UFC Rankings for Each Weight Division Following UFC Fight Night 52
Four years ago, Mark Hunt was getting submitted by Sean McCorkle on the prelims.
Now, Hunt is a Top 10 heavyweight who became the first fighter to knock Roy Nelson out in a UFC bout on Saturday. The victory put Hunt back in the running for a title shot in the heavyweight division and proved he's not even close to being done at 40 years old.
Did stopping Nelson boost Hunt into the Top Five heavyweight contenders? How far did Big Country fall after his third loss in four appearances?
Pound-for-Pound
1 of 10
Rankings
| No. | Fighter |
| 1 | Jon Jones |
| 2 | Jose Aldo |
| 3 | Cain Velasquez |
| 4 | Demetrious Johnson |
| 5 | Chris Weidman |
| 6 | Anthony Pettis |
| 7 | Anderson Silva |
| 8 | Ronda Rousey |
| 9 | Johny Hendricks |
| 10 | Renan Barao |
| 11 | T.J. Dillashaw |
| 12 | Vitor Belfort |
| 13 | Alexander Gustafsson |
| 14 | Daniel Cormier |
| 15 | Gilbert Melendez |
Rankings Analysis
Good Call
No changes were made in this edition of the pound-for-pound rankings.
Bad Call
No changes were made in this edition of the pound-for-pound rankings.
Heavyweight
2 of 10
Rankings
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Cain Velasquez |
| 1 | Fabricio Werdum |
| 2 | Junior dos Santos |
| 3 | Travis Browne |
| 4 | Stipe Miocic |
| 5 | Mark Hunt (+1) |
| 6 | Josh Barnett (-1) |
| 7 | Andrei Arlovski |
| 8 | Antonio Silva (+1) |
| 9 | Roy Nelson (-1) |
| 10 | Ben Rothwell |
| 11 | Alistair Overeem |
| 12 | Gabriel Gonzaga |
| 13 | Frank Mir |
| 14 | Stefan Struve |
| 15 | Matt Mitrione (NR) |
Rankings Analysis
Good Call
Based on their entire careers, Hunt does not have quite the resume that Josh Barnett does. However, looking at more recent snapshots, Hunt has certainly been more successful recently and deserves a spot above the former UFC champion.
While Barnett was knocked out by Travis Browne in his most recent outing, Hunt fought to a draw with Antonio Silva not too long ago. Browne may be ranked above Silva, but I'm not so sure that's deserved, as he was knocked out by Bigfoot at UFC on FX 5.
Hunt told MMAFighting.com's Ariel Helwani that he would now like to fight Barnett, which would really settle things. However, it's unlikely Hunt will be matched up with a fighter who is coming off a loss.
Bad Call
At least two heavyweights deserve the No. 15 position more than Matt Mitrione right now.
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira may be slumping, but he has a win over Brendan Schaub, the other fighter who would make more sense as the No. 15 contender. Only 12 months ago, Schaub submitted Mitrione in the opening round, and he's only lost to Arlovski since then.
Placing Mitrione in the Top 15 over Schaub and Nogueira simply doesn't seem logical.
Light Heavyweight
3 of 10
Rankings
| 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 Saint Preux |
| 11 | Jimi Manuwa |
| 12 | Rafael Cavalcante |
| 13 | Vitor Belfort |
| 14 | Antonio Rogerio Nogueira |
| 15 | Fabio Maldonado |
Rankings Analysis
Good Call
No changes were made in this edition of the light heavyweight rankings.
Bad Call
No changes were made in this edition of the light heavyweight rankings.
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Middleweight
4 of 10
Rankings
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Chris Weidman |
| 1 | Anderson Silva |
| 2 | Ronaldo Souza |
| 3 | Vitor Belfort |
| 4 | Lyoto Machida |
| 5 | Luke Rockhold |
| 6 | Tim Kennedy |
| 7 | Michael Bisping |
| 7 | Gegard Mousasi |
| 9 | CB Dollaway |
| 10 | Yoel Romero |
| 11 | Costas Philippou |
| 12 | Thales Leites |
| 13 | Tim Boetsch |
| 13 | Mark Munoz |
| 15 | Francis Carmont |
Rankings Analysis
Good Call
No changes were made in this edition of the middleweight rankings.
Bad Call
No changes were made in this edition of the middleweight rankings.
Welterweight
5 of 10
Rankings
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Johny Hendricks |
| 1 | Robbie Lawler |
| 2 | Rory MacDonald |
| 3 | Tyron Woodley |
| 4 | Carlos Condit |
| 5 | Matt Brown |
| 6 | Hector Lombard |
| 7 | Jake Ellenberger (+1) |
| 8 | Demian Maia (-1) |
| 9 | Tarec Saffiedine |
| 10 | Dong Hyun Kim |
| 11 | Kelvin Gastelum |
| 12 | Gunnar Nelson |
| 13 | Jordan Mein |
| 14 | Ryan LaFlare |
| 15 | Mike Pyle |
Rankings Analysis
Good Call
It's not by a huge margin, but Jake Ellenberger does have a stronger welterweight resume than Demian Maia.
Both men have recent decision losses to Rory MacDonald, putting them in similar positions at 170 pounds. However, Ellenberger holds a knockout win over Jake Shields, who edged Maia on the scorecards not too long ago.
A matchup between Ellenberger and Maia would be interesting at some point to give a more clear indication on which fighter is better.
Bad Call
No bad calls were made in this edition of the welterweight rankings.
