New Rankings! Aldo Joins Bantamweight Top 10
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) made significant changes to its official rankings in the wake of the UFC 245: “Usman vs. Covington” pay-per-view (PPV) event, which took place last weekend (Dec. 14, 2019) inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
While losses for Colby Covington and Germaine De Randamie did not cost them any ground in their respective weight classes, having already been ranked at or near the top of their divisions, Jose Aldo and Alexander Volkanovski were on the move in a big way.
“Junior” cracked the bantamweight Top 10, despite his questionable decision loss to top-ranked Marlon Moraes. As for “The Great” Aussie, he joins the pound-for-pound list after dethroning Max Holloway at 145 pounds.
Here’s how the rankings work, courtesy of UFC.com:
Rankings were generated by a voting panel made up of media members. The media members were asked to vote for who they feel are the top fighters in the UFC by weight-class and pound-for-pound. A fighter is only eligible to be voted on if they are in active status in the UFC. A fighter can appear in more than one weight division at a time. The champion and interim champion are considered to be in the top positions of their respective divisions and therefore are not eligible for voting by weight-class. However, the champions can be voted on for the pound-for-pound rankings.
Take a look at what the latest rankings field looks like courtesy of UFC.com. Note: (+/- = movement in rankings, T = tie, *NR = Not previously ranked).
POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Jon Jones
2. Khabib Nurmagomedov
3. Henry Cejudo
4. Stipe Miocic
5. Amanda Nunes
6. Daniel Cormier
7. Israel Adesanya +1
8. Kamaru Usman +2
9. Alexander Volkanovski *NR
10. Tony Ferguson -1
11. Valentina Shevchenko
12. Max Holloway -5
13. Robert Whittaker
14. Conor McGregor
15. Dustin Poirier -3
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: HENRY CEJUDO
1. Joseph Benavidez
2. Jussier Formiga
3. Deiveson Figueiredo
4. Alexandre Pantoja
5. Brandon Moreno
6. Rogerio Bontorin +1
7. Tim Elliott +1
8. Kai Kara France -2
9. Matt Schnell
10. Jordan Espinosa
11. Alex Perez
12. Askar Askarov
13. Ryan Benoit
14. Mark De La Rosa
15. Raulian Paiva
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: HENRY CEJUDO
1. Marlon Moraes
2. Aljamain Sterling
3. Petr Yan +1
4. Cory Sandhagen -1
5. Raphael Assuncao
6. Pedro Munhoz
7. Jimmie Rivera
8. Cody Garbrandt
9. Jose Aldo *NR
10. Rob Font -1
11. Cody Stamann -1
12. John Dodson -1
13. Song Yadong -1
14. Casey Kenny +1
15. Marlon Vera -1
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI
1. Max Holloway -1
2. Brian Ortega
3. Zabit Magomedsharipov +1
4. Frankie Edgar +1
5. Yair Rodriguez +1
6. Chan Sung Jung +1
7. Renato Moicano +1
8. Jose Aldo -5
9. Jeremy Stephens
10. Josh Emmett
11. Calvin Kattar
12. Shane Burgos
13. Mirsad Bektic
14. Ryan Hall +1
15. Arnold Allen -1
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV
1. Tony Ferguson
2. Dustin Poirier
3. (T) Conor McGregor
3. (T) Justin Gaethje +1
5. Donald Cerrone
6. Paul Felder
7. Dan Hooker
8. Kevin Lee
9. Al Iaquinta
10. Edson Barboza
11. Anthony Pettis
12. Gregor Gillespie
13. Charles Oliveira
14. Alexander Hernandez
15. Islam Makhachev
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: KAMARU USMAN
1. Tyron Woodley
2. Colby Covington
3. Jorge Masvidal
4. Leon Edwards
5. Rafael dos Anjos
6. Demian Maia
7. Santiago Ponzinibbio
8. Stephen Thompson
9. Nate Diaz
10. Anthony Pettis
11. Robbie Lawler
12. Geoff Neal +2
13. Gilbert Burns -1
14. Vicente Luque -1
15. Neil Magny
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: ISRAEL ADESANYA
1. Robert Whittaker
2. Paulo Costa
3. Yoel Romero
4. Jared Cannonier
5. Darren Till
6. Jack Hermansson
7. Kelvin Gastelum
8. Derek Brunson
9. Edmen Shahbazyan
10. Uriah Hall +1
11. Brad Tavares +1
12. Ian Heinisch -2
13. Omari Akhmedov +1
14. Antonio Carlos Junior -1
15. Anderson Silva
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: JON JONES
1. Thiago Santos
2. Daniel Cormier
3. Anthony Smith
4. Dominick Reyes
5. Corey Anderson
6. Jan Blachowicz
7. Alexander Gustafsson
8. Volkan Oezdemir
9. Glover Teixeira
10. Aleksandar Rakic
11. Johnny Walker
12. Ilir Latifi
13. Misha Cirkunov
14. Nikita Krylov
15. Ronaldo Souza
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: STIPE MIOCIC
1. Daniel Cormier
2. Francis Ngannou
3. Curtis Blaydes
4. Junior dos Santos
5. (T) Derrick Lewis
5. (T) Jairzinho Rozenstruik
7. Alexander Volkov
8. Alistair Overeem
9. Walt Harris
10. Shamil Abdurakhimov
11. Blagoy Ivanov
12. Aleksei Oleinik
13. Augusto Sakai
14. Sergei Pavlovich
15. Marcin Tybura
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: WEILI ZHANG
1. Jessica Andrade
2. Rose Namajunas
3. Tatiana Suarez
4. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
5. Nina Ansaroff
6. Claudia Gadelha
7. Carla Esparza
8. Michelle Waterson
9. Marina Rodriguez
10. Cynthia Calvillo
11. Alexa Grasso
12. Felice Herrig
13. Tecia Torres
14. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
15. Amanda Ribas
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: VALENTINA SHEVCHENKO
1. Katlyn Chookagian
2. Jessica Eye
3. Joanne Calderwood
4. Jennifer Maia
5. Viviane Araujo
6. Lauren Murphy
7. Roxanne Modafferi
8. Andrea Lee
9. Maycee Barber
10. Alexis Davis
11. Montana De La Rosa
12. Antonina Shevchenko
13. Mara Romero Borella
14. Paige VanZant
15. Ji Yeon Kim
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: AMANDA NUNES
1. Germaine de Randamie
2. Aspen Ladd +1
3. Holly Holm
4. Julianna Pena +1
5. (T) Irene Aldana +5
5. (T) Raquel Pennington +1
7. Ketlen Vieira -5
8. Yana Kunitskaya -1
9. Marion Reneau -1
10. Sara McMann -1
11. Lina Lansberg
12. Macy Chiasson
15. Bethe Correia
14. Nicco Montano
15. Sijara Eubanks
There you have it.