‘War Horse’ Gallops Into Top 10

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently updated its “official” rankings in the wake of the UFC Vegas 83 mixed martial arts (MMA) event, which took place last Sat. night (Dec. 9, 2023) on ESPN+ at APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada. The big winner of the night, at least in terms of this week’s updated rankings, was light heavyweight bruiser Khalil Rountree Jr., who cracked the Top 10 with his destruction of former 205-pound title challenger Anthony Smith. As for UFC Vegas 83 headliner Song Yadong, he’ll stay put at No. 7 after decisioning No. 15-ranked Chris Gutierrez.

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. Islam Makhachev
2. Jon Jones
3. Alexander Volkanovski
4. Leon Edwards
5. Alex Pereira
6. Charles Oliveira
7. Sean O’Malley
8. Sean Strickland
9. Israel Adesanya
10. Alexandre Pantoja
11. Aljamain Sterling
12. Tom Aspinall
13. Max Holloway
14. Kamaru Usman
15. Jiri Prochazka

FLYWEIGHT

Champion: Alexandre Pantoja

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

BANTAMWEIGHT

Champion: Sean O’Malley

1. Aljamain Sterling
2. Merab Dvalishvili
3. Henry Cejudo
4. Cory Sandhagen
5. Petr Yan
6. Marlon Vera
7. Song Yadong
8. Deiveson Figueiredo
9. Rob Font
10. Dominick Cruz
11. Pedro Munhoz
12. Ricky Simon
13. Jonathan Martinez
14. Umar Nurmagomedov
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. Giga Chikadze
9. Movsar Evloev
10. Bryce Mitchell
11. Edson Barboza
12. Sodiq Yusuff
13. Dan Ige
14. Alex Caceres +1
15. Lerone Murphy -1

LIGHTWEIGHT

Champion: Islam Makhachev

1. Charles Oliveira
2. Justin Gaethje
3. Dustin Poirier
4. Arman Tsarukyan
5. Michael Chandler
6. Mateusz Gamrot
7. Beneil Dariush
8. Rafael Fiziev
9. Dan Hooker
10. Jalin Turner
11. Rafael dos Anjos
12. Benoit Saint-Denis
13. Renato Moicano
14. Bobby Green
15. Drew Dober

WELTERWEIGHT

Champion: Leon Edwards

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

MIDDLEWEIGHT

Champion: Sean Strickland

1. Israel Adesanya
2. Dricus Du Plessis
3. Robert Whittaker
4. Jared Cannonier
5. Marvin Vettori
6. Paulo Costa
7. Roman Dolidze
8. Brendan Allen
9. Khamzat Chimaev
10. Jack Hermansson
11. Nassourdine Imavov
12. Paul Craig
13. Chris Curtis
14. Kelvin Gastelum
15. Anthony Hernandez

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT

Champion: Alex Pereira

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

HEAVYWEIGHT

Champion: Jon Jones

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

WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND

1. Alexa Grasso
2. Zhang Weili
3. Valentina Shevchenko
4. Julianna Pena
5. Erin Blanchfield
6. Manon Fiorot
7. Rose Namajunas
8. Carla Esparza
9. Yan Xiaonan
10. Tatiana Suarez
11. Jessica Andrade
12. Raquel Pennington
13. Amanda Lemos
14. Ketlen Vieira
15. Irena Aldana

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT

Champion: Zhang Weili

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

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT

Champion: Alexa Grasso

1. Valentina Shevchenko
2. Erin Blanchfield
3. Manon Fiorot
4. Katlyn Chookagian
5. Jessica Andrade
6. Lauren Murphy
7. Maycee Barber
8. Viviane Araújo
9. Amanda Ribas
10. Tracy Cortez
11. Natalia Silva
12. Casey O’Neill
13. Karine Silva
14. Andrea Lee
15. Joanna Wood

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT

Champion: VACANT

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

You can expect these rankings to change around this time next week, particularly in the welterweight division, following the UFC 296: “Edwards vs. Covington” pay-per-view (PPV) event on ESPN+, going down this Sat. night (Dec. 16, 2023) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

For much more on that upcoming fight card click here.