UFC Rankings for Each Weight Division Following UFC on Fuel TV 7

Michael McDonald had a chance to shake up the UFC bantamweight rankings in the UFC on Fuel TV 7 main event, but he wasn't quite ready for an opponent like Renan Barao, who successfully defended his interim title with a fourth-round submission finish.

One fighter who did improve his standing with a strong performance on Saturday was Cub Swanson. The Greg Jackson-trained featherweight defeated Dustin Poirier in an entertaining fight to move one step closer to his first shot at the UFC's 145-pound championship.

With another UFC event in the books, official rankings have been released for each of the organization's weight divisions. Here are those divisional rankings as published through UFC.com on Feb. 18. 

Pound-for-Pound

There were no surprise changes near the top of the pound-for-pound rankings voted on by the media.

However, Renan Barao did do enough in his interim title fight against Michael McDonald to earn a well-deserved spot among the Top 10 pound-for-pound fighter on the UFC roster.

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1. Anderson Silva
2. Jon Jones
3. Georges St-Pierre
4. Jose Aldo
5. Benson Henderson
6. Cain Velasquez 
7. Dominick Cruz
8. Demetrious Johnson
9. Renan Barao
10. Dan Henderson

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Heavyweight

After avenging a loss to Junior dos Santos to reclaim the heavyweight title, Cain Velasquez will now enter another rematch against a Brazilian. Coming off of an upset win over Alistair Overeem, Antonio Silva has emerged as the top heavyweight contender less than one year after being decimated by Velasquez at UFC 146.

Meanwhile, a grudge match between Dos Santos and Overeem will finally come to fruition, though not with the heavyweight championship on the line. Despite their setbacks, Dos Santos and Overeem are still elite heavyweights and could earn a title shot with an impressive win against the other at UFC 160.

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Champion: Cain Velasquez

1. Junior dos Santos
2. Fabricio Werdum
3. Daniel Cormier
4. Antonio Silva
5. Frank Mir
6. Alistair Overeem
7. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
8. Roy Nelson
9. Stefan Struve
10. Shane Carwin

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With no heavyweight bouts contested at UFC on Fuel TV 7, there were no changes in the official heavyweight rankings from the previous edition.

Light Heavyweight

While Jon Jones' title defense against Chael Sonnen is still a ways away, there will be an important light heavyweight bout this Saturday at UFC 157.

In the fight card's co-main event, Dan Henderson will meet Lyoto Machida in a bout that should determine the next title challenger in the light heavyweight division.

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Champion: Jon Jones

1. Dan Henderson
2. Lyoto Machida
3. Alexander Gustafsson
4. Glover Teixeira
5. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
6. Rashad Evans
7. Mauricio Rua
8. Phil Davis
9. Ryan Bader
10. Gegard Mousasi

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James Te-Huna and Jimi Manuwa picked up big wins in their respective bouts against Ryan Jimmo and Cyrille Diabate at UFC on Fuel TV 7, but both light heavyweights will need at least one more victory to break into these rankings, as no changes were made from the previous release.

Middleweight

Anderson Silva's next opponent has still not been announced, but the middleweight division continues to roll forward.

In early March, an important bout between Yushin Okami and Hector Lombard will take place, and the winner could put themselves within one or two more wins of being next in line to compete against Silva should he still be defending the middleweight belt at that point in time.

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Champion: Anderson Silva

1. Chris Weidman
2. Vitor Belfort
3. Michael Bisping
4. Yushin Okami
5. Costa Philippou
6. Mark Munoz
7. Luke Rockhold
8. Hector Lombard
9. Alan Belcher
10. Tim Boetsch

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Though there were no ranked middleweights competing at UFC on Fuel TV 7, an adjustment was made in the rankings. Costa Philippou—who most recently defeated Tim Boetsch—moved from No. 6 to No. 5, which caused Mark Munoz to fall by one position.

Welterweight

Gunnar Nelson continued his progression toward the top of the UFC's welterweight division at UFC on Fuel TV 7, defeating veteran Jorge Santiago in a clear decision.

At 24 years old, the Iceland native could be a future contender and he may be ready for a step up in competition following his second UFC victory.

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Champion: Georges St-Pierre

1. Johny Hendricks
2. Carlos Condit
3. Nick Diaz
4. Rory MacDonald
5. Demian Maia
6. Jake Ellenberger
7. Martin Kampmann
8. Josh Koscheck
9. Jon Fitch
10. Tarec Saffiedine

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Though Nelson and Matthew Riddle earned wins on Saturday, both welterweights are still in need of a win over a more highly-ranked opponent in order to break into these rankings.

Lightweight

With so many fighters leaving the 155-pound division for the featherweight class, the lightweight title picture is cloudy moving forward.

Benson Henderson will defend his belt against former Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez in April, but it's tough to foresee what will be next for the lightweight championship after that bout.

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Champion: Benson Henderson

1. Gilbert Melendez
2. Anthony Pettis
3. Gray Maynard
4. Nate Diaz
5. Jim Miller
6. Donald Cerrone
7. T.J. Grant
8. Rafael dos Anjos
9. Joe Lauzon
10. Khabib Nurmagomedov

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Though Anthony Pettis' next bout will be at featherweight, he remains ranked in the lightweight division. Pettis has been named the next challenger to 145-pound champion Jose Aldo, whom he will compete against in August.

Featherweight

Cub Swanson continues to make strides toward the top of the 145-pound class, but he has already lost to Jose Aldo, Chad Mendes and Ricardo Lamas.

With defeats against those opponents, it's going to be tough for Swanson to earn a title shot considering Mendes and Lamas are still in the running for championship appearances of their own.

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Champion: Jose Aldo

1. Chad Mendes
2. Ricardo Lamas
3. Chan Sung Jung
4. Frankie Edgar
5. Cub Swanson
6. Dennis Siver
7. Dustin Poirier
8. Erik Koch
9. Nik Lentz
10. Clay Guida

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Two small changes were made in the featherweight rankings, as Erik Koch was adjusted from No. 9 to No. 8 and Cub Swanson surpassed Dennis Siver to become a Top Five UFC featherweight.

Bantamweight

With his win over Michael McDonald at UFC on Fuel TV 7, Renan Barao may finally get his title-merging fight with fellow champion Dominick Cruz.

Cruz has been out for more than a year due to knee injury, but he should hopefully be ready soon enough to be Barao's next opponent.

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Champion: Dominick Cruz

1. Renan Barao (Interim champion)
2. Urijah Faber
3. Michael McDonald
4. Eddie Wineland
5. Brad Pickett
6. Raphael Assuncao
7. Brian Bowles
8. Scott Jorgensen
9. Mike Easton
10. Ivan Menjivar

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With his loss to Barao on Saturday, McDonald fell below Urijah Faber in the bantamweight rankings. 

Having been inactive for quite some time, Brian Bowles also dropped in the rankings, falling below Rafael Assuncao to No. 7 in the UFC's 135-pound division.

Flyweight

With a decision win in his home country of England, Phil Harris expelled Ulysses Gomez from the UFC's flyweight rankings.

Harris did not benefit from that change though, as Tim Elliott instead replaced Gomez on the updated 125-pound list.

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Champion: Demetrious Johnson

1. Joseph Benavidez
2. John Dodson
3. Ian McCall
4. John Moraga
5. Jussier da Silva
6. Louis Gaudinot
7. Chris Cariaso
8. Darren Uyenoyama
9. John Lineker
10. Tim Elliott

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Saturday's flyweight competitors, Harris and Gomez, are now the only active UFC flyweights not ranked by the voting media.