USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings, May 12: Justin Gaethje pops up pound-for-pound list

The UFC made good on the promotion’s promise to return to live action ahead of other U.S. sports, and the card had quite the impact on the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings.

In the main event of this past weekend’s UFC 249, Justin Gaethje (22-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) scored a fifth-round stoppage of an incredibly game Tony Ferguson (25-4 MMA, 15-2 UFC) to claim an interim lightweight title and set up a unification bout with undefeated champ Khabib Nurmagomedov (28-0 MMA, 12-0 UFC) later this year.

The result pushed Gaethje up to No. 2 on our lightweight list and also saw “The Highlight” debut at No. 11 on our pound-for-pound list.

Of course, the lightweight division wasn’t the only division impacted by a card that had ranked athletes scheduled from the very first fight of the night, so take a look at the newest edition of the USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings, which finally featured some movement after two months of inactivity in the sport.