UFC Rankings for Each Weight Division Following UFC 175 and TUF 19 Finale
With UFC 175 on Saturday and The Ultimate Fighter 19 finale on Sunday, it was a busy weekend.
Chris Weidman and Ronda Rousey both defended their championships at UFC 175. The middleweight champion faced some adversity in the later rounds, but Weidman ultimately held Lyoto Machida off for a decision win. Getting her hand raised in much smoother fashion, Rousey knocked Alexis Davis out in only 16 seconds after tossing the challenger to the canvas.
On Sunday, Frankie Edgar brought an end to BJ Penn's illustrious career with a dominant showing. Clearly the better fighter in all areas, Edgar eventually stopped Penn with ground-and-pound in the third round.
Pound-for-Pound
1 of 10
| No. | Fighter |
| 1 | Jon Jones |
| 2 | Jose Aldo |
| 3 | Cain Velasquez |
| 4 | Demetrious Johnson |
| 5 | Chris Weidman |
| 6 | Anthony Pettis |
| 7 | Anderson Silva |
| 8 | Renan Barao |
| 9 | Ronda Rousey (+1) |
| 10 | Johny Hendricks (-1) |
| 11 | TJ Dillashaw |
| 12 | Vitor Belfort |
| 13 | Benson Henderson |
| 14 | Alexander Gustafsson |
| 15 | Gilbert Melendez |
Good Call
Let's put aside the discussion on whether women should have their own pound-for-pound rankings.
This list has clearly become based on divisional dominance. In that sense, Rousey deserves to be ranked above Johny Hendricks right now and even above a few others she is still ranked below.
Rousey looks to be head and shoulders above every other fighter on the UFC women's bantamweight roster. So, it's good to hear that UFC President Dana White seems to be warming up to the idea of signing Cristiane "Cyborg" Justino.
Bad Call
When he moved to 145 pounds, Edgar was the second best fighter in the lightweight division. Even at a size disadvantage, but The Answer still became one of the best 155-pounders in MMA history.
Now, with a third win over Penn, Edgar is proving equally adept in the featherweight class. Only Jose Aldo has defeated him since he transitioned.
Since both fighters had controversial decision losses to Benson Henderson, it's a close call. However, given his past as a UFC champion, Edgar should have a slight edge over Gilbert Melendez for the No. 15 position.
Heavyweight
2 of 10
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Cain Velasquez |
| 1 | Fabricio Werdum |
| 2 | Junior dos Santos |
| 3 | Travis Browne |
| 4 | Antonio Silva |
| 5 | Josh Barnett |
| 6 | Stipe Miocic |
| 7 | Alistair Overeem |
| 8 | Mark Hunt |
| 9 | Roy Nelson |
| 10 | Frank Mir |
| 11 | Gabriel Gonzaga |
| 12 | Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (+1) |
| 13 | Stefan Struve (-1) |
| 14 | Andrei Arlovski |
| 15 | Brendan Schaub |
Good Call
I hate to say a guy deserves to be dropped in the rankings due to a scary medical condition, but it really doesn't look like Stefan Struve will be returning to the Octagon soon.
Following what White called a panic attack on fight night, Struve was removed from his scheduled bout with Matt Mitrione on Saturday. Struve has not fought in more than 16 months due to a heart condition, and he may need to consider retirement following this setback.
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira has been struggling lately, so this isn't a good call to move him up so much as it's time to remove Struve from the rankings until his future is more certain.
Bad Call
No bad calls were made in this edition of the heavyweight rankings.
Light Heavyweight
3 of 10
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Jon Jones |
| 1 | Alexander Gustafsson |
| 2 | Daniel Cormier |
| 3 | Rashad Evans |
| 4 | Glover Teixeira |
| 5 | Anthony Johnson |
| 6 | Phil Davis |
| 7 | Dan Henderson |
| 8 | Ryan Bader (+1) |
| 9 | Mauricio Rua (-1) |
| 10 | Ovince Saint Preux |
| 11 | Jimi Manuwa |
| 12 | Rafael Cavalcante |
| 13 | Vitor Belfort |
| 14 | James Te Huna |
| 15 | Ryan Jimmo |
Good Call
No good calls were made in this edition of the light heavyweight rankings.
Bad Call
Mauricio "Shogun" Rua has been slumping, but Ryan Bader hasn't done quite enough to surpass him.
