UFC Rankings for Each Weight Division Following UFC on Fox 12
Robbie Lawler was only one of several Top 15 fighters to showcase their skills on Saturday. UFC on Fox 12 also featured big wins by Anthony Johnson, Dennis Bermudez and Bobby Green.
All four contenders took important steps toward title shots in their respective divisions. Though, surprisingly, none of the main card winners moved upward in the UFC divisional rankings.
What movement did result from the weekend's bouts?
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 |
| 10 | Johny Hendricks |
| 11 | TJ Dillashaw |
| 12 | Vitor Belfort |
| 13 | Benson Henderson |
| 14 | Alexander Gustafsson |
| 15 | Daniel Cormier (NR) |
Good Call
No good calls were made in this edition of the pound-for-pound rankings.
Bad Call
Daniel Cormier could be light heavyweight champion in two months. However, he's not quite deserving of a position in these Top 15 rankings.
While Cormier, has not been tested by anybody currently sitting in the Top 15 pound-for-pound rankings, the fighter he replaced in the No. 15 position has. Gilbert Melendez battled to a narrow decision with No. 13 Benson Henderson and will soon take on No. 6 Anthony Pettis.
Right now, Melendez is a bit more proven against elite competition and should still be holding on to a spot in the pound-for-pound rankings.
Heavyweight
2 of 10
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Cain Velasquez |
| 1 | Fabricio Werdum |
| 2 | Junior dos Santos |
| 3 | Travis Browne |
| 4 | Antonio Silva |
| 5 | Stipe Miocic |
| 6 | Josh Barnett |
| 7 | Alistair Overeem |
| 8 | Mark Hunt |
| 9 | Roy Nelson |
| 10 | Frank Mir |
| 11 | Gabriel Gonzaga |
| 12 | Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira |
| 13 | Stefan Struve |
| 14 | Andrei Arlovski |
| 15 | Brendan Schaub |
Good Call
No good calls were made in this edition of the heavyweight rankings.
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 |
| 9 | Mauricio Rua |
| 10 | Ovince St. Preux |
| 11 | Jimi Manuwa |
| 12 | Rafael Cavalcante |
| 13 | Vitor Belfort |
| 14 | Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (NR) |
| 15 | Fabio Maldonado (-1) |
Good Call
With his ugly loss to Johnson on Saturday, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira could have remained outside the Top 15 rankings. However, the rankings panel did the right thing and gave him a spot on the lower end.
To begin with, Nogueira was only removed from the rankings due to inactivity. Prior to his bout with Johnson, the Brazilian had won two in a row, including a decision victory over Rashad Evans.
If anything, the No. 14 position is low for Nogueira, who could still have the ability to beat some Top 10 light heavyweights.
Bad Call
Although Johnson has only fought twice since returning to the UFC roster, he's already become one of the top contenders in the 205-pound class.
In stopping Nogueira, Rumble did what No. 3 contender Rashad Evans was not able to do only a few appearances ago. Suga lost to Nogueira in a very lackluster showing, while Johnson steamrolled the Brazilian in spectacular fashion.
While it's a meteoric rise, Johnson is fully deserving of a Top Three position among light heavyweight contenders.
Middleweight
4 of 10
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Chris Weidman |
| 1 | Anderson Silva |
| 2 | Lyoto Machida (+1) |
| 3 | Vitor Belfort (-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. The Dragon changed things in his middleweight championship bout with Chris Weidman, though.
While he fell short of beating Weidman, Machida gave the champion more problems in the later rounds of that UFC 175 championship bout than anybody has. For that reason, a case could even be made that Machida should have surpassed Silva rather than only Belfort.
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 | Demian Maia (+1) |
| 8 | Jake Ellenberger (-1) |
| 9 | Dong Hyun Kim (+1) |
| 10 | Tarec Saffiedine (-1) |
| 11 | Kelvin Gastelum |
| 12 | Gunnar Nelson |
| 13 | Mike Pyle |
| 14 | Ryan LaFlare |
| 15 | Rick Story (NR) |
Good Call
With four straight wins, Dong Hyun Kim has done enough to surpass former Strikeforce champion Tarec Saffiedine in the welterweight rankings.
During his current winning streak, Kim has stopped Erick Silva and John Hathaway, who are both one big win away from a spot in the Top 15. Saffiedine, meanwhile, has not beaten a Top 15 fighter and has still only made one trip to the Octagon.
Saffiedine showed some solid potential under the Strikeforce banner, but he needs to remain more active and beat some high-level welterweights in order maintain a Top 10 position.
Bad Call
Silva has still not managed to win consecutive UFC bouts, so it's not surprising to see him fall from the Top 15 rankings. That said, he deserves a spot over Rick Story.
