Usman Unseats Jones In UFC P4P Rankings

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight heavyweight champion Jon Jones is no longer the top pound-for-pound (P4P) fighter in the world. That distinction has been passed down to reigning 170-pound kingpin Kamaru Usman, which may come as a surprise when you consider neither combatant has seen action since the last rankings update.

I guess getting arrested in Las Vegas has a way of mucking things up across the board.

You can also make the argument that Jones shouldn’t be ranked at all. “Bones” surrendered his title in summer 2020 and has no plans to return until 2022. His new place at No. 2 is just one spot above featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, who continued his winning ways by turning away Brian Ortega at UFC 266 last weekend in Las Vegas.

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. Kamaru Usman +1
2. Jon Jones -1
3. Alexander Volkanovski +1
4. Israel Adesanya -1
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
15. Justin Gaethje

FLYWEIGHT

Champion: Brandon Moreno

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

BANTAMWEIGHT

Champion: Aljamain Sterling

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

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. Giga Chikadze
9. Dan Ige
10. Edson Barboza
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. (T) Tony Ferguson
6. (T) Dan Hooker +2
8. Rafael dos Anjos -1
9. Conor McGregor
10. Gregor Gillespie
11. Diego Ferreira
12. Brad Riddell
13. Arman Tsarukyan
14. Rafael Fiziev
15. Thiago Moises

WELTERWEIGHT

Champion: KAMARU USMAN

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

MIDDLEWEIGHT

Champion: ISRAEL ADESANYA

1. Robert Whittaker
2. Paulo Costa
3. Jared Cannonier
4. Derek Brunson
5. Marvin Vettori
6. Jack Hermansson
7. Sean Strickland
8. Darren Till
9. Uriah Hall
10. Kelvin Gastelum
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. Anthony Smith
5. Thiago Santos
6. Dominick Reyes
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. Stipe Miocic
3. Derrick Lewis
4. Curtis Blaydes
5. Alexander Volkov
6. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
7. Chris Daukaus +3
8. Shamil Abdurakhimov -1
9. Marcin Tybura -1
10. Augusto Sakai -1
11. Tom Aspinall
12. Walt Harris
13. Blagoy Ivanov
14. Sergei Pavlovich
15. Serghei Spivac

WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND

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

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT

Champion: ROSE NAMAJUNAS

1. Zhang Weili
2. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
3. Carla Esparza
4. (T)Yan Xiaonan
4. (T) Mackenzie Dern
6. Marina Rodriguez
7. Nina Nunes
8. Claudia Gadelha
9. Tecia Torres
10. Michelle Waterson
11. Amanda Ribas
12. Virna Jandiroba
13. Amanda Lemos
14. Angela Hill
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. Talia Santos +3
10. Alexa Grasso
11. Roxanne Modafferi -2
12. Andrea Lee -1
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. Raquel Pennington
11. Macy Chiasson
12. Lina Lansberg
13. Julia Avila
14. Pannie Kianzad
15. Karol Rosa

There you have it.

You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week — particularly in the light heavyweight division — following the UFC Vegas 38: “Santos vs. Walker” mixed martial arts (MMA) event, which takes place this Sat. night (Oct. 2, 2021) at UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.

For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.