In his past nine fights, Bader has only beaten one fighter who is currently ranked among the Top 15 UFC light heavyweights, as he took Rafael Cavalcante to a lopsided decision. Rua, meanwhile, knocked out James Te Huna and had Dan Henderson reeling before getting caught in the third round.
Another loss will make it hard to defend Rua, but Bader hasn't exactly been steamrolling elite light heavyweights, so Shogun still deserves the No. 8 position.
Middleweight
4 of 10
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Chris Weidman |
| 1 | Anderson Silva |
| 2 | Vitor Belfort |
| 2 | Lyoto Machida (+1) |
| 4 | Ronaldo Souza |
| 5 | Luke Rockhold |
| 6 | Tim Kennedy |
| 7 | Gegard Mousasi |
| 8 | Michael Bisping |
| 9 | CB Dollaway |
| 10 | Costas Philippou |
| 11 | Yoel Romero |
| 12 | Francis Carmont |
| 13 | Mark Munoz |
| 14 | Tim Boetsch |
| 15 | Thales Leites |
Good Call
Heading into UFC 175, Machida was a clear No. 3 contender behind Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort. On Saturday, The Dragon changed the perception that MMA fans had of him, though.
While he fell short of beating Weidman, Machida gave the champion more problems in the later rounds of this past weekend's championship bout than anybody has. For that reason, a case could even be made that Machida should have surpassed Silva and Belfort rather than simply drawing even with the latter.
Previously dismissed as a title threat at 36 years old, Machida could now be Weidman's biggest concern should the Brazilian earn his way back to a shot at UFC gold.
Bad Call
No bad calls were made in this edition of the middleweight rankings.
Welterweight
5 of 10
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Johny Hendricks |
| 1 | Robbie Lawler |
| 2 | Rory MacDonald |
| 3 | Carlos Condit |
| 4 | Tyron Woodley |
| 5 | Matt Brown |
| 6 | Hector Lombard |
| 7 | Jake Ellenberger |
| 8 | Demian Maia |
| 9 | Tarec Saffiedine (+1) |
| 10 | Dong Hyun Kim (-1) |
| 11 | Kelvin Gastelum |
| 12 | Mike Pyle |
| 13 | Gunnar Nelson |
| 14 | Ryan LaFlare |
| 15 | Erick Silva |
Good Call
No good calls were made in this edition of the welterweight rankings.
Bad Call
A former Strikeforce champion, Tarec Saffiedine has a high ceiling, but he does not have a stronger resume than Dong Hyun Kim.
Since joining the UFC roster, Saffiedine has only beaten Hyun Gyu Lim. With his biggest prior win coming against Nate Marquardt, Saffiedine has no wins over Top 15 welterweights.
Kim, on the other hand, has won four in a row, with one of those wins coming via knockout against No. 15 Erick Silva.
Lightweight
6 of 10
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Anthony Pettis |
| 1 | Benson Henderson |
| 2 | Gilbert Melendez |
| 3 | Josh Thomson |
| 4 | Khabib Nurmagomedov |
| 5 | Rafael dos Anjos |
| 6 | Donald Cerrone |
| 7 | Jim Miller |
| 8 | Myles Jury (+1) |
| 9 | Michael Johnson (-1) |
| 10 | Gray Maynard |
| 11 | Rustam Khabilov |
| 12 | Bobby Green |
| 13 | Edson Barboza |
| 14 | Jorge Masvidal |
| 15 | Joe Lauzon |
Good Call
I'm not sure why the rankings panel keeps going back and forth with these two. Myles Jury clearly deserves to be ranked above Michael Johnson.
Since beating Johnson in December 2012, Jury has not suffered a loss. Coming off a win over Diego Sanchez, he hasn't been fighting chumps either.
Johnson is on a roll now, having won three in a row, but he still has some work to do to prove he should be ranked above Jury.
Bad Call
No bad calls were made in this edition of the lightweight rankings.
Featherweight
7 of 10
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Jose Aldo |
| 1 | Chad Mendes |
| 2 | Frankie Edgar (+1) |
| 3 | Cub Swanson (-1) |
| 4 | Ricardo Lamas |
| 5 | Chan Sung Jung |
| 6 | Dustin Poirier |
| 7 | Clay Guida (+1) |
| 8 | Dennis Siver (+1) |
| 9 | Nik Lentz (-2) |
| 10 | Jeremy Stephens |
| 11 | Dennis Bermudez |
| 12 | Darren Elkins |
| 13 | Conor McGregor (-1) |
| 14 | Charles Oliveira |
| 15 | Tatsuya Kawajiri |
Good Call
Cub Swanson has one of the most impressive streaks going, but he hasn't accomplished what Edgar has.
