Tag: Yoel Romero

UFC Rankings Update: Jon Jones’ Removal Causes Pound-For-Pound Shift

The UFC’s removal of former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones from the official rankings has caused a sizable shift in the pound-for-pound list. As he awaits his punishment for a potential USADA anti-doping violation that forced him out of his UFC 200 main event with Daniel Cormier, Jones’ absence on the list that he ruled

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The UFC’s removal of former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones from the official rankings has caused a sizable shift in the pound-for-pound list.

As he awaits his punishment for a potential USADA anti-doping violation that forced him out of his UFC 200 main event with Daniel Cormier, Jones’ absence on the list that he ruled for several years boosted every fighter from No. 4 Conor McGregor down to No. 14 T.J. Dillashaw up a spot, while also allowing featherweight rival Frankie Edgar to re-debut at No. 15.

“Bones” absence from the 205-pound ranks moved everyone from No. 1 Anthony “Rumble” Johnson to No. 13 Patrick Cummins up a spot, and also allowed Misha Cirkunov to debut at No. 14.

There was also a UFC event last weekend, with touted featherweight prospect Yair Rodriguez outlasting Alex Caceres in the main event of the UFC’s Utah debut of UFC Fight Night 92. For the win, Rodriguez moved up to spots to No. 11, forcing Darren Elkins and Dooho Choi downs to the Nos. 12 and 13 spots, respectively.

At middleweight, Yoel Romero moved up an alarming 11 spots to No. 4 after his USADA suspension ended, pushing Vitor Belfort, Anderson Silva, Robert Whittaker, and Gegard Mousasi down to the No. 5-8 spots.

Here are the full updated rankings from UFC.com:

POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Demetrious Johnson
2 Dominick Cruz
3 Daniel Cormier
4 Conor McGregor +1
5 Jose Aldo +1
6 Eddie Alvarez +1
7 Joanna Jedrzejczyk +1
8 Stipe Miocic +1
9 Tyron Woodley +1
10 Michael Bisping +1
11 Robbie Lawler +1
12 Rafael Dos Anjos +1
13 Luke Rockhold +1
14 TJ Dillashaw +1
15 Frankie Edgar *NR

FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Demetrious Johnson
1 Joseph Benavidez
2 Henry Cejudo
3 Kyoji Horiguchi
3 Jussier Formiga
5 Ian McCall
6 Wilson Reis
7 Zach Makovsky
8 Ali Bagautinov
9 Louis Smolka
10 John Moraga
11 Matheus Nicolau
12 Dustin Ortiz
13 Justin Scoggins
14 Ray Borg
15 Sergio Pettis

BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Dominick Cruz
1 TJ Dillashaw
2 Urijah Faber
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 Bryan Caraway
5 John Lineker
6 Aljamain Sterling
7 Michael McDonald
8 Cody Garbrandt
9 John Dodson
10 Thomas Almeida
11 Takeya Mizugaki
12 Eddie Wineland
13 Jimmie Rivera
14 Johnny Eduardo
15 Frankie Saenz

FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Conor McGregor
1 Jose Aldo (Interim Champion)
2 Frankie Edgar
3 Max Holloway
4 Ricardo Lamas
5 Cub Swanson
6 Charles Oliveira
7 Jeremy Stephens
8 Dennis Bermudez
9 Brian Ortega
10 Hacran Dias
11 Yair Rodriguez +2
12 Darren Elkins -1
13 Dooho Choi -1
14 Mirsad Bektic +1
15 Tatsuya Kawajiri -1

LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Eddie Alvarez
1 Khabib Nurmagomedov
2 Rafael Dos Anjos
3 Tony Ferguson
4 Nate Diaz
5 Edson Barboza
6 Donald Cerrone
7 Anthony Pettis
8 Dustin Poirier
9 Michael Chiesa
10 Michael Johnson
11 Beneil Dariush
12 Will Brooks
13 Al Iaquinta
14 Gilbert Melendez
15 Rashid Magomedov

WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Tyron Woodley
1 Robbie Lawler
2 Stephen Thompson
3 Rory MacDonald
4 Demian Maia
5 Carlos Condit
6 Kelvin Gastelum
7 Neil Magny
8 Johny Hendricks
9 Rick Story
10 Dong Hyun Kim
11 Gunnar Nelson
12 Matt Brown
13 Tarec Saffiedine
14 Donald Cerrone
15 Jake Ellenberger

MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Michael Bisping
1 Luke Rockhold
2 Chris Weidman
3 Jacare Souza
4 Yoel Romero +11
5 Vitor Belfort -1
6 Anderson Silva -1
7 Robert Whittaker -1
8 Gegard Mousasi -1
9 Uriah Hall
10 Derek Brunson
11 Thales Leites +1
12 Dan Henderson +1
12 Tim Kennedy -1
14 Rafael Natal
15 Thiago Santos *NR

