Nunes Takes Big Hit In Rankings Update

Sean O’Malley is back in the Top 15, Tai Tuivasa lands at No. 11 on the heavyweight chart, and Cody Garbrandt got milk carton’d at both bantamweight and flyweight.

It was a big weekend in “Sin City” and as a result, we’ve got some big changes to reflect in the “official” UFC rankings, starting with lightweight champion Charles Oliveira.

“Do Bronx” climbed three places to No. 5 in the promotion’s pound-for-pound list after submitting Dustin Poirier in the UFC 269 pay-per-view (PPV) main event on Dec. 11 in Las Vegas, sending “The Diamond” down to No. 8 — and No. 2 on the 155-pound chart, one spot below fellow contender Justin Gaethje.

It should be noted that Poirier defeated (and finished) Gaethje at UFC on FOX 29.

Elsewhere in the rankings, former “champ-champ” Amanda Nunes drops to No. 3 at pound-for-pound after falling to Julianna Pena. That’s two places behind Valentina Shevchenko, who is 0-2 against “Lioness.” As for “The Venezuelan Vixen,” she takes over the bantamweight list and jumps to No. 4 at pound-for-pound.

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. Charles Oliveira +3
6. Jon Jones
7. Max Holloway
8. Dustin Poirier -3
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 +1
13. Amir Albazi -1
14. Manel Kape
15. Tagir Ulanbekov

BANTAMWEIGHT

Champion: Aljamain Sterling

1. Petr Yan (Interim champion)
2. T.J. Dillashaw
3. Jose Aldo
4. Cory Sandhagen
5. Rob Font
6. Merab Dvalishvili
7. Dominick Cruz +2
8. Marlon Vera +3
9. Marlon Moraes +1
10. Pedro Munhoz -2
11. Frankie Edgar +2
12. Raphael Assuncao
13. Sean O’Malley *NR
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. Josh Emmett +1
7. Arnold Allen -1
8. Giga Chikadze -1
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. Justin Gaethje +1
2. Dustin Poirier -1
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. Rafael Fiziev
12. Diego Ferreira
13. Arman Tsarukyan
14. Brad Riddell
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
7. Neil Magny
8. Sean Brady
9. Michael Chiesa
10. Belal Muhammed
11. Khamzat Chimaev
12. Geoff Neal
13. Li Jingliang
14. Santiago Ponzinibbio
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
13. Andre Muniz *NR
14. Chris Weidman -1
15. Kevin Holland -1

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. Jamall Hill
13. Ryan Spann
14. Jim Crute
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. Tai Tuivasa *NR
12. Augusto Sakai -1
13. Blagoy Ivanov -1
14. Walt Harris -1
15. Sergei Pavlovich -1

WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND

1. Valentina Shevchenko +1
2. Rose Namajunas +1
3. Amanda Nunes -2
4. Julianna Pena +7
5. Weili Zhang -1
6. Jessica Andrade -1
7. Holly Holm -1
8. Carla Esparza -1
9. Marina Rodriguez
10. Katlyn Chookagian -2
11. Yan Xiaonan -1
12. Irene Aldana
13. Mackenzie Dern
14. Lauren Murphy
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. Jessica Pena
15. Brianna Van Buren

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT

Champion: VALENTINA SHEVCHENKO

1. Jessica Andrade
2. Katlyn Chookagian
3. Lauren Murphy
4. Jennifer Maia
5. Talia Santos
6. Joanne Wood
7. Viviane Araujo
8. Andrea Lee
9. Cynthia Calvillo +1
10. Jessica Eye -1
11. Alexa Grasso
12. Roxanne Modafferi
13. Maycee Barber
14. Manon Fiorot
15. Casey O’Neill

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT

Champion: JULIANNA PENA

1. Amanda Nunes -1
2. Holly Holm -1
3. Irene Aldana -1
4. Aspen Ladd
5. Ketlen Vieira
6. Yana Kunitskaya
7. Miesha Tate
8. Raquel Pennington
9. Sara McMann
10. Macy Chiasson
11. Lina Lansberg
12. Pannie Kianzad +1
13. Karol Rosa -1
14. Julia Avila
15. Norma Dumont

You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week, particularly in the heavyweight division, as Derrick Lewis and Chris Daukaus collide in the UFC Vegas 45 main event this Sat. night (Dec. 18, 2021) inside APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.

For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.