A former lightweight champion, Edgar has looked very good at 145 pounds as well. Only losing in a close decision against Jose Aldo, Edgar might be the best non-champion in the division.
It's going to take an Edgar slip-up or a Swanson win over Chad Mendes or Aldo to drop The Answer back down.
Bad Call
Clay Guida might have earned his spot over Nik Lentz, but Dennis Siver certainly hasn't.
Not only did Siver recently fail a drug test that cost him his win over Manny Gamburyan, but the German also didn't look any better than Lentz did against common opponents Gamburyan and Diego Nunes.
With a failed drug test, Siver is lucky to be ranked at all, let alone above a fighter who has a better record than him.
Bantamweight
8 of 10
| No. | Fighter |
| C | TJ Dillashaw |
| 1 | Renan Barao |
| 2 | Urijah Faber |
| 3 | Raphael Assuncao |
| 4 | Michael McDonald |
| 5 | Takeya Mizugaki |
| 6 | Eddie Wineland |
| 7 | Iuri Alcantara |
| 8 | Bryan Caraway |
| 9 | Johnny Eduardo |
| 10 | Alex Caceres (+1) |
| 11 | Francisco Rivera (-1) |
| 12 | Dominick Cruz |
| 13 | Erik Perez |
| 14 | Mike Easton |
| 15 | Wilson Reis |
Good Call
No good calls were made in this edition of the bantamweight rankings.
Bad Call
Alex Caceres didn't look awful in a submission loss to Urijah Faber on Saturday, but that's no reason to move him above Francisco Rivera.
Prior to his bout with Faber, Caceres' most recent loss came against Edwin Figueroa. Rivera knocked that same Figueroa out in the second round two appearances ago.
Caceres has a higher ceiling than Rivera, but that doesn't mean he should be ranked higher right now.
Flyweight
9 of 10
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Demetrious Johnson |
| 1 | John Dodson |
| 2 | Joseph Benavidez |
| 3 | Ian McCall |
| 4 | Ali Bagautinov |
| 5 | John Moraga |
| 6 | Jussier Formiga |
| 7 | John Lineker |
| 8 | Chris Cariaso |
| 9 | Zach Makovsky |
| 10 | Brad Pickett |
| 11 | Tim Elliott |
| 12 | Dustin Ortiz (+1) |
| 13 | Louis Gaudinot (-1) |
| 14 | Kyoji Horiguchi |
| 15 | Scott Jorgensen |
Good Call
Since joining the UFC roster, Dustin Ortiz has only suffered one loss, and that came in a split decision against former title challenger John Moraga. With one win in three official UFC bouts, Louis Gaudinot no longer deserves a spot above Ortiz in the 125-pound rankings.
Although unranked, Justin Scoggins was a huge test for Ortiz this weekend. Scoggins was touted as a future title contender, but Ortiz shut him down on the ground enough to earn a decision win.
Considering his close fight with Moraga, Ortiz could even be ranked as high as No. 6 right now.
Bad Call
No bad calls were made in this edition of the flyweight rankings.
Women's Bantamweight
10 of 10
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Ronda Rousey |
| 1 | Cat Zingano |
| 2 | Miesha Tate (+1) |
| 3 | Alexis Davis (-1) |
| 4 | Sara McMann |
| 5 | Sarah Kaufman |
| 6 | Jessica Eye |
| 7 | Liz Carmouche |
| 8 | Amanda Nunes |
| 9 | Jessica Andrade |
| 10 | Bethe Correia |
| 11 | Julianna Pena |
| 12 | Germaine de Randamie |
| 13 | Raquel Pennington |
| 14 | Jessamyn Duke |
| 15 | Jessica Rakoczy |
Good Call
It might not have shown on Saturday, but Davis is one of the best in the women's bantamweight division. That said, the loss did rightfully bump her down a notch in the rankings.
Miesha Tate has had two meetings with Rousey in her career. Both of them were far more competitive than Davis' UFC 175 matchup with the champion.
Still the only fighter to make it out of the first round with Rousey, Tate belongs in the No. 2 position behind only Cat Zingano, who beat her in April 2013.
Bad Call
No bad calls were made in this edition of the women's bantamweight rankings.
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