UFC Rankings: Good Calls and Bad Calls Following UFC Fight Night 55 and 56
The UFC was very busy this weekend, hosting events in Australia and Brazil.
At UFC Fight Night 55, Luke Rockhold submitted Michael Bisping in the second round. It was the first time anybody forced the Englishman to tap.
Then, at UFC Fight Night 56, Ovince Saint Preux stunned Mauricio Rua with a quick knockout in front of Shogun's fellow Brazilians. It was undoubtedly the biggest win Saint Preux has recorded in his 23 MMA appearances.
How much did Rockhold and Saint Preux improve their positions in their respective divisions? Here are the latest official UFC rankings, via UFC.com, which are voted on by various members of the MMA media.
Pound-for-Pound
1 of 10
Rankings
| No. | Fighter |
| 1 | Jon Jones |
| 2 | Jose Aldo |
| 3 | Demetrious Johnson |
| 4 | Chris Weidman |
| 5 | Cain Velasquez |
| 6 | Anthony Pettis |
| 7 | Anderson Silva |
| 8 | Ronda Rousey |
| 9 | Johny Hendricks |
| 10 | TJ Dillashaw |
| 11 | Renan Barao |
| 12 | Vitor Belfort |
| 13 | Dominick Cruz |
| 14 | Daniel Cormier |
| 15 | Alexander Gustafsson |
Analysis
Good Calls
No changes were made to the pound-for-pound rankings.
Bad Calls
No changes were made to 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 | Mark Hunt |
| 5 | Stipe Miocic |
| 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 | Matt Mitrione |
Analysis
Good Calls
No changes were made to the heavyweight rankings.
Bad Calls
No changes were made to the heavyweight rankings.
Light Heavyweight
3 of 10
Rankings
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Jon Jones |
| 1 | Alexander Gustafsson |
| 2 | Daniel Cormier |
| 3 | Anthony Johnson |
| 4 | Rashad Evans |
| 5 | Phil Davis |
| 6 | Glover Teixeira |
| 7 | Ryan Bader (+1) |
| 8 | Dan Henderson (-1) |
| 9 | Ovince Saint Preux (+1) |
| 10 | Jimi Manuwa (+1) |
| 11 | Mauricio Rua (-2) |
| 12 | Rafael Cavalcante |
| 13 | Antonio Rogerio Nogueira |
| 14 | Fabio Maldonado |
| 15 | Vitor Belfort |
Analysis
Good Calls
Ryan Bader Retakes No. 7 Position from Dan Henderson
Over his past six outings, Henderson has only beaten Rua, who was beaten much more cleanly by Saint Preux at UFC Fight Night 56.
It could be argued that Saint Preux's quick knockout win over Shogun should have been enough for him to overtake Henderson in the light heavyweight rankings. Considering Bader beat OSP comfortably in August, he now owns a better resume than Henderson does.
Bad Calls
Mauricio Rua Falls Behind Jimi Manuwa, Out of Top 10
Shogun is heading in the wrong direction, but up-and-coming light heavyweights need to earn their spots above the former UFC champion.
Prior to his loss against Saint Preux on Saturday, Rua had a very competitive bout with No. 8 Henderson and knocked out James Te Huna, who was previously ranked in the light heavyweight division before he decided to move to 185 pounds.
Obviously, Saint Preux deserved to surpass Rua, but Jimi Manuwa still has some proving to do. The Englishman's biggest win came against Ryan Jimmo, who was beaten by Te Huna not too long ago. Considering Rua's brutal stoppage victory against Te Huna, Shogun still deserves to be ranked above Manuwa.
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Middleweight
4 of 10
Rankings
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Chris Weidman |
| 1 | Anderson Silva |
| 2 | Vitor Belfort (+1) |
| 3 | Ronaldo Souza (-1) |
| 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) |
| 14 | Tim Boetsch (-1) |
| 15 | Brad Tavares |
Analysis
Good Calls
Vitor Belfort Moves Above Ronaldo Souza
While Vitor Belfort has been away from competition for 12 months, he still has a stronger resume than any middleweight not named Chris Weidman or Anderson Silva.
The Phenom is one bout removed from a knockout win over Rockhold. Having lost to Rockhold under the Strikeforce banner, Ronaldo Souza didn't deserve to be ranked above Belfort right now.
