UFC Rankings: Good Calls and Bad Calls Following UFC 180
At UFC 180, the heavyweight division crowned a new interim champion, Fabricio Werdum.
Knocked down and unable to threaten Mark Hunt on the ground during the opening round, Werdum didn't look great early on. However, the Brazilian turned things around suddenly with a flying knee in the second stanza. The strike floored Hunt, who could not recover before the bout was stopped.
Werdum has solidified his spot right behind fellow champion Cain Velasquez on the heavyweight ladder. However, was his victory on Saturday enough to earn him a spot in the pound-for-pound rankings?
Pound-for-Pound
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Rankings
| No. | Fighter |
| 1 | Jon Jones |
| 2 | Jose Aldo |
| 3 | Demetrious Johnson |
| 4 | Chris Weidman |
| 5 | Cain Velasquez |
| 6 | Anthony Pettis |
| 7 | Ronda Rousey (+1) |
| 8 | Anderson Silva (-1) |
| 9 | Johny Hendricks |
| 10 | T.J. Dillashaw |
| 11 | Renan Barao |
| 12 | Dominick Cruz (+1) |
| 13 | Vitor Belfort (-1) |
| 14 | Daniel Cormier |
| 15 | Alexander Gustafsson |
Analysis
Good Calls
Ronda Rousey Overtakes Anderson Silva
I don't particularly like pound-for-pound rankings, and Ronda Rousey's position in them will always be heavily debated. However, divisional dominance is probably the most accurate way to rank fighters across different divisions, and Rousey might be the most dominant champion going.
Silva used to be a clear No. 1 in these rankings, but he's no longer a champion. Due to injuries, he's also gone 25 months without even recording a win. Unless Silva regains his crown, he should begin to drop below UFC champions in the pound-for-pound rankings.
Dominick Cruz Bumps Vitor Belfort Down
A former bantamweight champion who never had his belt taken away by an opponent, Dominick Cruz was only removed from the pound-for-pound rankings because his long battle with injuries made it hard to tell whether he'd lost a step due to repeated setbacks. In a dominant September win over Takeya Mizugaki, Cruz made it clear he's still among the best in the world.
Vitor Belfort, meanwhile, has not fought in 12 months and won't compete until February. Between that and the fact that Cruz never really lost his spot as the best bantamweight in MMA, Belfort should be penalized for inactivity just as The Dominator was.
Bad Calls
No bad calls were made in this edition of the pound-for-pound rankings.
Heavyweights
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Rankings
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Cain Velasquez |
| 1 | Fabricio Werdum |
| 2 | Junior dos Santos |
| 3 | Travis Browne |
| 4 | Stipe Miocic (+1) |
| 5 | Mark Hunt (-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 | Matt Mitrione |
Analysis
Good Calls
No good calls were made in this edition of the heavyweight rankings.
Bad Calls
Mark Hunt Loses Ground with Loss to Fabricio Werdum
With three straight wins, Stipe Miocic may have more momentum going than Hunt, who lost on Saturday, but his resume is not stronger than the UFC 180 headliner's.
Hunt is only one bout removed from a knockout win over Roy Nelson, who took Miocic to a decision. The Super Samoan also owns a knockout win over Stefan Struve, who was the last man to beat Miocic in September 2012.
Light Heavyweight
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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 |
| 8 | Dan Henderson |
| 9 | Ovince Saint Preux |
| 10 | Jimi Manuwa |
| 11 | Mauricio Rua |
| 12 | Rafael Cavalcante |
| 13 | Antonio Rogerio Nogueira |
| 13 | Fabio Maldonado (+1) |
| 15 | Vitor Belfort |
Analysis
Good Calls
No good calls were made in this edition of the light heavyweight rankings.
Bad Calls
Fabio Maldonado Draws Even with Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
It's hard to dislike Fabio Maldonado. He's one of the more entertaining fighters in the 205-pound division, but that doesn't mean he deserves to be tied with Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in the light heavyweight rankings.
Nogueira isn't a legitimate title threat right now or anything, but he is only one appearance removed from a win over No. 4 light heavyweight Rashad Evans.
Maldonado, meanwhile, hasn't beaten anybody in the Top 15 rankings. The Brazilian also has losses to Kyle Kingsbury and Igor Pokrajac on his UFC record.
