New Rankings! Vettori Up, Costa Down

It’s been a rough couple of days for Paulo Costa.

Once considered the promotion’s second-best middleweight contender, just behind former champion Robert Whittaker, the weight-challenged Brazilian is now ranked No. 5 at 185 pounds, thanks to a unanimous decision loss to Marvin Vettori at UFC Vegas 41 last weekend in Las Vegas.

Watch the video highlights here.

Coming up short against the 18-5-1 “Italian Dream” — who climbed to No. 2 with the victory — marked the second straight defeat for “The Eraser,” who slips to 13-2 overall. Prior to his Vettori fight, Costa was put down by reigning UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, who also holds a pair of victories over Vettori.

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
2. Alexander Volkanovski +1
3. Israel Adesanya +1
4. Jon Jones -2
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. (T) Ciryl Gane
14. (T) 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. Matheus Nicolau
9. Matt Schnell
10. David Dvorak
11. Tim Elliott
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
7. Cody Garbrandt
8. Frankie Edgar
9. Pedro Munhoz
10. Marlon Moraes
11. Dominick Cruz
12. Raphael Assuncao
13. Marlon Vera
14. Cody Stamann
15. Song Yadong

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. Alex Caceres *NR

LIGHTWEIGHT

Champion: Charles Oliveira

1. Dustin Poirier
2. Justin Gaethje
3. Beneil Dariush
4. Michael Chandler
5. Islam Makhachev
6. Dan Hooker
7. Tony Ferguson
8. Rafael dos Anjos
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. (T) Jorge Masvidal
6. (T) Michael Chiesa
8. Neil Magny
9. Belal Muhammed
10. Geoff Neal
11. Li Jingliang
12. Santiago Ponzinibbio
13. Sean Brady
14. Daniel Rodriguez
15. Muslim Salikhov

MIDDLEWEIGHT

Champion: ISRAEL ADESANYA

1. Robert Whittaker
2. Marvin Vettori +3
3. Jared Cannonier
4. Derek Brunson
5. Paulo Costa -3
6. Jack Hermansson
7. Sean Strickland
8. Darren Till
9. Kelvin Gastelum
10. Uriah Hall
11. Edmen Shahbazyan
12. Brad Tavares
13. Chris Weidman
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. Paul Craig
12. Ryan Spann
13. Jim Crute
14. Jamall Hill
15. Ion Cutelaba

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
8. Shamil Abdurakhimov
9. Marcin Tybura
10. Augusto Sakai
11. Tom Aspinall
12. Blagoy Ivanov
13. Walt Harris
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
6. Holly Holm +2
7. Germaine De Randamie
8. Katlyn Chookagian +2
9. Carla Esparza
10. Marina Rodriguez +1
11. Yan Xiaonan +1
12. Julianna Pena +1
13. Aspen Ladd +1
14. Lauen Murphy +1
15. Mackenzie Dern *NR

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT

Champion: ROSE NAMAJUNAS

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

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
10. Alexa Grasso
11. Roxanne Modafferi
12. Andrea Lee
13. Maycee Barber
14. Manon Fiorot
15. Casey O’Neill

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT

Champion: AMANDA NUNES

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

Note: Joanna Jedrzejczyk has been removed from strawweight as well as women’s pound-for-pound rankings due to inactivity (more on that here).

You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week, particularly in the light heavyweight division, following the UFC 267: “Blachowicz vs. Teixeira” mixed martial arts (MMA) event, which takes place this Sat. afternoon (Oct. 30, 2021) on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi.

For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.