Mark Munoz Takes No. 13 Slot Back from Tim Boetsch
I'm not sure why Mark Munoz was ranked below Tim Boetsch to begin with.
Munoz defeated Boetsch by a wide margin on the scorecards in July 2013. Since then, Munoz has only lost to Top 10 middleweights Lyoto 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 | Jake Ellenberger (+1) |
| 8 | Demian Maia (-1) |
| 9 | Tarec Saffiedine |
| 10 | Dong Hyun Kim |
| 11 | Kelvin Gastelum |
| 12 | Rick Story |
| 13 | Jordan Mein |
| 14 | Gunnar Nelson |
| 15 | Ryan LaFlare |
Analysis
Good Calls
Jake Ellenberger Surpasses Demian Maia
Although Ellenberger has been slumping, Maia only recently broke out of his own slump with a tune-up win over Alexander Yakovlev.
With recent decision losses to MacDonald, Ellenberger and Maia are in similar spots. The only way to really determine which fighter deserves an edge is evaluating their performances against another common adversary, Jake Shields, whom Ellenberger knocked out and Maia lost to.
Bad Calls
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 | Donald Cerrone |
| 5 | Benson Henderson |
| 6 | Josh Thomson |
| 7 | Bobby Green |
| 8 | Myles Jury |
| 9 | Jim Miller |
| 10 | Eddie Alvarez |
| 11 | Jorge Masvidal (+2) |
| 12 | Michael Johnson (-1) |
| 13 | Edson Barboza (-1) |
| 14 | Nate Diaz |
| 15 | Rustam Khabilov |
Analysis
Good Calls
No good calls were made in this edition of the lightweight rankings.
Bad Calls
Jorge Masvidal Moves Up Two Spots
This isn't about comparing Jorge Masvidal with Michael Johnson and Edson Barboza. The three have very comparable resumes.
It's about putting more distance between Masvidal and Rustam Khabilov.
Khabilov defeated Masvidal in November 2013. Since then, the Russian has only lost to former champion Benson Henderson. A loss to Henderson is hardly reason for Khabilov to be ranked four spots below an opponent he defeated.
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 | Dustin Poirier |
| 7 | Dennis Bermudez |
| 8 | Dennis Siver |
| 9 | Nik Lentz |
| 10 | Jeremy Stephens |
| 11 | Clay Guida |
| 12 | Darren Elkins |
| 13 | Charles Oliveira |
| 14 | Max Holloway |
| 15 | Tatsuya Kawajiri |
Analysis
Good Calls
No changes were made to the featherweight rankings.
Bad Calls
No changes were made to the featherweight rankings.
Bantamweight
8 of 10
Rankings
| No. | Fighter |
| C | TJ Dillashaw |
| 1 | Renan Barao |
| 2 | Dominick Cruz |
| 3 | Urijah Faber |
| 4 | Raphael Assuncao |
| 5 | Michael McDonald |
| 6 | Eddie Wineland |
| 7 | Takeya Mizugaki |
| 8 | Iuri Alcantara |
| 9 | Johnny Eduardo |
| 10 | Bryan Caraway |
| 11 | Francisco Rivera |
| 12 | Alex Caceres |
| 13 | Erik Perez |
| 14 | Mitch Gagnon (+1) |
| 15 | Joe Soto (-1) |
Analysis
Good Calls
Mitch Gagnon Bumps Joe Soto Down to No. 15
Based on his performance against TJ Dillashaw, Joe Soto should have a bright future ahead in the UFC bantamweight division. However, the former Bellator MMA champion is still looking for his first win inside the Octagon.
Mitch Gagnon, meanwhile, has won three in a row and is looking like a potential title contender. Until Soto gets a big win under his belt, Gagnon is more deserving of a higher ranking on the UFC bantamweight ladder.
Bad Calls
No bad calls were made in this edition of the bantamweight 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 | Kyoji Horiguchi |
| 13 | Dustin Ortiz |
| 14 | Louis Gaudinot |
| 15 | Wilson Reis |
Analysis
Good Calls
No changes were made to the flyweight rankings.
Bad Calls
No changes were made to the flyweight rankings.
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.
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