
15 Maryna Moroz
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Nicco Montano
1 Sijara Eubanks *NR
2 Lauren Murphy *NR
3 Roxanne Modafferi *NR
4 Barb Honchak *NR
5 Montana De La Rosa *NR
6 DeAnna Bennett *NR
7 Rachael Ostovich *NR
8 Jessica Rose Clark *NR
9 Mara Romero Borella *NR
10 Shana Dobson *NR
11 Gillian Robertson *NR
12 Kalindra Faria *NR
13 Melinda Fabian *NR
14 Bec Rawlings *NR
15 Emily Whitmire *NR
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Amanda Nunes
1 Valentina Shevchenko
2 Holly Holm
3 Julianna Pena
4 Raquel Pennington
5 Ronda Rousey
6 Cat Zingano
7 Sara McMann
8 Ketlen Vieira
9 Germaine de Randamie
10 Alexis Davis
11 Liz Carmouche
12 Marion Reneau
13 Katlyn Chookagian
14 Bethe Correia
15 Leslie Smith
The post UFC Rankings Update: Francis Ngannou Overtakes Top Spot At HW appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.