Lightweight
6 of 10
Rankings
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Anthony Pettis |
| 1 | Gilbert Melendez |
| 2 | Khabib Nurmagomedov |
| 3 | Rafael dos Anjos |
| 4 | Benson Henderson |
| 5 | Donald Cerrone |
| 6 | Josh Thomson |
| 7 | Bobby Green |
| 8 | Myles Jury (+1) |
| 9 | Jim Miller (-1) |
| 10 | Michael Johnson |
| 11 | Edson Barboza |
| 12 | Jorge Masvidal (+1) |
| 13 | Rustam Khabilov (-1) |
| 14 | Eddie Alvarez |
| 15 | Ross Pearson |
Rankings Analysis
Good Call
Believe it or not, with all he's accomplished, Jim Miller does not have a UFC win over a current Top 15 lightweight contender. Meanwhile, Myles Jury does.
In addition to winning all six of his official UFC bouts, Jury owns a victory over Michael Johnson, who is currently No. 10 in the lightweight division.
At this point, Jury needs to be taken seriously as a 155-pound contender. He has a stronger track record than Miller over their past several bouts.
Bad Call
This one is puzzling.
Rustam Khabilov defeated Jorge Masvidal in November 2013, but he has inexplicably fallen below the Strikeforce veteran in the lightweight rankings.
Since that win, Khabilov has only lost to former champion Benson Henderson. Masvidal, meanwhile, has gone 2-0, but he's done so against unranked competition.
Featherweight
7 of 10
Rankings
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Jose Aldo |
| 1 | Chad Mendes |
| 2 | Cub Swanson |
| 3 | Frankie Edgar |
| 4 | Ricardo Lamas |
| 5 | Dustin Poirier |
| 6 | Chan Sung Jung |
| 7 | Dennis Bermudez |
| 8 | Nik Lentz |
| 9 | Conor McGregor |
| 10 | Jeremy Stephens |
| 11 | Dennis Siver |
| 12 | Clay Guida |
| 13 | Darren Elkins |
| 14 | Charles Oliveira |
| 15 | Tatsuya Kawajiri |
Rankings Analysis
Good Call
No changes were made in this edition of the featherweight rankings.
Bad Call
No changes were made in this edition of the featherweight rankings.
Bantamweight
8 of 10
Rankings
| No. | Fighter |
| C | T.J. Dillashaw |
| 1 | Renan Barao |
| 2 | Urijah Faber |
| 3 | Raphael Assuncao |
| 4 | Michael McDonald |
| 5 | Takeya Mizugaki |
| 6 | Eddie Wineland |
| 7 | Iuri Alcantara |
| 8 | Johnny Eduardo |
| 9 | Bryan Caraway |
| 10 | Dominick Cruz (+2) |
| 11 | Francisco Rivera |
| 12 | Erik Perez (+1) |
| 13 | Alex Caceres (-3) |
| 14 | Mike Easton (+1) |
| 15 | Joe Soto (-1) |
Rankings Analysis
Good Call
Mike Easton may be struggling, but Joe Soto shouldn't be even with The Hulk in the bantamweight rankings.
Soto impressed in a short-notice meeting with 135-pound champion T.J. Dillashaw, but he ultimately lost. He was stopped in the fifth round and hasn't won inside the Octagon.
Having gone the distance against Dillashaw and beaten multiple UFC opponents, Easton should not be tied with Soto on the 135-pound ladder.
Bad Call
The rankings panel did penalize Alex Caceres for his loss to Masanori Kanehara on Saturday, but it didn't reward the latter.
Kanehara does deserve a spot in the Top 15 rankings. However, if the voting media aren't going to rank him, then they should have removed Caceres from the Top 15 to compensate for that.
Yeah, college football teams don't automatically surpass others they beat in the NCAA polls, but MMA is a completely different sport. When fighters are only competing a few times per year, wins need to be reflected immediately in the rankings.
Flyweight
9 of 10
Rankings
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Demetrious Johnson |
| 1 | John Dodson |
| 2 | Joseph Benavidez |
| 3 | Ian McCall |
| 4 | Jussier Formiga |
| 5 | John Moraga |
| 6 | John Lineker |
| 7 | Ali Bagautinov |
| 8 | Chris Cariaso |
| 9 | Zach Makovsky |
| 10 | Tim Elliott |
| 11 | Brad Pickett |
| 12 | Dustin Ortiz |
| 13 | Kyoji Horiguchi (+1) |
| 14 | Louis Gaudinot (-1) |
| 15 | Scott Jorgensen |
Rankings Analysis
Good Call
No bad calls were made in this edition of the flyweight rankings.
Bad Call
While he's looked great in his first three UFC bouts, Kyoji Horiguchi is still looking for his first Top 15 win.
Louis Gaudinot already has beaten a Top 10 flyweight contender. The Ultimate Fighter veteran submitted John Lineker, who is now one of the division's top contenders, in May 2012.
Horiguchi seems to have a higher ceiling, but Gaudinot should be ranked higher at the moment.
Women's Bantamweight
10 of 10
Rankings
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Ronda Rousey |
| 1 | Cat Zingano |
| 2 | Miesha Tate |
| 3 | Sara McMann |
| 4 | Alexis Davis |
| 5 | Sarah Kaufman |
| 6 | Jessica Eye |
| 7 | Liz Carmouche |
| 8 | Amanda Nunes |
| 9 | Bethe Correia |
| 10 | Jessica Andrade |
| 11 | Julianna Pena |
| 12 | Germaine de Randamie |
| 13 | Leslie Smith |
| 14 | Raquel Pennington |
| 15 | Holly Holm |
Rankings Analysis
Good Call
No changes were made in this edition of the women's bantamweight rankings.
Bad Call
No changes were made in this edition of the women's bantamweight rankings.
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