New Rankings! Burns Takes Over No. 1 Spot
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently updated its official rankings in the wake of the UFC on ESPN 9 mixed martial arts (MMA) event, which took place last Sat. night (May 30, 2020) inside UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, with Tyron Woodley and Gilbert Burns handling main event duties.
Not surprisingly, Burns rocketed to the No. 1 spot after knocking Woodley around for all five rounds. Whether that promotion equates to an immediate title shot remains to be seen. Elsewhere on the charts, Augusto Sakai improved to No. 10 in the wake of his decision victory over Blagoy Ivanov, while Brandon Royval made his flyweight debut at No. 11.
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).
MEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Jon Jones
2. Khabib Nurmagomedov
3. Stipe Miocic +1
4. Israel Adesanya +1
5. Daniel Cormier +1
6. Kamaru Usman +1
7. Alexander Volkanovski +1
8. Conor McGregor +1
9. Max Holloway +1
10. Justin Gaethje +1
11. Dustin Poirier +1
12. Tony Ferguson +1
13. Robert Whittaker +1
14. Francis Ngannou *NR
15. Dominick Reyes *NR
*Tyron Woodley and Henry Cejudo went bye-bye
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: VACANT
1. Deiveson Figueiredo
2. Joseph Benavidez
3. Brandon Moreno
4. Jussier Formiga
5. Alexandre Pantoja
6. Askar Askarov
7. Kai Kara France
8. Rogerio Bontorin
9. Alex Perez
10. Matt Schnell
11. Brandon Royval *NR
12. Tim Elliott -1
13. Jordan Espinosa -1
14. Raulian Paiva -1
15. David Dvorak -1
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: VACANT
1. Marlon Moraes
2. Aljamain Sterling
3. Petr Yan
4. Cory Sandhagen
5. Raphael Assuncao
6. Jose Aldo
7. Pedro Munhoz
8. Jimmie Rivera
9. Cody Garbrandt
10. Rob Font
11. Dominick Cruz
12. Cody Stamann
13. John Dodson
14. Song Yadong
15. Marlon Vera
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI
1. Max Holloway
2. Brian Ortega
3. Zabit Magomedsharipov
4. Chan Sung Jung
5. Yair Rodriguez
6. Calvin Kattar
7. Frankie Edgar
8. Josh Emmett
9. Jeremy Stephens
10. Shane Burgos
11. Dan Ige
12. Arnold Allen -1
13. Jose Aldo
14. Ryan Hall
15. Sodiq Yosef
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV
1. Justin Gaethje
2. Tony Ferguson
3. Dustin Poirier
4. Conor McGregor
5. Dan Hooker
6. Paul Felder
7. Charles Oliveira
8. Kevin Lee
9. Al Iaquinta
10. Diego Ferreira
11. Gregor Gillespie
12. Donald Cerrone +1
13. Islam Makhachev -1
14. Beneil Dariush +1
15. Drew Dober -1
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: KAMARU USMAN
1. Gilbert Burns +5
2. Colby Covington
3. Jorge Masvidal
4. Tyron Woodley -3
5. Leon Edwards -1
6. Stephen Thompson -1
7. Demian Maia
8. Michael Chiesa
9. Rafael dos Anjos
10. Nate Diaz
11. Geoff Neal
12. Robbie Lawler
13. Vicente Luque
14. Anthony Pettis +1
15. Conor McGregor -1
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: ISRAEL ADESANYA
1. Robert Whittaker
2. Paulo Costa
3. Jared Cannonier
4. (T) Yoel Romero
4. (T) Darren Till
6. Jack Hermansson
7. Kelvin Gastelum
8. Derek Brunson
9. Edmen Shahbazyan
10. Uriah Hall
11. Brad Tavares
12. Omari Akhmedov
13. Ian Heinisch
14. Antonio Carlos Junior
15. Krzysztof Jotko
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: JON JONES
1. Dominick Reyes
2. Thiago Santos
3. Jan Blachowicz
4. Corey Anderson
5. Glover Teixeira
6. Anthony Smith
7. Volkan Oezdemir
8. Alexander Gustafsson
9. Aleksandar Rakic
10. Nikita Krylov
11. Johnny Walker
12. Misha Cirkunov
13. Ryan Spann
14. Magomed Ankalaev
15. Mauricio Rua
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: STIPE MIOCIC
1. Daniel Cormier
2. Francis Ngannou
3. Curtis Blaydes
4. Derrick Lewis
5. Junior dos Santos -1
6. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
7. Alexander Volkov
8. Alistair Overeem
9. Walt Harris
10. Augusto Sakai +3
11. Aleksei Oleinik -1
12. Shamil Abdurakhimov -1
13. Sergei Pavlovich +1
14. Fabricio Werdum +1
15. Blagoy Ivanov -3
WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND
1. Amanda Nunes
2. Weili Zhang
3. Valentina Shevchenko
4. Jessica Andrade
5. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
6. Rose Namajunas
7. Tatiana Suarez
8. Holly Holm
9. Germaine De Randamie
10. Aspen Ladd
11. Katlyn Chookagian
12. Jessica Eye
13. Claudia Gadelha
14. Julianna Pena
15. Nina Ansaroff -1
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. Yan Xiaonan
12. Tecia Torres
13. Alexa Grasso
14. Felice Herrig
15. Amanda Ribas
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: VALENTINA SHEVCHENKO
1. Jessica Eye
2. Katlyn Chookagian
3. Joanne Calderwood
4. Jennifer Maia
5. Roxanne Modafferi
6. Lauren Murphy
7. Viviane Araujo
8. Andrea Lee
9. Maycee Barber
10. Alexis Davis
11. Montana De La Rosa
12. Antonina Shevchenko
13. Ji Yeon Kim
14. Molly McCann
15. Cortney Casey
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: AMANDA NUNES
1. Germaine de Randamie
2. Holly Holm
3. Aspen Ladd
4. Julianna Pena
5. Irene Aldana
6. Raquel Pennington
7. Ketlen Vieira
8. Yana Kunitskaya
9. Sara McMann
10. Marion Reneau
11. Lina Lansberg
12. Macy Chiasson
13. Bethe Correia
14. Sijara Eubanks
15. Nicco Montano
There you have it.