After an extremely quiet event last weekend in UFC on FOX 27, which brought in the lowest television numbers ever for the series, the focus of the activity for this week’s official UFC rankings is actually on two fighters who may never fight in the UFC again.
Former welterweight and middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre was finally removed from the 185-pound rankings after vacating the belt roughly a month after winning it from Michael Bisping at November’s UFC 217. The MMA great cited a bout with colitis as a result of the increased diet needed to move up to middleweight, and with his coaches claiming he might take two more years off or even retire, his status in the UFC remains tenuous.
‘Rush’ stayed but also dropped on the pound-for-pound rankings, coming in at No. 6 after falling three spots.
One storied champion who didn’t fall out the rankings even though there wasfor more reason for her to was former women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. Rousey made her debut appearance with pro-wrestling giant WWE at their Royal Rumble pay-per-view event last Sunday, noting afterward that ‘was her life’ for the next several years.
But even though she’s now competing in sports entertainment and have given absolutely no indication she would ever return after two consecutive knockout losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes, Rousey somehow stayed pat on the women’s bantamweight rankings at No. 9.
Perhaps it’s wishful thinking.
Anyway, here are the fully updated rankings via UFC.com:
POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Demetrious Johnson
2 Conor McGregor
3 Daniel Cormier +1
4 Stipe Miocic +2
4 Max Holloway
6 Georges St-Pierre -3
7 TJ Dillashaw
8 Tyron Woodley
9 Cris Cyborg
10 Tony Ferguson
11 Cody Garbrandt
12 Robert Whittaker
13 Amanda Nunes
14 Khabib Nurmagomedov
15 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Demetrious Johnson
1 Joseph Benavidez
2 Henry Cejudo
3 Ray Borg
4 Jussier Formiga
5 Sergio Pettis
6 Wilson Reis
7 Brandon Moreno
8 Ben Nguyen
9 Dustin Ortiz
10 John Moraga
11 Matheus Nicolau
12 Tim Elliott -1
13 Alexandre Pantoja
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 Bryan Caraway
8 John Dodson
9 Aljamain Sterling
10 Pedro Munhoz
11 Rob Font
12 Thomas Almeida
13 Eddie Wineland
14 Brett Johns
15 Matthew Lopez
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Max Holloway
1 Jose Aldo
2 Frankie Edgar
3 Brian Ortega
4 Josh Emmett
5 Cub Swanson
6 Ricardo Lamas
7 Chan Sung Jung
8 Jeremy Stephens
9 Darren Elkins
10 Yair Rodriguez
11 Renato Moicano
12 Mirsad Bektic +3
13 Dooho Choi
14 Myles Jury
15 Calvin Kattar *NR
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Conor McGregor
1 Tony Ferguson (Interim Champion)
2 Khabib Nurmagomedov
3 Eddie Alvarez
4 Edson Barboza
5 Dustin Poirier
6 Justin Gaethje
7 Kevin Lee
8 Nate Diaz
9 Michael Chiesa
10 Al Iaquinta
11 Beneil Dariush
12 James Vick
13 Anthony Pettis
14 Francisco Trinaldo -1
15 Evan Dunham
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Tyron Woodley
1 Stephen Thompson
2 Rafael Dos Anjos
3 Colby Covington
4 Robbie Lawler
5 Demian Maia
6 Jorge Masvidal
7 Darren Till
8 Neil Magny
9 Kamaru Usman
10 Santiago Ponzinibbio
11 Donald Cerrone
12 Carlos Condit
13 Gunnar Nelson
14 Dong Hyun Kim
15 Yancy Medeiros
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Robert Whittaker
1 Yoel Romero
2 Luke Rockhold
3 Jacare Souza
4 Chris Weidman +1
5 Kelvin Gastelum +1
6 Michael Bisping +1
7 Derek Brunson +1
8 David Branch +1
9 Uriah Hall +1
10 Vitor Belfort +1
11 Brad Tavares +4
12 Krzysztof Jotko
13 Lyoto Machida +1
14 Paulo Costa -1
15 Thiago Santos *NR
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Alexander Gustafsson
2 Glover Teixeira
2 Volkan Oezdemir
4 Jimi Manuwa
5 Ovince Saint Preux
6 Mauricio Rua
7 Misha Cirkunov
8 Ilir Latifi
8 Corey Anderson
10 Patrick Cummins
11 Jan Blachowicz
12 Gadzhimurad Antigulov
13 Tyson Pedro
14 Gian Villante
15 Jared Cannonier
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Stipe Miocic
1 Francis Ngannou
2 Alistair Overeem
3 Fabricio Werdum
4 Cain Velasquez
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 Carla Esparza
7 Michelle Waterson
8 Felice Herrig +1
9 Cynthia Calvillo -1
10 Alexa Grasso
11 Randa Markos
12 Cortney Casey
13 Joanne Calderwood
14 Maryna Moroz
15 Tatiana Suarez
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Nicco Montano
1 Sijara Eubanks
2 Lauren Murphy
3 Alexis Davis
4 Roxanne Modafferi
5 Barb Honchak
6 Liz Carmouche
7 Katlyn Chookagian *NR
8 Jessica-Rose Clark -1
9 Jessica Eye +1
10 Montana De La Rosa -2
11 Mara Romero Borella -2
12 Rachael Ostovich -1
13 Paige VanZant -1
14 Shana Dobson -1
15 Gillian Robertson -1
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Amanda Nunes
1 Valentina Shevchenko
2 Holly Holm
3 Julianna Pena
4 Raquel Pennington
5 Germaine de Randamie
6 Ketlen Vieira
7 Cat Zingano
8 Sara McMann
9 Ronda Rousey
10 Marion Reneau
11 Leslie Smith +1
12 Bethe Correia +1
13 Aspen Ladd +2
14 Sarah Moras
15 Irene Aldana *NR
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