UFC Rankings: Clay Guida Enters Top 10 with UFC Fight Night 63 Win
At UFC Fight Night 63, Chad Mendes bulldozed Ricardo Lamas in the main event.
However, the featured bout on Saturday did not impact the official UFC rankings as much as some of the contests leading up to it did. Namely, wins by Clay Guida and Julianna Pena boosted both fighters in their respective divisions.
Guida controlled Robbie Peralta on the ground en route to a clear decision victory. Meanwhile, Pena took Milana Dudieva to the canvas and earned a stoppage win with some damaging ground-and-pound in the opening stanza.
Pound-for-Pound
1 of 11
| No. | Fighter |
| 1 | Jon Jones |
| 2 | Jose Aldo |
| 3 | Demetrious Johnson |
| 4 | Chris Weidman |
| 5 | Cain Velasquez |
| 6 | Ronda Rousey |
| 7 | TJ Dillashaw |
| 8 | Robbie Lawler |
| 9 | Rafael dos Anjos |
| 10 | Anderson Silva (+1) |
| 11 | Anthony Pettis (-1) |
| 12 | Renan Barao |
| 13 | Johny Hendricks |
| 14 | Fabricio Werdum |
| 15 | Vitor Belfort |
Removed: None
Having battled to a close decision with 145-pound champion Jose Aldo, Mendes was really the only UFC Fight Night 63 competitor within striking distance of the pound-for-pound rankings.
With a dominant win over No. 4 featherweight Lamas, Mendes did what he could to prove he deserves a spot among the 15 best fighters on the UFC roster. An argument could definitely be made that the voting panel should have ranked Mendes over Vitor Belfort, but Mendes is missing something that all the fighters on this list have or had at one point: a UFC championship.
Until he is wearing UFC gold around his waist, Mendes' place among the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world will be a matter of opinion.
Unrelated to UFC Fight Night 63, Anderson Silva did move back into the Top 10, bumping Anthony Pettis out. Both are now former champions. And Silva obviously has the better overall resume, so it's hard to come up with a strong argument against this adjustment even though The Spider did fail a drug test recently.
Heavyweight
2 of 11
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Cain Velasquez |
| 1 | Fabricio Werdum (IC) |
| 2 | Junior dos Santos |
| 3 | Travis Browne |
| 4 | Stipe Miocic |
| 5 | Mark Hunt |
| 6 | Josh Barnett |
| 7 | Andrei Arlovski |
| 8 | Alistair Overeem |
| 9 | Ben Rothwell |
| 10 | Frank Mir (+1) |
| 11 | Roy Nelson (-1) |
| 12 | Antonio Silva (+1) |
| 13 | Matt Mitrione (-1) |
| 14 | Gabriel Gonzaga |
| 15 | Stefan Struve |
Removed: None
Timothy Johnson scored a knockout in the lone heavyweight bout at UFC Fight Night 63. Seeing as that was Johnson's first win inside the Octagon, he still has a long way to go before the voting panel considers him for the Top 15 heavyweight rankings.
Still, multiple changes were made to the rankings.
Despite recently breaking out of a long losing streak, Frank Mir moved into the Top 10 and above Roy Nelson. Both veterans were recently beaten badly by Alistair Overeem, but Mir's latest win over No. 12 Antonio Silva gives him an edge over Nelson, whose only win over a currently ranked adversary came against No. 13 Matt Mitrione.
Although Silva has been headed in the wrong direction, he moved upward in the rankings. Falling below the Brazilian was Mitrione, who has only one win over a ranked opponent, No. 14 Gabriel Gonzaga, and is only a few bouts removed from a loss to unranked Brendan Schaub. Bigfoot, meanwhile, has wins over three different Top 10 heavyweights, so he does still deserve to be ranked above Mitrione for now.
Light Heavyweight
3 of 11
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Jon Jones |
| 1 | Anthony Johnson |
| 2 | Alexander Gustafsson |
| 3 | Daniel Cormier |
| 4 | Rashad Evans |
| 5 | Ryan Bader |
| 6 | Glover Teixeira |
| 7 | Phil Davis |
| 8 | Ovince Saint Preux |
| 9 | Jimi Manuwa |
| 10 | Mauricio Rua |
| 11 | Rafael Cavalcante |
| 12 | Antonio Rogerio Nogueira |
| 13 | Fabio Maldonado |
| 14 | Dan Henderson (+1) |
| 15 | Patrick Cummins (-1) |
Removed: None
No light heavyweights competed at UFC Fight Night 63, but one change was made to the 205-pound rankings.
Despite competing at 185 pounds in his most recent outing and having another middleweight bout scheduled against Tim Boetsch, Henderson is moving up in the light heavyweight rankings. While Henderson is only two contests removed from a win over No. 10 light heavyweight Mauricio Rua, he should be removed from the 205-pound rankings at this point.
Cummins is still looking for his first win over a ranked opponent and doesn't have nearly as strong a resume as Henderson, but Durkin probably belongs in the No. 14 position.
