Last Saturday, the UFC touched down in sun-soaked Mexico City with UFC Fight Night 98. With this exciting event in the rear-view mirror, the UFC has updated their official rankings to reflect the shifts and shakeups that resulted from it.
The most notable rankings change that stemmed from the UFC’s recent trip to Mexico was the upward climb of Tony Ferguson. After defeating former champion Rafael Dos Anjos in the card’s main event, he surged past undefeated contender Khabib Nurmagomedov to steal the lightweight division’s number-one spot. Only the current champion Eddie Alvarez is ranked ahead of him.
Rising contender Beneil Dariush also scooted ahead one spot in the lightweight rankings, having defeated Rashid Magomedov on the UFC Fight Night 98 main card.
See the UFC’s updated rankings below (viaMMAMania.com)
POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Demetrious Johnson
2 Dominick Cruz
3 Daniel Cormier
4 Conor McGregor
5 Jose Aldo
6 Stipe Miocic
7 Eddie Alvarez
8 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
9 Tyron Woodley
10 Michael Bisping
11 Robbie Lawler
12 Luke Rockhold +1
13 T.J. Dillashaw +1
14 Cris Cyborg +1
15 Amanda Nunes *NR
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Demetrious Johnson
1 Joseph Benavidez
2 Henry Cejudo
3 Jussier Formiga
4 Kyoji Horiguchi
5 Ian McCall
6 Wilson Reis
7 Zach Makovsky
8 Ali Bagautinov
9 John Moraga
10 Dustin Ortiz +1
11 Justin Scoggins +1
12 Louis Smolka +1
13 Brandon Moreno +1
14 Ray Borg +1
15 Sergio Pettis *NR
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Dominick Cruz
1 TJ Dillashaw
2 John Lineker
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 Jimmie Rivera
5 Bryan Caraway
6 Cody Garbrandt
7 Urijah Faber
8 Aljamain Sterling
9 Michael McDonald
10 John Dodson
11 Thomas Almeida
12 Eddie Wineland
13 Johnny Eduardo
14 Takeya Mizugaki
15 Rani Yahya
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Conor McGregor
1 Jose Aldo (Interim Champion)
2 Frankie Edgar
3 Max Holloway
4 Ricardo Lamas
5 Cub Swanson
6 Anthony Pettis
7 Jeremy Stephens
8 Charles Oliveira
9 Dennis Bermudez
10 Brian Ortega
11 Yair Rodriguez
12 Darren Elkins
13 Mirsad Bektic +2
14 Dooho Choi -1
15 Renan Barao -1
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Eddie Alvarez
1 Tony Ferguson +2
2 Khabib Nurmagomedov -1
3 Rafael Dos Anjos -1
4 Nate Diaz
5 Edson Barboza
6 Michael Johnson
7 Michael Chiesa
8 Beneil Dariush +1
9 Donald Cerrone -1
10 Dustin Poirier
11 Gilbert Melendez
12 Francisco Trinaldo
13 Evan Dunham +1
14 Al Iaquinta -1
15 Will Brooks *NR
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Tyron Woodley
1 Robbie Lawler
2 Stephen Thompson
3 Demian Maia
4 Carlos Condit
5 Kelvin Gastelum
6 Donald Cerrone
7 Johny Hendricks
8 Lorenz Larkin
9 Neil Magny
10 Dong Hyun Kim
11 Rick Story
12 Gunnar Nelson
13 Tarec Saffiedine
14 Matt Brown
15 Jake Ellenberger
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Michael Bisping
1 Luke Rockhold
2 Chris Weidman
3 Jacare Souza
4 Yoel Romero
5 Gegard Mousasi
6 Anderson Silva
7 Robert Whittaker
8 Derek Brunson
9 Vitor Belfort
10 Uriah Hall
11 Thales Leites
12 Tim Kennedy
13 Dan Henderson
14 Rafael Natal
15 Krzysztof Jotko
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Anthony Johnson
2 Alexander Gustafsson
3 Glover Teixeira
4 Ryan Bader
5 Jimi Manuwa
6 Ovince Saint Preux
7 Mauricio Rua
8 Rashad Evans
9 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
10 Nikita Krylov
11 Corey Anderson
12 Ilir Latifi
13 Patrick Cummins
14 Misha Cirkunov
15 Gian Villante
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Stipe Miocic
1 Fabricio Werdum
2 Cain Velasquez
3 Alistair Overeem
4 Junior Dos Santos
5 Ben Rothwell
6 Josh Barnett
7 Mark Hunt
8 Andrei Arlovski
9 Travis Browne
10 Derrick Lewis
11 Roy Nelson
12 Stefan Struve
13 Francis Ngannou
14 Antonio Silva
15 Daniel Omielanczuk
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Joanna Jedrzejczyk
1 Claudia Gadelha
2 Karolina Kowalkiewicz
3 Carla Esparza
4 Rose Namajunas
5 Jessica Andrade
6 Tecia Torres
7 Joanne Calderwood
8 Paige VanZant
9 Valerie Letourneau
10 Maryna Moroz
11 Jessica Aguilar
12 Michelle Waterson
13 Jessica Penne
14 Cortney Casey
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 Raquel Pennington
9 Liz Carmouche
10 Bethe Correia
11 Germaine de Randamie
12 Ashlee Evans-Smith
13 Jessica Eye
14 Katlyn Chookagian
15 Marion Reneau
It’s worth noting that these rankings are likely to experience a real facelift this weekend, when the UFC touches down in Manhattan with UFC 205. The card will feature title fights at lightweight, welterweight, and strawweight, as well as appearances from ranked contenders at middleweight, welterweight, women’s bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight, middleweight and women’s bantamweight. All of these bouts are likely to effect divisional standings, and some are likely to change the face of the UFC’s pound-for-pound list too.