New Rankings! Gane Joins P4P Elite!

Ciryl Gane joins the pound-for-pound elite in this week’s rankings update, but no movement for Jose Aldo (No. 5), who was already ranked four spots above bantamweight rival Pedro Munhoz (No. 9).

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) crowned a new interim heavyweight champion last Sat. night (Aug. 7, 2021) at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, thanks to the technical knockout victory Ciryl Gane scored against fellow heavy hitter Derrick Lewis.

“Bon Gamin” improved to No. 1 in the latest UFC rankings update, ahead of former 265-pound titleholder Stipe Miocic, while “The Black Beast” slipped to No. 3. Gane is expected to unify the titles opposite Francis Ngannou later this year, or perhaps early 2022.

Elsewhere on the UFC 265 fight card, streaking welterweight contender Vicente Luque ran through 170-pound stalwart Michael Chiesa, securing the victory as well as the No. 4 spot in the updated rankings. “Maverick” fell two places to No. 7, just behind Jorge Masvidal.

Here’s how UFC compiles its “official” rankings:

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. Kamaru Usman
3. Israel Adesanya
4. Alexander Volkanovski
5. Francis Ngannou
6. Dustin Poirier
7. Jan Blachowicz
8. Stipe Miocic
9. Max Holloway
10. Charles Oliveira
11. Brandon Moreno
12. Robert Whittaker
13. Petr Yan
14. Ciryl Gane *NR
15. Justin Gaethje -1

FLYWEIGHT

Champion: Brandon Moreno

1. Deiveson Figueiredo
2. Askar Askarov
3. Alexandre Pantoja
4. Alex Perez
5. Joseph Benavidez
6. Brandon Royval
7. Kai Kara France
8. Rogerio Bontorin
9. Matt Schnell
10. Tim Elliott
11. David Dvorak
12. Matheus Nicolau
13. Su Mudaerji
14. Amir Albazi
15. Tyson Nam

BANTAMWEIGHT

Champion: Aljamain Sterling

1. Petr Yan
2. TJ Dillashaw
3. Cory Sandhagen
4. Rob Font
5. Jose Aldo
6. Marlon Moraes +1
7. Cody Garbrandt -1
8. Frankie Edgar
9. Pedro Munhoz
10. Dominick Cruz
11. Merab Dvalishvili
12. Raphael Assuncao
13. Jimmie Rivera
14. Marlon Vera
15. Cody Stamann

FEATHERWEIGHT

Champion: ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI

1. Max Holloway
2. Brian Ortega
3. Yair Rodriguez
4. Chan Sung Jung
5. Calvin Kattar
6. Arnold Allen
7. Josh Emmett
8. Dan Ige
9. Edson Barboza
10. Giga Chikadze
11. Bryce Mitchell
12. Sodiq Yusuff
13. Movsar Evloev
14. Shane Burgos
15. Ilia Topuria

LIGHTWEIGHT

Champion: Charles Oliveira

1. Dustin Poirier
2. Justin Gaethje
3. Beneil Dariush
4. Michael Chandler
5. Islam Makhachev
6. Tony Ferguson
7. Rafael dos Anjos
8. Dan Hooker
9. Conor McGregor
10. Gregor Gillespie
11. Kevin Lee
12. Diego Ferreira
13. Brad Riddell
14. Rafael Fiziev *NR
15. Arman Tsarukyan -1

WELTERWEIGHT

Champion: KAMARU USMAN

1. Colby Covington
2. Gilbert Burns
3. Leon Edwards
4. Vicente Luque +2
5. Stephen Thompson -1
6. Jorge Masvidal +1
7. Michael Chiesa -2
8. Neil Magny
9. Belal Muhammed
10. Geoff Neal
11. Demian Maia
12. Li Jingliang
13. Santiago Ponzinibbio
14. Sean Brady
15. Muslim Salikhov

MIDDLEWEIGHT

Champion: ISRAEL ADESANYA

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

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT

Champion: Jan Blachowicz

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

HEAVYWEIGHT

Champion: Francis Ngannou

1. Ciryl Gane (Interim Champion) +2
2. Stipe Miocic -1
3. Derrick Lewis -1
4. Curtis Blaydes
5. Alexander Volkov
6. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
7. Shamil Abdurakhimov
8. Marcin Tybura
9. Augusto Sakai
10. Chris Daukaus
11. Walt Harris
12. Blagoy Ivanov
13. Tom Aspinall
14. Sergey Spivac
15. Sergei Pavlovich

WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND

1. Amanda Nunes
2. Valentina Shevchenko
3. Rose Namajunas
4. Weili Zhang
5. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
6. Jessica Andrade
7. Germaine De Randamie
8. Holly Holm
9. Carla Esparza
10. Aspen Ladd
11. Katlyn Chookagian
12. Mackenzie Dern
13. (T) Lauen Murphy
13. (T) Yan Xiaonan +1
15. Julianna Pena

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT

Champion: ROSE NAMAJUNAS

1. Zhang Weili
2. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
3. Carla Esparza
4. (T)Yan Xiaonan
4. (T) Mackenzie Dern +1
6. Marina Rodriguez -1
7. Nina Nunes
8. Claudia Gadelha
9. Tecia Torres +1
10. Michelle Waterson -1
11. Amanda Ribas
12. Virna Jandiroba +1
13. Amanda Lemos +1
14. Angela Hill -2
15. Felice Herrig

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT

Champion: VALENTINA SHEVCHENKO

1. Jessica Andrade
2. Katlyn Chookagian
3. Lauren Murphy
4. Jennifer Maia
5. Cynthia Calvillo
6. Joanne Calderwood
7. Viviane Araujo
8. Jessica Eye
9. Roxanne Modafferi
10. Alexa Grasso
11. Andrea Lee
12. Talia Santos
13. Maycee Barber
14. Miranda Maverick
15. Montana De La Rosa

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT

Champion: AMANDA NUNES

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

There you have it.

You can expect these rankings to change in roughly two weeks — particularly in the middleweight division — following the UFC Vegas 34: “Cannonier vs. Gastelum” event on Sat., Aug. 21, 2021 on ESPN and ESPN+ from inside APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.

For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.