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Anthony Johnson +1
2 Glover Teixeira +1
3 Alexander Gustafsson +1
4 Ryan Bader +1
5 Ovince Saint Preux +1
6 Mauricio Rua +1
7 Rashad Evans +1
8 Jimi Manuwa +1
9 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira +1
10 Nikita Krylov +1
11 Corey Anderson +1
12 Ilir Latifi +1
13 Patrick Cummins +1
14 Misha Cirkunov *NR
15 Gian Villante

HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Stipe Miocic
1 Fabricio Werdum
2 Cain Velasquez
3 Alistair Overeem
4 Junior Dos Santos
5 Ben Rothwell
6 Andrei Arlovski
7 Travis Browne
8 Mark Hunt +1
9 Josh Barnett +1
10 Derrick Lewis +1
11 Roy Nelson +1
12 Ruslan Magomedov +3
13 Stefan Struve +1
14 Francis Ngannou *NR
15 Antonio Silva *NR

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Joanna Jedrzejczyk
1 Claudia Gadelha
2 Karolina Kowalkiewicz
3 Carla Esparza
4 Rose Namajunas
5 Tecia Torres
6 Jessica Andrade
7 Joanne Calderwood
8 Valerie Letourneau
9 Maryna Moroz
10 Paige VanZant
11 Michelle Waterson
12 Jessica Penne
13 Randa Markos +1
14 Jessica Aguilar -1
15 Juliana Lima

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Amanda Nunes
1 Miesha Tate
2 Ronda Rousey
3 Valentina Shevchenko
4 Holly Holm
5 Julianna Pena
6 Cat Zingano
7 Sara McMann
8 Liz Carmouche
8 Raquel Pennington
10 Jessica Eye
11 Bethe Correia
12 Germaine de Randamie
13 Ashlee Evans-Smith
14 Katlyn Chookagian
15 Marion Reneau

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Yoel Romero Comments On His Return To The UFC Rankings

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Yoel Romero was viewed as the next contender to the UFC middleweight title after he defeated Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza. However, the former Olympic wrestler was taken back down …

yoel-romero-interview

Yoel Romero was viewed as the next contender to the UFC middleweight title after he defeated Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza. However, the former Olympic wrestler was taken back down the ladder when his results from a drug test came back positive.

After fighting the test, Romero was given a brief suspension and reinstated to compete.

But he wasn’t provided his same ranking in the UFC’s 185-pound Top-15.

While Romero isn’t really pleased with how everything went down, he was able to have some fun with it, mentioning Dan Henderson receiving the next title shot against Michael Bisping despite his standing being outside the Top-10.

Six Biggest USADA Busts In The UFC So Far

Attempting to rid the sport of performance-enhancing-drugs (PEDs), the UFC signed a deal with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) last summer to implement a new and stricter drug testing program. When the partnership was first announced, now former UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta famously stated that “it’s going to get a lot worse before it

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Attempting to rid the sport of performance-enhancing-drugs (PEDs), the UFC signed a deal with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) last summer to implement a new and stricter drug testing program. When the partnership was first announced, now former UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta famously stated that “it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better.” Perhaps he was right, as we’ve seen our fair share of fighters popped by USADA in recent memory.

In fact, we’ve seen two of the sport’s biggest stars notified of potential anti-doping violations in just the last few weeks alone. With that being said, it’s interesting to take a look back at USADA’s short history working with the UFC.

Whether it be the most shocking or the most impactful, let’s take a look at the six biggest busts by USADA in the UFC:

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Yoel Romero Wants to Fight Georges St-Pierre

The middleweight division got a lot more interesting at UFC 199, as Michael Bisping put together a lifetime performance in knocking out Luke Rockhold. A seemingly advantageous position for ‘Rocky’ actually turned out to be a nightmare. Chris Weidman dropped out injured and ‘The Count’ stepped in on two weeks notice to score a huge win.

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The middleweight division got a lot more interesting at UFC 199, as Michael Bisping put together a lifetime performance in knocking out Luke Rockhold. A seemingly advantageous position for ‘Rocky’ actually turned out to be a nightmare. Chris Weidman dropped out injured and ‘The Count’ stepped in on two weeks notice to score a huge win. Having already wobbled and submitted Bisping in their first fight, The American Kickboxing Academy representative came in to the June 4 pay-per-view main slot as heavy favorite.

After 10 years of toiling in the upper-middle tier, always falling at that pivotal stage of his run at the belt, Bisping had staked his claim, and with that came all new rivalries. Never before has a single victory caused so many ripples, spreading out to the very edges of the division and including some of the most well known names in mixed martial arts history.