Since losing to Charlie Brenneman, Story has not beaten a Top 15 adversary. Silva is also still looking for his first Top 15 win, but the Brazilian stopped Brenneman in the first round during June 2012.
Based on recent performance, Silva has a stronger case for a Top 15 position than Story does.
Lightweight
6 of 10
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Anthony Pettis |
| 1 | Benson Henderson |
| 2 | Gilbert Melendez |
| 3 | Khabib Nurmagomedov (+1) |
| 4 | Donald Cerrone (+1) |
| 5 | Rafael dos Anjos (+1) |
| 6 | Josh Thomson (-3) |
| 7 | Bobby Green (+6) |
| 8 | Jim Miller (-1) |
| 9 | Myles Jury (-1) |
| 10 | Michael Johnson |
| 11 | Edson Barboza (-2) |
| 12 | Gray Maynard (-1) |
| 13 | Rustam Khabilov (-1) |
| 14 | Jorge Masvidal |
| 15 | Joe Lauzon |
Good Call
Edson Barboza is very talented and might be ready to make a run following his knockout win over Evan Dunham. That said, he's not earned a Top 10 position.
The Brazilian is still looking for a Top 15 victory. He also narrowly defeated Danny Castillo, a common opponent whom Michael Johnson finished in the second round.
With a Top 15 win over Joe Lauzon, Johnson deserves the Top 10 position he now has.
Bad Call
While Bobby Green's decision win over Josh Thomson on Saturday was controversial, it was far from a robbery.
Green landed more significant strikes than The Punk and shut down all five takedown attempts he faced. It could be argued that the decision could have gone the other way, but the fact remains that Green won that bout in the minds of the people who mattered.
In some situations, it makes sense for a fighter to be ranked below an opponent they've beaten, but this isn't one of those times. Green should have surpassed Thomson.
Featherweight
7 of 10
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Jose Aldo |
| 1 | Chad Mendes |
| 2 | Cub Swanson (+1) |
| 3 | Frankie Edgar (-1) |
| 4 | Ricardo Lamas |
| 5 | Dustin Poirier (+1) |
| 6 | Chan Sung Jung (-1) |
| 7 | Dennis Bermudez (+5) |
| 8 | Nik Lentz |
| 9 | Conor McGregor (+1) |
| 10 | Dennis Siver (-1) |
| 11 | Jeremy Stephens |
| 12 | Clay Guida (-5) |
| 13 | Darren Elkins |
| 14 | Charles Oliveira |
| 15 | Tatsuya Kawajiri |
Good Call
Dennis Bermudez has won seven in a row now and is more than deserving of a Top 10 position.
With Clay Guida being his biggest win, Bermudez does still have some room to rise, but he's one more big win away from a Top Five spot. Expect The Menace to have a huge fight coming his way soon.
Guida, meanwhile, has only scored one Top 15 win in the featherweight division. While it could be argued he should be ranked as high as No. 8, Guida doesn't have much room to complain about his spot outside the Top 10 right now.
Bad Call
Dustin Poirier may be on a roll, but he hasn't proven he's better than Chan Sung Jung.
Since losing to Jung, The Diamond has not beaten a Top 15 adversary. Jung, meanwhile, has only been beaten by champion Jose Aldo since submitting Poirier in May 2012.
The Korean Zombie will need to get back to competing regularly to hold on to his position, but he should still have a Top Five ranking for now.
Bantamweight
8 of 10
| No. | Fighter |
| C | TJ Dillashaw |
| 1 | Renan Barao |
| 2 | Urijah Faber |
| 3 | Raphael Assuncao |
| 4 | Michael McDonald |
| 5 | Eddie Wineland |
| 6 | Takeya Mizugaki |
| 7 | Iuri Alcantara |
| 8 | Bryan Caraway |
| 9 | Johnny Eduardo |
| 10 | Alex Caceres |
| 11 | Francisco Rivera |
| 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
No bad calls were made in this edition of the bantamweight rankings.
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 |
| 13 | Louis Gaudinot |
| 14 | Kyoji Horiguchi |
| 15 | Scott Jorgensen |
Good Call
No good calls were made in this edition of the flyweight rankings.
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 |
| 3 | Alexis Davis |
| 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 | Leslie Smith (+1) |
| 14 | Raquel Pennington (-1) |
| 15 | Jessica Rakoczy |
Good Call
Leslie Smith and Raquel Pennington have similar UFC resumes, but the former's is a bit stronger.
In her most recent outing, Smith stopped Jessamyn Duke in the opening round. The same Duke went the distance with Pennington in a loss on The Ultimate Fighter 18.
Having only lost to Sarah Kaufman inside the Octagon, Smith does deserve the No. 13 position more than Pennington right now.
Bad Call
No bad calls were made in this edition of the women's bantamweight rankings.
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