UFC Rankings: Good Calls and Bad Calls Following UFC Fight Night 53 & 54
On a day when 46 competitors stepped into the Octagon, Rory MacDonald made the biggest impact.
The Canadian started out with a conservative approach against Tarec Saffiedine on Saturday. However, MacDonald was able to knock his opponent to the canvas and record a knockout victory by landing a left hook during a combination in the third round.
MacDonald now has a strong argument that he should be next in line to fight for the welterweight championship. The win over Saffiedine certainly helped MacDonald in that regard, but did it elevate him in the 170-pound rankings?
Pound-for-Pound
1 of 10
Rankings
| No. | Fighter |
| 1 | Jon Jones |
| 2 | Jose Aldo |
| 3 | Demetrious Johnson |
| 4 | Chris Weidman (+1) |
| 5 | Cain Velasquez (-1) |
| 6 | Anthony Pettis |
| 7 | Anderson Silva |
| 8 | Johny Hendricks (+1) |
| 9 | Ronda Rousey (-1) |
| 10 | T.J. Dillashaw (+1) |
| 11 | Renan Barao (-1) |
| 12 | Vitor Belfort |
| 13 | Alexander Gustafsson (+1) |
| 14 | Dominick Cruz (+1) |
| 15 | Daniel Cormier (-2) |
Analysis
Good Calls
With two straight title defenses, Chris Weidman and Cain Velasquez are neck and neck in the pound-for-pound rankings. However, Weidman does have a slight edge based on the level of competition he's faced in his championship bouts.
The middleweight champion dethroned Anderson Silva, who was previously the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in MMA. Weidman followed that up by beating Silva again before defending his belt against former light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida.
Velasquez beat former heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos in two of his past three outings. However, his other title defense came against Antonio Silva, an opponent he had already demolished 12 months prior to their championship bout.
Additionally, T.J. Dillashaw finally surpassed Renan Barao in a decision that was better late than never. Dillashaw dethroned the Brazilian to take the bantamweight crown in May and has already defended the 135-pound belt once, but he is just now moving above Barao in the rankings.
Furthermore, Daniel Cormier has looked great recently, but has not done enough to surpass Alexander Gustafsson in the pound-for-pound rankings. The Strikeforce veteran has beaten some of the best in the heavyweight and light heavyweight divisions. However, he hasn't met the 205-pound king.
Gustafsson has and nearly dethroned Jon Jones in September 2013. Until Cormier looks as good against Jones as Gustafsson did, he shouldn't be ranked above the Swedish contender.
Bad Calls
There are many who feel Ronda Rousey shouldn't be included in the pound-for-pound rankings or that female divisions should have their own separate pound-for-pound rankings.
However, if Rousey is going to be considered eligible for the pound-for-pound rankings, she should be ranked as any other champion would. With four title defenses already, Rousey is far more dominant over her division than Johny Hendricks is over his.
Based on the criteria that is clearly in place for the male titleholders, Rousey should be ranked above Hendricks and possibly even belongs among the Top Five pound-for-pound fighters.
Heavyweight
2 of 10
Rankings
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Cain Velasquez |
| 1 | Fabricio Werdum |
| 2 | Junior Dos Santos |
| 3 | Travis Browne |
| 4 | Mark Hunt (+1) |
| 5 | Stipe Miocic (-1) |
| 6 | Josh Barnett |
| 7 | Andrei Arlovski |
| 8 | Antonio Silva |
| 9 | Roy Nelson |
| 10 | Ben Rothwell |
| 11 | Alistair Overeem |
| 12 | Gabriel Gonzaga |
| 13 | Frank Mir |
| 14 | Stefan Struve |
| 15 | Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (NR) |
Analysis
Good Calls
With a knockout win over Roy Nelson in his latest outing, Mark Hunt earned a spot above Stipe Miocic in the heavyweight rankings. Miocic also recently met Big Country and won convincingly, but he was not able to put the TUF 10 winner away.
In December, Miocic will have a chance to retake his spot above Hunt in the rankings, as he'll meet former champion Junior Dos Santos. Should Miocic beat the Brazilian, who owns a knockout win over Hunt, he'll likely see a big boost in the rankings.
Moving into the No. 15 position, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira bumped Matt Mitrione out of the heavyweight rankings. Despite Nogueira's recent struggles, this was a good call.
The Brazilian was knocked out by Nelson in his latest appearance, but Mitrione has also been knocked out by Big Country. Additionally, Mitrione has still not beaten a Top 15 heavyweight, while Nogueira has had a legendary career that includes wins over Fabricio Werdum, Josh Barnett and others.
