The UFC released some shocking info last week when news arrived that formerly hyped featherweight prospect Yair Rodriguez had been released from the promotion.
The story was that the flashy ‘Pantera,’ once viewed as one of the promotion’s brightest rising stars, refused to fight Zabit Magomedsharipov and Ricardo Lamas after word came that he would be facing the former at August 4’s expanding UFC 227 pay-per-view from Los Angeles, Calif.
UFC President Dana White wasted little time in releasing the skilled but absent Rodriguez as he focused on the once-hyped talent’s lengthy layoff and refusal to fight:
“The guy’s off a year, rejects a fight with Lamas and then doesn’t want to fight a guy below him in the rankings?” White said. “He can go somewhere else. We have no use for him. He calls that fight fake news. This is real news.”
While it was thought that the pending release was perhaps a tactic to get Rodriguez to accept the fight, apparently it’s very real as Rodriguez has been removed from his No. 11 spot on the UFC rankings in the latest update. His removal allowed Mirsad Bektic and Magomedsharipov to rise up a spot each and boosted Myles Jury by two spots.
In other prominent rankings movement, surging middleweight Kelvin Gastelum moved up a spot to No. 4 for his close split decision win over Ronaldo Souza at last weekend’s UFC 224 from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, dropping ‘Jacare’ three spots in the process.
Mackenzie Dern also made her debut on the women’s strawweight rankings despite missing weight for the division by an egregious seven pounds for her UFC 224 match-up with Amanda Bobby Cooper, which she eventually won by first-round submission.
While it’s definitely an accomplishment for Dern to debut on the rankings after two UFC bouts, the promotion has reportedly already said she will be forced to move up to women’s flyweight for her next bout, making her presence on the strawweight ranks a bit pointless until she proves she can make weight.
Here are the full updated rankings courtesy of UFC.com:
POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Demetrious Johnson
2 Georges St-Pierre
3 Stipe Miocic
3 Conor McGregor
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 Brandon Moreno
8 Wilson Reis
9 Ben Nguyen
10 Dustin Ortiz
11 Matheus Nicolau
12 Alexandre Pantoja
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 +1
12 Zabit Magomedsharipov +1
13 Myles Jury +2
14 Dooho Choi
15 Calvin Kattar *NR
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 Stephen Thompson
2 Rafael Dos Anjos
3 Colby Covington
4 Robbie Lawler
5 Demian Maia
6 Jorge Masvidal
7 Kamaru Usman
8 Darren Till
9 Neil Magny
10 Santiago Ponzinibbio
11 Donald Cerrone
12 Gunnar Nelson
13 Alex Oliveira
14 Leon Edwards
15 Dong Hyun Kim
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Robert Whittaker
1 Yoel Romero
2 Luke Rockhold +1
3 Chris Weidman +1
4 Kelvin Gastelum +1
5 Jacare Souza -3
6 Michael Bisping
7 Derek Brunson
8 David Branch
9 Lyoto Machida +3
10 Brad Tavares
11 Uriah Hall
12 Antonio Carlos Junior +1
12 Thiago Santos +1
14 Paulo Costa +1
15 Elias Theodorou *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 Tyson Pedro
13 Gadzhimurad Antigulov
14 Gian Villante
15 Jordan Johnson
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Stipe Miocic
1 Francis Ngannou
2 Alistair Overeem
3 Alexander Volkov
4 Curtis Blaydes
5 Fabricio Werdum
6 Derrick Lewis
7 Mark Hunt -1
8 Marcin Tybura
9 Andrei Arlovski
10 Aleksei Oleinik
11 Stefan Struve
12 Tai Tuivasa
13 Shamil Abdurakhimov
14 Justin Willis +1
15 Junior Dos Santos *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 Alexa Grasso
10 Cortney Casey
11 Randa Markos
12 Tatiana Suarez
13 Joanne Calderwood
14 Nina Ansaroff
15 Mackenzie Dern *NR
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Nicco Montano
1 Valentina Shevchenko
2 Sijara Eubanks
3 Lauren Murphy
4 Alexis Davis
5 Katlyn Chookagian
6 Roxanne Modafferi -1
7 Barb Honchak
8 Liz Carmouche
9 Jessica-Rose Clark
10 Jessica Eye
11 Ashlee Evans-Smith
12 Mara Romero Borella
13 Paige VanZant
14 Montana De La Rosa
15 Rachael Ostovich
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Amanda Nunes
1 Holly Holm
2 Ketlen Vieira +2
3 Julianna Pena
4 Raquel Pennington -2
5 Germaine de Randamie
6 Cat Zingano
7 Marion Reneau
8 Sara McMann
9 Aspen Ladd
10 Bethe Correia
11 Irene Aldana
12 Lucie Pudilova
13 Sarah Moras
14 Lina Lansberg
15 Gina Mazany
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