New Rankings! Brady Cracks Welterweight Top 10

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) updated its official rankings in the wake of its UFC Vegas 43 mixed martial arts (MMA) event, which took place last Sat. night (Nov. 20, 2021) inside the promotion’s APEX facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ketlen Vieira improved one spot in the women’s bantamweight division after knocking around former 135-pound champion Miesha Tate in the five-round main event. “Cupcake” was already ranked below “Fenomeno” so does not lose any ground in defeat.

Elsewhere on the charts, undefeated welterweight up-and-comer Sean Brady broke into the division Top 10 by turning away 170-pound veteran Michael Chiesa. The five spots afforded to Brady landed “Maverick” at No. 9 and may have eliminated him from the division title chase.

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
3. Israel Adesanya
4. Francis Ngannou
5. Dustin Poirier
6. Jon Jones
7. Max Holloway
8. Charles Oliveira
9. Stipe Miocic
10. Brandon Moreno
11. Petr Yan
12. Glover Teixeira
13. Robert Whittaker
14. Jan Blachowicz
15. Cyril Gane

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. Tagir Ulanbekov
15. Tyson Nam

BANTAMWEIGHT

Champion: Aljamain Sterling

1. Petr Yan (Interim champion)
2. T.J. Dillashaw
3. Cory Sandhagen
4. Rob Font
5. Jose Aldo
6. Merab Dvalishvili
7. Cody Garbrandt
8. Pedro Munhoz
9. Marlon Moraes
10. Dominick Cruz
11. Marlon Vera
12. Raphael Assuncao
13. Frankie Edgar
14. Song Yadong
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. Giga Chikadze
9. Dan Ige
10. Edson Barboza
11. Bryce Mitchell
12. Sodiq Yusuff
13. Movsar Evloev
14. Shane Burgos
15. Alex Caceres

LIGHTWEIGHT

Champion: Charles Oliveira

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

WELTERWEIGHT

Champion: KAMARU USMAN

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

MIDDLEWEIGHT

Champion: ISRAEL ADESANYA

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

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT

Champion: Glover Teixeira

1. Jan Blachowicz
2. Jiri Prochazka
3. Aleksandar Rakic
4. Anthony Smith
5. Thiago Santos
6. Magomed Ankalaev
7. Dominick Reyes
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. Tom Aspinall
11. Augusto Sakai
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
7. Germaine De Randamie
8. Carla Esparza
9. Katlyn Chookagian
10. Marina Rodriguez
11. Yan Xiaonan
12. Julianna Pena
13. Lauren Murphy
14. Mackenzie Dern
15. Aspen Ladd

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT

Champion: ROSE NAMAJUNAS

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

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT

Champion: VALENTINA SHEVCHENKO

1. Jessica Andrade
2. Katlyn Chookagian
3. Lauren Murphy
4. Jennifer Maia
5. Talia Santos +5
6. Joanne Wood -1
7. Viviane Araujo -1
8. Andrea Lee -1
9. Jessica Eye -1
10. Cynthia Calvillo -1
11. Alexa Grasso
12. Roxanne Modafferi
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. Ketlen Vieira +1
7. Yana Kunitskaya -1
8. Miesha Tate
9. Raquel Pennington
10. Sara McMann
11. Macy Chiasson
12. Lina Lansberg
13. Pannie Kianzad
14. Karol Rosa
15. Julia Avila

You can expect these rankings to change in roughly two weeks, particularly in the bantamweight division, as former featherweight champion Jose Aldo faces off against streaking 135-pound bruiser Rob Font in the UFC Vegas 44 headliner a week from Sat. night (Dec. 4, 2021) inside APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.

For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.