Rountree Inches Closer To The Top 10!

Vicente Luque got back on the winning track and snapped his two-fight losing streak by putting on a dominate wrestling performance against former Lightweight champion, Rafael dos Anjos, in the main event of UFC Vegas 78 last Saturday night (Aug., 12, 2023) in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Unfortunately for “Silent Assassin,” it wasn’t good enough to earn him a bump on the official UFC rankings because he stayed put at No. 10. As for “RDA,” the loss cost him a spot at Lightweight (yes, really), dropping him down to No 10.

One man who did gain some ground — but fell short of the Top 10 — was Khalil Rountree, who moved up two spots in the Light Heavyweight division and now owns the No. 11 spot in the division after collecting his fourth straight win by knocking out Chris Daukaus in the first round (see it here).

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. (T) Jon Jones
1. (T) Alexander Volkanovski
3. Islam Makhachev
4. Leon Edwards
5. Israel Adesanya
6. Aljamain Sterling
7. Charles Oliveira
8. Kamaru Usman
9. Alexandre Pantoja
10. (T) Jiri Prochazka
10. (T) Alex Pereira
12. Max Holloway
13. Justin Gaethje
14. Jamahal Hill
15. Brandon Moreno

FLYWEIGHT

Champion: Alexandre Pantoja

1. Brandon Moreno
2. Deiveson Figueiredo
3. Amir Albazi
4. Brandon Royval
5. Kai Kara France
6. Matheus Nicolau
7. Alex Perez
8. Matt Schnell
9. Tim Elliott
10. Manel Kape
11. Muhammad Mokaev
12. Su Mudaerji
13. Tagir Ulanbekov
14. Steve Erceg
15. David Dvorak

BANTAMWEIGHT

Champion: Aljamain Sterling

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

FEATHERWEIGHT

Champion: Alexander Volkanovski

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

LIGHTWEIGHT

Champion: Islam Makhachev

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

WELTERWEIGHT

Champion: Leon Edwards

1. Kamaru Usman
2. Colby Covington
3. Belal Muhammed
4. Khamzat Chimaev
5. Gilbert Burns
6. Shavkat Rakhmonov
7. Stephen Thompson
8. Geoff Neal
9. Sean Brady
10. Vicente Luque
11. Neil Magny
12. Kevin Holland
13. Ian Machado Garry
14. Jack Della Maddalena
15. Michael Chiesa

MIDDLEWEIGHT

Champion: Israel Adesanya

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

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT

Champion: Jamahal Hill

1. Jiri Prochazka
2. Magomed Ankalaev
3. Alex Pereira
4. Jan Blachowicz
5. Aleksandar Rakic
6. Nikita Krylov
6. Johnny Walker +1
8. Anthony Smith
9. Volkan Oezdemir
10. Ryan Spann
11. Khalil Rountree +2
12. Azamat Murzakanov -1
13. Dominick Reyes -1
14. Alonzo Menifield
15. Dustin Jacoby

HEAVYWEIGHT

Champion: Jon Jones

1. Sergei Pavlovich
2. Ciryl Gane
3. Stipe Miocic
4. Tom Aspinall
5. Curtis Blaydes
6. Tai Tuivasa
7. Serghei Spivac
8. Alexander Volkov
9. Jailton Almeida
10. Derrick Lewis
11. Marcin Tybura
12. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
13. Alexandr Romanov
14. Chris Daukaus
15. Marcos Rogerio De Lima

WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND

1. Alexa Grasso
2. Valentina Shevchenko
3. Weili Zhang
4. Rose Namajunas
5. Julianna Pena
6. (T) Carla Esparza
6. (T) Erin Blanchfield
8. Tatiana Suarez +1
9. Yan Xiaonon -1
10. Manon Fiorot
11. Taila Santos
12. Jessica Andrade
13. Raquel Pennington
14. Amanda Lemos
15. Mayra Bueno Silva

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT

Champion: Zhang Weili

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

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT

Champion: Alexa Grasso

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

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT

Champion: VACANT

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

You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week, particularly in the bantamweight division, following the UFC 292: “Sterling vs. O’Malley” mixed martial arts (MMA) event on ESPN+ pay-per-view (PPV) this Sat. night (Aug. 19, 2023) at APEX in Las Vegas.

For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.