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Middleweight
4 of 11
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Chris Weidman |
| 1 | Ronaldo Souza |
| 2 | Lyoto Machida |
| 3 | Vitor Belfort |
| 4 | Luke Rockhold |
| 5 | Anderson Silva |
| 6 | Yoel Romero |
| 7 | Gegard Mousasi |
| 8 | Tim Kennedy |
| 9 | Michael Bisping |
| 10 | Thales Leites |
| 11 | C.B. Dollaway |
| 12 | Costas Philippou |
| 13 | Tim Boetsch |
| 14 | Brad Tavares |
| 15 | Roan Carneiro |
Removed: None
Ron Stallings was the lone middleweight to pick up a win at UFC Fight Night 63.
Following a loss in his UFC debut, this was Stallings' first win inside the Octagon. So, he obviously is nowhere near being ranked in the 185-pound division right now.
On April 18, the middleweight division will be under the spotlight. The UFC on Fox 15 card is headlined by No. 2 Lyoto Machida and No. 4 Luke Rockhold, while No. 1 Ronaldo Souza and No. 6 Yoel Romero will also appear at an event that is sure to shake up the 185-pound class.
Welterweight
5 of 11
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Robbie Lawler |
| 1 | Johny Hendricks |
| 2 | Rory MacDonald |
| 3 | Tyron Woodley |
| 4 | Carlos Condit |
| 5 | Matt Brown |
| 6 | Demian Maia |
| 7 | Hector Lombard |
| 8 | Tarec Saffiedine |
| 9 | Dong Hyun Kim |
| 10 | Kelvin Gastelum |
| 11 | Jake Ellenberger |
| 12 | Rick Story |
| 13 | Thiago Alves |
| 14 | Gunnar Nelson |
| 15 | Ryan LaFlare |
Removed: None
There were no welterweight bouts at UFC Fight Night 63, so it's not surprising to see no change in the 170-pound rankings.
It's hard to see the welterweight rankings changing much anytime soon either. No ranked 170-pounders are scheduled to compete until May 23, when No. 9 Dong Hyun Kim meets an unranked Josh Burkman on the UFC 187 preliminary card.
There may be some small adjustments between now and then, but no major changes are likely to be made in the 170-pound rankings.
Lightweight
6 of 11
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Rafael dos Anjos |
| 1 | Anthony Pettis |
| 2 | Khabib Nurmagomedov |
| 3 | Donald Cerrone |
| 4 | Gilbert Melendez |
| 5 | Benson Henderson |
| 6 | Michael Johnson |
| 7 | Edson Barboza |
| 8 | Myles Jury |
| 9 | Josh Thomson |
| 10 | Eddie Alvarez |
| 11 | Bobby Green |
| 12 | Tony Ferguson (+1) |
| 13 | Jim Miller (-1) |
| 14 | Al Iaquinta (+1) |
| 15 | Jorge Masvidal (-1) |
Removed: None
At UFC Fight Night 63, Al Iaquinta edged Jorge Masvidal in a contentious decision. According to MMA Decisions, most MMA media members believed Masvidal should have been awarded the victory.
While Masvidal may have deserved the win, it went to Iaquinta. In terms of rankings, actual outcomes should be honored unless they are absolute travesties. This was a legitimately close bout, so Iaquinta earned his spot above Masvidal in the rankings even though the decision was controversial.
In a change unrelated to UFC Fight Night 63, Tony Ferguson also surpassed Jim Miller. El Cucuy has won five in a row, most recently beating Gleison Tibau. Since Miller hasn't won in nearly 12 months and because Tibau also accounts for one of his biggest wins, it makes sense that Ferguson would move above the AMA Fight Club member.
Michael Chiesa, Dustin Poirier and Alexander Yakovlev all picked up lightweight wins on Saturday. All three individuals seem to have the potential to become a contender at some point.
Featherweight
7 of 11
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Jose Aldo |
| 1 | Chad Mendes |
| 2 | Frankie Edgar |
| 3 | Conor McGregor |
| 4 | Ricardo Lamas |
| 5 | Cub Swanson |
| 6 | Dennis Bermudez |
| 7 | Nik Lentz (+1) |
| 8 | Charles Oliveira (+1) |
| 9 | Max Holloway (+1) |
| 10 | Clay Guida (+2) |
| 11 | Jeremy Stephens |
| 12 | Dennis Siver (+1) |
| 13 | Dustin Poirier (-7) |
| 14 | Darren Elkins |
| 15 | Hacran Dias |
Removed: None
Following his UFC lightweight debut, Poirier plummeted in the featherweight rankings. Before long, the voters should remove him from the 145-pound standings altogether.
With his win over Peralta on Saturday, Guida also surpassed Jeremy Stephens. The move now leaves Guida as a Top 10 contender in the 145-pound division.
