New Rankings! Pimblett Snubbed, Till Tumbles

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently updated its “official” rankings in the wake of the UFC 282 pay-per-view (PPV) event, which took place last Sat. night (Dec. 10, 2022) inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The light heavyweight main event, contested for the vacant 205-pound title, saw Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev battle to a split draw, but it appears “Polish Power” was punished with a demotion to the No. 4 spot.

Elsewhere on the chart, Paddy Pimblett failed to crack the lightweight Top 15 despite his fourth straight win under the UFC banner. Partly because opponent Jared Gordon was unranked heading into their 155-pound affair but mostly because of the wonky scorecards that may have screwed “Flash.” In addition, the free falling Darren Till tumbled to No. 15 in the middleweight division after losing to red-hot 185-pound wunderkind Dricus Du Plessis.

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. Alexander Volkanovski
2. Islam Makhachev
3. Leon Edwards
4. Kamaru Usman
5. Francis Ngannou
6. Israel Adesanya
7. Charles Oliveira
8. Alex Pereira
9. Aljamain Sterling
10. Jiri Prochazka
11. Dustin Poirier
12. Deiveson Figueiredo
13. Jon Jones
14. Max Holloway
15. Brandon Moreno

FLYWEIGHT

Champion: Deiveson Figueiredo

1. Brandon Moreno *Interim Champion
2. Alexandre Pantoja
3. Kai Kara France
4. Brandon Royval
5. Alex Perez
6. Matheus Nicolau
7. Matt Schnell
8. David Dvorak
9. Amir Albazi
10. Tim Elliott
11. Su Mudaerji
12. Manel Kape
13. Jeffrey Molina
14. Muhammad Mokaev
14. Tagir Ulanbekov

BANTAMWEIGHT

Champion: Aljamain Sterling

1. Sean O’Malley
2. Petr Yan +1
3. Merab Dvalishvili -1
4. Marlon Vera
5. Cory Sandhagen
6. Rob Font +1
7. Dominick Cruz +1
8. Song Yadong +1
9. Pedro Munhoz -1
10. Ricky Simon +1
11. Umar Nurmagomedov +1
12. Chris Gutierrez +1
13. Adrian Yanez +1
14. Jack Shore +1
15. Said Nurmagomedov *NR

Note: Retired TJ Dillashaw removed from bantamweight rankings

FEATHERWEIGHT

Champion: Alexander Volkanovski

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

LIGHTWEIGHT

Champion: Islam Makhachev

1. Charles Oliveira
2. Dustin Poirier
3. Justin Gaethje
4. Beneil Dariush
5. Michael Chandler
6. Rafael Fiziev
7. Mateusz Gamrot +1
8. Rafael dos Anjos -1
9. Arman Tsarukyan
10. Jalin Turner
11. Dan Hooker
12. Damir Ismagulov
13. Renato Moicano
14. Grant Dawson *NR
15. Tony Ferguson

Note: Inactive Conor McGregor removed from lightweight rankings

WELTERWEIGHT

Champion: Leon Edwards

1. Kamaru Usman
2. Colby Covington
3. Khamzat Chimaev
4. Belal Muhammed
5. Gilbert Burns
6. Stephen Thompson
7. Geoff Neal
8. Sean Brady
9. Vicente Luque
10. Shavkat Rakhmonov
11. Jorge Masvidal
12. Neil Magny
13. Michael Chiesa
14. Michel Pereira
15. Jingliang Li

MIDDLEWEIGHT

Champion: Alex Pereira

1. Israel Adesanya
2. Robert Whittaker
3. Jared Cannonier
4. Marvin Vettori
5. Derek Brunson
6. Paulo Costa
7. Sean Strickland
8. Roman Dolidze
9. Jack Hermansson
10. Dricus Du Plessis +4
11. Andre Muniz
12. Nassourdine Imavov +1
13. Kelvin Gastelum -1
14. Chris Curtis +1
15. Darren Till -5

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT

Champion: Vacant

1. Jiri Prochazka
2. Glover Teixeira
3. Magomed Ankalaev +1
4. Jan Blachowicz -1
5. Aleksandar Rakic
6. Anthony Smith
7. Jamahal Hill
8. Nikita Krylov
9. Paul Craig
10. Volkan Oezdemir
11. Ryan Spann
12. Johnny Walker
13. Dominick Reyes
14. Jim Crute
15. Khalil Rountree

HEAVYWEIGHT

Champion: Francis Ngannou

1. Ciryl Gane
2. Stipe Miocic
3. Sergei Pavlovich
4. Curtis Blaydes
5. Tai Tuivasa
6. Tom Aspinall
7. Derrick Lewis
8. Alexander Volkov
9. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
10. Marcin Tybura
11. Chris Daukaus
12. Serghei Spivac
13. Alexandr Romanov
14. Shamil Abdurakhimov +1
15. Blagoy Ivanov -1

WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND

1. Amanda Nunes
2. Valentina Shevchenko
3. Weili Zhang
4. Julianna Pena
5. Rose Namajunas
6. Carla Esparza
7. Jessica Andrade
8. Marina Rodriguez
9. Amanda Lemos
10. Holly Holm
11. Ketlen Vieira
12. Taila Santos
13. Manon Fiorot +1
14. Katlyn Chookagian -1
15. Yan Xiaonan

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT

Champion: Zhang Weili

1. Carla Esparza
2. Rose Namajunas
3. Amanda Lemos
4. Jessica Andrade
5. Marina Rodriguez
6. Yan Xiaonan
7. Mackenzie Dern
8. Tecia Torres
9. Amanda Ribas
10. Virna Jandiroba
11. Michelle Waterson
12. Angela Hill
13. Luana Pinheiro
14. Emily Ducote
15. Polyana Viana

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT

Champion: Valentina Shevchenko

1. Manon Fiorot
2. Talia Santos
3. Katlyn Chookagian
4. Lauren Murphy
5. Alexa Grasso
6. Jessica Andrade
7. Viviane Araujo
8. Jennifer Maia
9. Andrea Lee
10. Erin Blanchfield
11. Casey O’Neill
12. Maycee Barber
13. Tracy Cortez
14. Cynthia Calvillo
15. Amanda Ribas

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT

Champion: Amanda Nunes

1. Julianna Pena
2. Ketlen Vieira
3. Holly Holm
4. Irene Aldana
5. Raquel Pennington
6. Yana Kunitskaya
7. Pannie Kianzad
8. Macy Chiasson
9. Karol Rosa
10. Miesha Tate
11. Julia Avila
12. Lina Lansberg
13. Norma Dumont
14. Mayra Bueno Silva
15. Josiane Nunes

There you have it.

You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week, particularly in the middleweight division, following the UFC Vegas 66: “Cannonier vs. Strickland” mixed martial arts (MMA) event scheduled for this Sat. night (Dec. 17, 2022) on ESPN+ from inside the promotion’s APEX facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.

For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.