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Middleweight
4 of 10
Rankings
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Chris Weidman |
| 1 | Anderson Silva |
| 2 | Ronaldo Souza (+1) |
| 3 | Vitor Belfort (-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 | Tim Boetsch (+1) |
| 14 | Mark Munoz (-1) |
| 15 | Brad Tavares |
Analysis
Good Calls
No good calls were made in this edition of the middleweight rankings.
Bad Calls
Ronaldo Souza Moves Above Vitor Belfort
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 and without a win over a Top Five middleweight since then, Ronaldo Souza doesn't deserve to be ranked above Belfort right now.
Tim Boetsch Retakes No. 13 Slot from Mark Munoz
I'm not sure why Mark Munoz would be ranked below Tim Boetsch.
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.
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 | Kelvin Gastelum (+4) |
| 8 | Demian Maia |
| 9 | Tarec Saffiedine |
| 10 | Dong Hyun Kim |
| 11 | Jake Ellenberger (-4) |
| 12 | Rick Story |
| 13 | Jordan Mein |
| 14 | Gunnar Nelson |
| 15 | Ryan LaFlare |
Analysis
Good Calls
No good calls were made in this edition of the welterweight rankings.
Bad Calls
Jake Ellenberger Falls Four Spots with Loss to Kelvin Gastelum
While Jake Ellenberger is slumping right now, he still owns a better resume than Tarec Saffiedine or Dong Hyun Kim.
Obviously, Kelvin Gastelum deserved to surpass Ellenberger following his win over The Juggernaut on Saturday, and Demian Maia could definitely be considered more accomplished as well. However, Ellenberger is only a few fights removed from a knockout win over Nate Marquardt, who took Saffiedine to a decision during 2013.
Having lost to Top Five welterweights and an unbeaten Gastelum on his current skid, Ellenberger hasn't been dropping fights to low-level opponents. With a step down in competition, he should be able to bounce back and reclaim the Top 10 position he still deserves.
Additionally, Gastelum was not really given enough credit for his win over Ellenberger. He did jump four spots, but Gastelum looked better against Ellenberger than No. 2 contender Rory MacDonald. I'm not saying he should be ranked No. 1 among welterweight contenders, but Gastelum might be a legitimate Top Five 170-pounder already.
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 | Edson Barboza (+2) |
| 11 | Michael Johnson (+1) |
| 13 | Jorge Masvidal (-2) |
| 14 | Nate Diaz |
| 15 | Rustam Khabilov |
Analysis
Good Calls
Jorge Masvidal Falls Two Spots
This isn't about comparing Jorge Masvidal with Michael Johnson and Edson Barboza. The three have very comparable resumes.
It's about Masvidal's position in relation to Rustam Khabilov. The lightweight rankings are still off in that sense, but this is an improvement.
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.
Bad Calls
Edson Barboza Shares No. 11 Spot with Michael Johnson
Although Barboza and Johnson are pretty even in accomplishments, The Menace should still have a slight edge over the Brazilian.
Not only does Johnson have more momentum, having scored three straight victories, but he also owns a knockout win over Danny Castillo, an unranked lightweight who took Barboza to a controversial decision loss 11 months ago.
Featherweight
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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 | T.J. 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 | Erik Perez (+1) |
| 13 | Alex Caceres (-1) |
| 14 | Mitch Gagnon |
| 15 | Joe Soto |
Analysis
Good Calls
Erik Perez Claims No. 12 Position from Alex Caceres
An argument could be made either way, but Erik Perez probably does deserve to be ranked above Alex Caceres right now.
Perez is one bout removed from a clear decision win over Edwin Figueroa, who defeated Caceres in a close contest at UFC 143. More notably, Perez has not lost to a UFC opponent who is not currently in the Top 10, while Caceres is coming off a loss to unranked Masanori Kanehara.
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 | Tim Elliott (+1) |
| 10 | Zach Makovsky (-1) |
| 11 | Brad Pickett |
| 12 | Kyoji Horiguchi |
| 13 | Dustin Ortiz |
| 14 | Louis Gaudinot |
| 15 | Wilson Reis |
Analysis
Good Calls
Tim Elliott Surpasses Zach Makovsky
It's hard to decide whether Tim Elliott or Zach Makovsky deserves to be ranked higher, but I'm giving a slight edge to Elliott at the moment.
He's struggled against top-notch competition, but Elliott does have a win over No. 14 contender Louis Gaudinot. Makovsky, on the other hand, does not own a victory over a currently ranked 125-pounder.
The good thing is that Elliott and Makovsky are scheduled to meet in February, so this will soon be settled inside the Octagon.
Bad Calls
No bad calls were made in this edition of 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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