Guida was always ranked higher than Stephens when the two competed at 155 pounds. However, The Carpenter still has not picked up a win over a ranked featherweight, while Stephens recorded a win over No. 14 Darren Elkins. For that reason, Stephens should still be ranked above Guida.
Bantamweight
8 of 11
| No. | Fighter |
| C | TJ Dillashaw |
| 1 | Renan Barao |
| 2 | Dominick Cruz |
| 3 | Urijah Faber |
| 4 | Raphael Assuncao |
| 5 | Michael McDonald |
| 6 | Takeya Mizugaki |
| 7 | Eddie Wineland |
| 8 | Johnny Eduardo |
| 9 | Bryan Caraway |
| 10 | Iuri Alcantara |
| 11 | Francisco Rivera |
| 12 | Frankie Saenz |
| 13 | Erik Perez |
| 14 | Mitch Gagnon |
| 15 | Alex Caceres |
Removed: None
No male bantamweights stepped into the Octagon on Saturday, so it isn't surprising that no changes were made to the 135-pound rankings.
Unfortunately, champion TJ Dillashaw recently suffered a rib injury, as reported by The StarPhoenix's Dave Deibert, causing his UFC 186 rematch with Renan Barao to be cancelled. So, it doesn't look like any changes to the top of the bantamweight rankings will be happening anytime soon.
On April 18, Takeya Mizugaki will meet Aljamain Sterling. Unbeaten in 10 MMA appearances, Sterling could emerge as a contender with a win in this matchup.
Flyweight
9 of 11
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Demetrious Johnson |
| 1 | John Dodson |
| 2 | Joseph Benavidez |
| 3 | Ian McCall |
| 4 | John Moraga |
| 5 | Jussier Formiga |
| 6 | John Lineker (+1) |
| 7 | Ali Bagautinov (-1) |
| 8 | Kyoji Horiguchi |
| 9 | Zach Makovsky |
| 10 | Henry Cejudo |
| 11 | Chris Cariaso |
| 12 | Tim Elliott |
| 13 | Dustin Ortiz |
| 14 | Wilson Reis |
| 15 | Chico Camus |
Removed: None
Although no 125-pounders competed at UFC Fight Night 63, the voting panel made one change to the division's rankings.
That change was a nonsensical one, with John Lineker surpassing Ali Bagautinov. For multiple reasons, that was the wrong call.
Not only did Lineker lose to Bagautinov two outings ago. The Brazilian is also expected to move to the bantamweight division after missing weight multiple times.
Women's Bantamweight
10 of 11
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Ronda Rousey |
| 1 | Cat Zingano |
| 2 | Miesha Tate |
| 3 | Alexis Davis |
| 4 | Sara McMann |
| 5 | Sarah Kaufman |
| 6 | Jessica Eye |
| 7 | Bethe Correia |
| 8 | Amanda Nunes |
| 9 | Liz Carmouche |
| 10 | Holly Holm |
| 11 | Julianna Pena (+2) |
| 12 | Marion Reneau |
| 13 | Jessica Andrade (-2) |
| 14 | Germaine de Randamie |
| 15 | Raquel Pennington |
Removed: None
Liz Carmouche and Julianna Pena both picked up wins in the women's bantamweight division on Saturday, but only one improved her position in the official rankings.
With her ground-and-pound stoppage against Milana Dudieva, Pena surpassed Marion Reneau and Jessica Andrade to take the No. 11 position. With Pena still looking for her first win over a ranked opponent, it wasn't a move that made a ton of sense, considering Reneau and Andrade have both beaten Top 15 bantamweights.
That said, the rankings panel did get one thing right. Coming off of a win over Andrade, Reneau is now in her rightful place above the Brazilian.
Women's Strawweight
11 of 11
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Joanna Jedrzejczyk |
| 1 | Carla Esparza |
| 2 | Claudia Gadelha |
| 3 | Rose Namajunas (+1) |
| 4 | Jessica Penne (-1) |
| 5 | Tecia Torres |
| 6 | Joanne Calderwood |
| 7 | Randa Markos |
| 8 | Felice Herrig |
| 9 | Aisling Daly |
| 10 | Paige VanZant (+1) |
| 11 | Heather Clark (-1) |
| 12 | Juliana Lima |
| 13 | Angela Hill |
| 14 | Seo Hee Ham |
| 15 | Bec Rawlings |
Removed: None
Though no strawweights appeared on Saturday, multiple changes were made to the new division's rankings.
Standouts on The Ultimate Fighter 20, Rose Namajunas and Jessica Penne switched positions. While it was Namajunas who reached the finals, Penne went the distance with Carla Esparza. Meanwhile, Namajunas was submitted by the former champion.
It's close, but the voting panel probably should have ranked Penne above Namajunas for now.
Additionally, Paige VanZant moved into the Top 10, bumping Heather Clark out. Honestly, neither fighter has really proven herself as a legitimate contender. Outside the Top Five or so, it's hard to say for sure where fighters stand in the 115-pound class.
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