‘Zombie’ Slams UFC Rankings Over Latest Update

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Chan Sung Jung was expecting to capture the No. 2 spot in the official UFC rankings, thanks to a commanding performance in the UFC Busan main event last weekend in South Korea. Instead, his Frankie Edgar win (highlights) left him sitting at No. 4.

And he’s not too happy about it.

“One gained victory over an 11th ranker, and another hasn’t fought in 13 months,” Jung told his social media followers about Zabit Magomedsharipov (No. 3) and Brian Ortega (No. 2). “This ain’t a voting system for popularity, I’m number two.”

Unfortunately, the UFC rankings are based on the popular opinion of the combat sports media because you can’t create an algorithm to handle that sort of thing mathematically. So of course there will always be a certain amount of bias.

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
8. Kamaru Usman
9. Alexander Volkanovski
10. Tony Ferguson
11. Valentina Shevchenko
12. Max Holloway
13. Conor McGregor +1
14. Tyron Woodley *NR
15. Dustin Poirier

FLYWEIGHT

Champion: HENRY CEJUDO

1. Joseph Benavidez
2. Jussier Formiga
3. Deiveson Figueiredo
4. Alexandre Pantoja
5. Brandon Moreno
6. Rogerio Bontorin
7. Tim Elliott
8. Kai Kara France
9. Matt Schnell
10. Jordan Espinosa
11. Alex Perez
12. Askar Askarov
13. Mark De La Rosa +1
14. Raulian Paiva +1
15. Ryan Benoit -2

BANTAMWEIGHT

Champion: HENRY CEJUDO

1. Marlon Moraes
2. Aljamain Sterling
3. Petr Yan
4. Cory Sandhagen
5. Raphael Assuncao
6. Pedro Munhoz
7. Jimmie Rivera
8. Jose Aldo +1
9. Cody Garbrandt -1
10. Rob Font
11. Cody Stamann
12. John Dodson
13. Song Yadong
14. Marlon Vera +1
15. Casey Kenny -1

FEATHERWEIGHT

Champion: ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI

1. Max Holloway
2. Brian Ortega
3. Zabit Magomedsharipov
4. Chan Sung Jung +2
5. Yair Rodriguez
6. Frankie Edgar -2
7. Renato Moicano
8. Jeremy Stephens +1
9. Jose Aldo -1
10. Josh Emmett
11. Calvin Kattar
12. Shane Burgos
13. Mirsad Bektic
14. Ryan Hall
15. Arnold Allen

LIGHTWEIGHT

Champion: KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV

1. Tony Ferguson
2. Dustin Poirier
3. Justin Gaethje
4. Conor McGregor -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. Stephen Thompson +1
8. Nate Diaz +1
9. Anthony Pettis +1
10. Robbie Lawler +1
11. Geoff Neal +1
12. Vicente Luque +2
13. Gilbert Burns
14. Neal Magny +1
15. Li Jingliang *NR

Note: Santiago Ponzinibbio (formerly No. 7) removed due to inactivity

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
11. Brad Tavares
12. Ian Heinisch
13. Omari Akhmedov
14. Antonio Carlos Junior
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. Ciryl Gane *NR

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
3. Holly Holm
4. Julianna Pena
5. Raquel Pennington
6. Irene Aldana -1
7. Ketlen Vieira
8. Yana Kunitskaya
9. Marion Reneau
10. Sara McMann
11. Lina Lansberg
12. Macy Chiasson
13. Bethe Correia
14. Nicco Montano
15. Sijara Eubanks

There you have it.

You can expect these standings to change in a couple of weeks across multiple divisions after the UFC 246: “McGregor vs. Cowboy” pay-per-view (PPV) event on Sat., Jan. 18, 2020 from inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada (see that fight card here).

For even more upcoming UFC events click here.