McGregor Slips Below Whittaker In UFC Rankings

The “Notorious” Irishman, who does not like to have his ranking tampered with, will be dismayed to learn he’s now dropped below “The Reaper” on the promotion’s pound-for-pound list.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently updated its “official” rankings to reflect the winners and losers of the UFC Fight Island 7 mixed martial arts (MMA) event, which took place last weekend on ABC and ESPN+ from inside Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

Former featherweight champion Max Holloway was already ranked No. 1 at 145 pounds, so there was nowhere for “Blessed” to go with his five-round whooping of Calvin Kattar, who holds steady at No. 6 in defeat.

As for Jingliang Li, his destruction of Santiago Ponzinibbio landed him in the Top 15 at No. 12. The 32 year-old “Leech” has now won four of his last five and has a chance to break into the upper echelon of the welterweight division if he can stay on course.

On the pound-for-pound chart, former two-division champion Conor McGregor continued his slow and steady decline, recently falling behind ex-middleweight kingpin Robert Whittaker. Perhaps that will change after this weekend’s headliner on “Fight Island.”

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. Khabib Nurmagomedov
2. Jon Jones
3. Israel Adesanya
4. Stipe Miocic
5. Kamaru Usman
6. Alexander Volkanovski
7. Dustin Poirier
8. Max Holloway
9. Deiveson Figueiredo
10. Petr Yan
11. Justin Gaethje
12. Robert Whittaker +1
13. Conor McGregor -1
14. Francis Ngannou
15. Jan Blachowicz

FLYWEIGHT

Champion: Deiveson Figueiredo

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

BANTAMWEIGHT

Champion: Petr Yan

1. Aljamain Sterling
2. Cory Sandhagen
3. Cody Garbrandt
4. Frankie Edgar
5. Rob Font
6. Jose Aldo
7. Marlon Moraes
8. Pedro Munhoz
9. Jimmie Rivera
10. Raphael Assuncao
11. Dominick Cruz
12. Merab Dvalishvili
13. Cody Stamann
14. Song Yadong
15. Casey Kenney *NR

FEATHERWEIGHT

Champion: ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI

1. Max Holloway
2. Brian Ortega
3. Zabit Magomedsharipov
4. Yair Rodriguez
5. Chan Sung Jung
6. Calvin Kattar
7. Josh Emmett
8. Jeremy Stephens
9. Arnold Allen
10. Sodiq Yusuff
11. Dan Ige
12. Shane Burgos
13. Ryan Hall
14. Bryce Mitchell
15. Edson Barboza

LIGHTWEIGHT

Champion: KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV

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

WELTERWEIGHT

Champion: KAMARU USMAN

1. Colby Covington
2. Gilbert Burns
3. Leon Edwards
4. Jorge Masvidal
5. Stephen Thompson
6. Tyron Woodley
7. Demian Maia
8. Michael Chiesa
9. Neil Magny
10. Vicente Luque
11. Geoff Neal
12. Li Jingliang *NR
13. Belal Muhammed
14. Robbie Lawler
15. Khamzat Chimaev

MIDDLEWEIGHT

Champion: ISRAEL ADESANYA

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

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT

Champion: Jan Blachowicz

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

HEAVYWEIGHT

Champion: STIPE MIOCIC

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

WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND

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

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT

Champion: WEILI ZHANG

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

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT

Champion: VALENTINA SHEVCHENKO

1. Jessica Andrade
2. Katlyn Chookagian
3. Lauren Murphy
4. Jennifer Maia
5. Cynthia Calvillo
6. Jessica Eye
7. Joanne Calderwood
8. Roxanne Modafferi
9. Viviane Araujo
10. Maycee Barber
11. Andrea Lee
12. Alexis Davis
13. Talia Santos
14. Antonina Shevchenko
15. Alexa Grasso *NR

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT

Champion: AMANDA NUNES

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

There you have it.

You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week, particularly in the lightweight division, following the UFC 257: “Poirier vs. McGregor 2” mixed martial arts (MMA) event from Etihad Arena on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi.

For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.