Bad Calls
No bad calls were made in this edition of the heavyweight rankings.
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 | Ryan Bader |
| 8 | Dan Henderson |
| 9 | Mauricio Rua |
| 10 | Ovince Saint Preux |
| 11 | Jimi Manuwa |
| 12 | Rafael Cavalcante |
| 13 | Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (+1) |
| 14 | Vitor Belfort (-1) |
| 15 | Fabio Maldonado |
Analysis
Good Calls
No good calls were made in this edition of the light heavyweight rankings.
Bad Calls
With a knockout win over Dan Henderson in his latest outing, Vitor Belfort arguably has the resume to be a Top Five middleweight contender.
Belfort's ranked as low as he is because he's scheduled to fight Weidman in the middleweight division. Clearly, some voters are only ranking Belfort at 185 pounds now, and that has hurt him in the 205-pound rankings.
If Belfort is going to be ranked as a light heavyweight, he should be ranked above Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and several others he is behind. Otherwise, Belfort should be exclusively ranked in the middleweight class.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
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 | Yoel Romero |
| 7 | Tim Kennedy |
| 8 | Gegard Mousasi |
| 9 | Michael Bisping |
| 10 | CB Dollaway |
| 11 | Thales Leites |
| 12 | Costas Philippou |
| 13 | Mark Munoz (+1) |
| 13 | Tim Boetsch (-1) |
| 15 | Brad Tavares |
Analysis
Good Calls
I'm not sure why Mark Munoz was ranked below Tim Boetsch to begin with, but the rankings panel has it right now.
Munoz defeated Boetsch by a wide margin on the scorecards during July 2013. Since then, Munoz has only lost to Top 10 middleweights Machida and Gegard Mousasi.
Boetsch did pick up a win over CB Dollaway since his loss to Munoz, but it was a controversial decision victory, and Munoz knocked Dollaway out in a previous outing.
Bad Calls
No bad calls 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 | Demian Maia (+1) |
| 8 | Jake Ellenberger (-1) |
| 9 | Tarec Saffiedine |
| 9 | Dong Hyun Kim (+1) |
| 11 | Kelvin Gastelum |
| 12 | Rick Story (NR) |
| 13 | Jordan Mein |
| 14 | Gunnar Nelson (-2) |
| 15 | Ryan LaFlare (-1) |
Analysis
Good Calls
It was expected that Gunnar Nelson would fall below Rick Story in the welterweight rankings, given his loss to the UFC veteran over the weekend. However, Nelson also lost a spot to Jordan Mein.
With a knockout win over Mike Pyle, who has beaten Story, Mein does deserve to be ranked above Nelson. That's not to say the voting media got it all right with Story and Nelson, as will be discussed below, but Nelson did deserve to fall by more than one position.
Bad Calls
Given their close fights with Rory MacDonald, Demian Maia isn't far behind Jake Ellenberger, but he shouldn't be ranked above The Juggernaut in the welterweight division.
The Brazilian is only two fights removed from a loss to Jake Shields. Ellenberger happens to own an opening-round knockout win over that same adversary.
With not much else to compare them with, Ellenberger's 170-pound resume is slightly stronger than Maia's.
It's not by a large margin, but Saffiedine should still be holding on to a spot above Dong Hyun Kim. Instead, he's tied with the Korean.
Both fighters have recently suffered setbacks against Top Five welterweights. Saffiedine's came against MacDonald, while Kim's came against Tyron Woodley. Considering that Woodley has been beaten by MacDonald, Kim shouldn't be drawing even with Saffiedine after being stopped by Woodley.
Finally, Story deserved to jump into the Top 15 with his win over Nelson on Saturday, but the rankings panel went a little overboard.
In addition to being above Nelson, Story is now ranked above Mein, who recently knocked out Pyle, a fighter who defeated Story in May 2013. With that said, it could also be argued that Pyle should have a spot in the Top 15 over Nelson and Ryan LaFlare.
Lightweight
6 of 10
Rankings
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Anthony Pettis |
| 1 | Gilbert Melendez |
| 2 | Khabib Nurmagomedov |
| 3 | Rafael dos Anjos |
| 4 | Donald Cerrone |
| 5 | Benson Henderson |
| 6 | Josh Thomson |
| 7 | Bobby Green |
| 8 | Myles Jury |
| 9 | Jim Miller |
| 10 | Eddie Alvarez |
| 11 | Michael Johnson |
| 12 | Edson Barboza |
| 13 | Jorge Masvidal |
| 14 | Rustam Khabilov |
| 15 | Nate Diaz |
Analysis
Good Calls
No changes were made to the lightweight rankings.
