New Rankings! Overeem Returns To Top 5

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently updated its official rankings in the wake of its UFC Vegas 9 mixed martial arts (MMA) event, which took place last Sat. night (Sept. 5, 2020) inside the promotion’s APEX facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Veteran bruiser Alistair Overeem returned to the Top 5 with his commanding performance against Augusto Sakai in the heavyweight main event. The Brazilian held fast at No. 9, where he shares a spot with the rough-and-tumble Shamil Abdurakhimov.

Those were just two of the notable changes at 265 pounds, which saw a fair amount of shuffling with the retirement of ex-champion Daniel Cormier. “DC” was previously ranked No. 3 at heavyweight and No. 7 pound-for-pound.

Here’s a refresher on 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
4. Israel Adesanya
5. Kamaru Usman
6. Alexander Volkanovski
7. Justin Gaethje +1
8. Dustin Poirier +1
9. Max Holloway +1
10. Conor McGregor +1
11. Petr Yan +1
12. Robert Whittaker +2
13. Tony Ferguson +2
14. Deiveson Figueiredo -1
15. Francis Ngannou *NR

FLYWEIGHT

Champion: Deiveson Figueiredo

1. Joseph Benavidez
2. Brandon Moreno
3. Askar Askarov
4. Alex Perez
5. Alexandre Pantoja
6. Jussier Formiga
7. Kai Kara France
8. Rogerio Bontorin
9. Matt Schnell
10. Brandon Royval
11. Tim Elliott
12. Raulian Paiva
13. Jordan Espinosa
14. David Dvorak
15. Amir Albazi

BANTAMWEIGHT

Champion: Petr Yan

1. Marlon Moraes
2. Aljamain Sterling
3. Cody Garbrandt
4. Cory Sandhagen
5. Frankie Edgar
6. Pedro Munhoz
7. Jose Aldo
8. Jimmie Rivera
9. Raphael Assuncao
10. Rob Font
11. Dominick Cruz
12. Cody Stamann
13. Merab Dvalishvili
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. Josh Emmett
8. Jeremy Stephens
9. Arnold Allen
10. Dan Ige
11. Sodiq Yusuff
12. Ryan Hall
13. Shane Burgos
14. Jose Aldo
15. Edson Barboza

LIGHTWEIGHT

Champion: KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV

1. Justin Gaethje
2. Dustin Poirier
3. Tony Ferguson
4. Conor McGregor
5. Dan Hooker
6. Charles Oliveira
7. Paul Felder
8. Diego Ferreira
9. Al Iaquinta
10. Kevin Lee
11. Beneil Dariush
12. Islam Makhachev
13. Gregor Gillespie
14. Donald Cerrone
15. Drew Dober

WELTERWEIGHT

Champion: KAMARU USMAN

1. Gilbert Burns
2. Colby Covington
3. Leon Edwards
4. Jorge Masvidal
5. Tyron Woodley
6. Stephen Thompson
7. Demian Maia
8. Michael Chiesa
9. Rafael dos Anjos
10. Vicente Luque
11. Neil Magny
12. Geoff Neal
13. Nate Diaz
14. Anthony Pettis
15. Robbie Lawler

MIDDLEWEIGHT

Champion: ISRAEL ADESANYA

1. Robert Whittaker
2. Paulo Costa
3. Jared Cannonier
4. Jack Hermansson
5. Yoel Romero
6. Darren Till
7. Derek Brunson
8. Kelvin Gastelum
9. Uriah Hall
10. Chris Weidman +1
11. Edmen Shahbazyan -1
12. Brad Tavares
13. Omari Akhmedov
14. Marvin Vettori +1
15. Ian Heinisch -1

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT

Champion: VACANT

1. Dominick Reyes
2. Thiago Santos
3. Jan Blachowicz
4. Glover Teixeira
5. Aleksandar Rakic
6. Jiri Prochazka
7. Volkan Oezdemir
8. Anthony Smith
9. Nikita Krylov
10. Misha Cirkunov
11. Johnny Walker
12. Ryan Spann
13. Magomed Ankalaev
14. Mauricio Rua -1
15. Paul Craig

HEAVYWEIGHT

Champion: STIPE MIOCIC

1. Francis Ngannou
2. Curtis Blaydes
3. Jairzinho Rozenstruik +1
4. Derrick Lewis +1
5. Alistair Overeem +1
6. Alexander Volkov +2
7. Junior dos Santos
8. Walt Harris +2
9. (T) Augusto Sakai
9. (T) Shamil Abdurakhimov +2
11. Aleksei Oleinik +1
12. Sergei Pavlovich +2
13. (T) Ciryl Gane
13. (T) Blagoy Ivanov +2
15. Tanner Boser *NR

WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND

1. Amanda Nunes
2. Weili Zhang
3. Valentina Shevchenko
4. Rose Namajunas
5. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
6. Jessica Andrade
7. Tatiana Suarez
8. Holly Holm
9. Germaine De Randamie
10. Aspen Ladd
11. Katlyn Chookagian
12. Claudia Gadelha
13. Cynthia Calvillo
14. Julianna Pena
15. Nina Ansaroff

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT

Champion: WEILI ZHANG

1. Rose Namajunas
2. Jessica Andrade
3. Tatiana Suarez
4. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
5. Nina Ansaroff
6. Claudia Gadelha
7. Carla Esparza
8. Michelle Waterson
9. Marina Rodriguez
10. Yan Xiaonan
11. Tecia Torres
12. Amanda Ribas
13. Angela Hill
14. Virna Jandiroba
15. Mackenzie Dern

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT

Champion: VALENTINA SHEVCHENKO

1. Katlyn Chookagian
2. Cynthia Calvillo
3. Jennifer Maia
4. Lauren Murphy
5. Jessica Eye
6. Joanne Calderwood -1
7. Viviane Araujo +1
8. Roxanne Modafferi -1
9. Andrea Lee
10. Maycee Barber
11. Alexis Davis +1
12. Montana De La Rosa -1
13. Antonina Shevchenko
14. Alexa Grasso
15. Gillian Robertson

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT

Champion: AMANDA NUNES

1. Germaine de Randamie
2. Holly Holm
3. Aspen Ladd
4. Julianna Pena
5. Raquel Pennington
6. Irene Aldana
7. Ketlen Vieira
8. Yana Kunitskaya
9. Sara McMann
10. Marion Reneau
11. Lina Lansberg
12. Macy Chiasson
13. Pannie Kianzad
14. Julia Avila
15. Sijara Eubanks

There you have it.

You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week, particularly in the women’s strawweight division, following this weekend’s UFC Vegas 10: “Waterson vs. Hill” mixed martial arts (MMA) event from inside UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.

For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.