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Suddenly Dan Henderson was being talked about for a rematch, for obvious reasons, and Bisping was on board. But then Georges St-Pierre, the former welterweight champion, claimed he’d be making a return at 185 pounds and wanted a piece of the Englishman. Contenders Jacare Souza and the long-absent Tim Kennedy, former champions Chris Weidman, Luke Rockhold and Anderson Silva all have recently issued challenges to ‘The Count.’ After a decade of being dismissed by his fellow middleweights, Bisping now holds the 185-pound world in his hands.

But one interesting fight that may come of this shuffle of affairs in the middleweight category includes Yoel Romero. Although currently on the USADA (United States Anti Doping Agency) mandated suspension which was eventually agreed upon to expire after only six months, ‘Soldier of God’s’ return date is now in sight. He was initially popped for growth hormone, but it was later revealed through testing that a legal supplement had indeed carried the illicit substance. Romero took to Twitter to send out a statement to the consensus greatest welterweight of all time, Georges St-Pierre:

Given his stern stance against PED (performance enhancing drug) use in MMA, albeit to a lightly lesser and unfortunate degree, do you think ‘Rush’ will have any interest in fighting Romero? Further to that, if the ex-champion can walk straight in to title contention with a fight against Bisping, why worry about anyone else in the meantime?

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“Jacare” Souza Might ‘Spank’ Someone Before Title Shot

When former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman was forced to withdraw from his scheduled title rematch with Luke Rockhold at June 4’s UFC 199, top contender Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza was the UFC’s first choice to fill in. “Jacare” was dealing with a knee injury, however, and the promotion called on long-time divisional mainstay Michael Bisping

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When former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman was forced to withdraw from his scheduled title rematch with Luke Rockhold at June 4’s UFC 199, top contender Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza was the UFC’s first choice to fill in.

“Jacare” was dealing with a knee injury, however, and the promotion called on long-time divisional mainstay Michael Bisping to step up and face off with Rockhold.

Bisping would end up shocking the world and knocking Rockhold out cold in the very first round to become the new undisputed 185-pound champion.

Recently speaking with MMAFighting.com, Souza said that he’ll be ready to return by November, and that he feels deserving of the next title shot, although he may ‘spank’ someone else before the shot at gold presents itself:

“I’m not afraid at all, I think I deserve the title shot,” said Souza in response to the idea that he’d be passed over after declining to fill in for any injured Weidman at UFC 199. “Even if they give me somebody else to fight before the title shot, I might take it and spank someone. But I know I have the right to be the next one.”

Despite holding a very impressive 6-1 Octagon record, Souza may very well be passed over, as the title shot could be awarded to Weidman. The ex-champion recently called out Bisping for a fight in his home of New York on November 12, 2016 at UFC 205 which may be too lucrative of an opportunity for the UFC to pass up.

Yoel Romero is another top contender in the title discussion, and he actually owns a win over “Jacare” last December, albeit a controversial victory at best.

While admitting that he should’ve prepared better for that bout, Souza also claimed that “The Soldier of God” fought dirty:

“I probably should have been better prepared for that fight, but I believe I did a good job,” added Souza regarding his defeat to Romero. “I came back, I showed heart. And he was not loyal. He kind of fought dirty, held the cage twice. It is what it is.”

Who should receive the next shot at gold in the stacked 185-pound division?

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Four Fights For Michael Bisping To Take Next

Well, UFC 199, which went down last night live on pay-per-view (PPV) from The Forum in Inglewood, California, provided the mixed martial arts (MMA) community with one of the craziest nights in recent memory. Multiple story lines prevailed, but perhaps none more memorable than the one that emerged from the main event. 25 Octagon fights

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Well, UFC 199, which went down last night live on pay-per-view (PPV) from The Forum in Inglewood, California, provided the mixed martial arts (MMA) community with one of the craziest nights in recent memory.

Multiple story lines prevailed, but perhaps none more memorable than the one that emerged from the main event.

25 Octagon fights and a decade into his storied UFC career, Michael “The Count” Bisping has finally reached the pinnacle.

Accepting a bout with Luke Rockhold on just over two weeks’ notice, many had Bisping was a huge +600 underdog heading into the night.

After all, Rockhold did dismantle the British veteran in November 2014, and Bisping came into that bout with a full camp.

However, as we are so often reminded, the fight game is unpredictable.

Bisping came out firing in the first round, putting Rockhold away with strikes early on to become the undisputed middleweight champion of the world.

What a rollercoaster ride it has been for “The Count”, and now at age 37, he’s finally on top.

Let’s take a look at four potential fights for Bisping to take next:

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