Bad Calls
No changes were made to the lightweight rankings.
Featherweight
7 of 10
Rankings
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Jose Aldo |
| 1 | Chad Mendes |
| 2 | Cub Swanson |
| 3 | Frankie Edgar |
| 4 | Ricardo Lamas |
| 5 | Conor McGregor |
| 6 | Chan Sung Jung |
| 7 | Dustin Poirier |
| 8 | Dennis Bermudez |
| 9 | Nik Lentz |
| 10 | Dennis Siver (+1) |
| 11 | Jeremy Stephens (-1) |
| 12 | Clay Guida |
| 13 | Darren Elkins |
| 14 | Charles Oliveira |
| 15 | Max Holloway (NR) |
Analysis
Good Calls
Previously ranked No. 15, Tatsuya Kawajiri has only beaten unproven featherweight Sean Soriano since joining the UFC roster. Kawajiri has the potential to be a serious contender at 145 pounds, but his UFC resume is lacking.
With four straight wins and a narrow decision loss to No. 8 contender Dennis Bermudez, Max Holloway has done more in the UFC featherweight division to earn that No. 15 position.
Bad Calls
Dennis Siver looked good in his win over Charles Rosa on Saturday, but the German is still looking for a win over a current Top 15 featherweight. Jeremy Stephens, on the other hand, has already beaten No. 13 Darren Elkins.
Given that and the fact that Siver recently failed a drug test following his bout with Manny Gamburyan, it's hard to justify moving him above Stephens in the 145-pound rankings.
Bantamweight
8 of 10
Rankings
| No. | Fighter |
| C | T.J. Dillashaw |
| 1 | Renan Barao |
| 2 | Dominick Cruz |
| 3 | Urijah Faber |
| 4 | Raphael Assuncao |
| 5 | Michael McDonald |
| 6 | Takeya Mizugaki |
| 7 | Eddie Wineland |
| 8 | Iuri Alcantara |
| 9 | Johnny Eduardo |
| 10 | Bryan Caraway |
| 11 | Francisco Rivera |
| 12 | Alex Caceres |
| 13 | Erik Perez |
| 14 | Joe Soto |
| 15 | Mitch Gagnon (NR) |
Analysis
Good Calls
No good calls were made in this edition of the bantamweight rankings.
Bad Calls
Mitch Gagnon has looked good in his past three bouts, but he hasn't earned a Top 15 ranking over Masanori Kanehara, the fighter who was bumped to make room for the Canadian.
Kanehara has beaten Norifumi Yamamoto and No. 12 bantamweight Alex Caceres inside the Octagon. So, it doesn't seem logical that Kanehara wouldn't be ranked over Gagnon while Caceres sits comfortably within the Top 15 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 (+1) |
| 7 | Ali Bagautinov (-1) |
| 8 | Chris Cariaso |
| 9 | Zach Makovsky |
| 10 | Tim Elliott |
| 11 | Brad Pickett |
| 12 | Kyoji Horiguchi (+1) |
| 13 | Dustin Ortiz (-1) |
| 14 | Louis Gaudinot |
| 15 | Scott Jorgensen |
Analysis
Good Calls
No good calls were made in this edition of the flyweight rankings.
Bad Calls
Ali Bagautinov defeated John Lineker in February. Since then, Bagautinov has only lost to champion Demetrious Johnson. So, Bagautinov should be ranked above Lineker without question.
I'd be interested to hear any arguments to the contrary.
A less inexcusable but still poor decision, Kyoji Horiguchi should not be ranked above Dustin Ortiz right now. Horiguchi has shown promise, but he has not been tested by a Top 15 125-pounder. Ortiz, meanwhile, battled Top Five flyweight John Moraga to a controversial split-decision loss.
Also with more UFC wins than Horiguchi, Ortiz deserves to be ranked more highly.
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 | Bethe Correia |
| 9 | Amanda Nunes |
| 10 | Jessica Andrade |
| 11 | Julianna Pena |
| 12 | Germaine de Randamie |
| 13 | Leslie Smith |
| 14 | Raquel Pennington |
| 15 | Holly Holm |
Analysis
Good Calls
No changes were made to the women's bantamweight rankings.
Bad Calls
No changes were made to the women's bantamweight rankings.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
