UFC Rankings: Good Calls and Bad Calls Following UFC Fight Night 70
Yoel Romero was at it again at UFC Fight Night 70, where he stopped Lyoto Machida and continued to prove he is one of the best and most entertaining competitors at 185 pounds.
Now 6-0 inside the Octagon, Romero is making a strong case for a shot at the middleweight championship. There are a few still ahead of him in line for a crack at Chris Weidman, but Romero shouldn't be more than one win away.
Where did this past weekend's win put Romero in the 185-pound rankings? How much did another stoppage loss hurt Machida's positioning?
Here is a look at the good calls and bad calls made in the latest official UFC rankings.
Pound-for-Pound
1 of 11
| No. | Fighter |
| 1 | Jose Aldo |
| 2 | Chris Weidman |
| 3 | Demetrious Johnson |
| 4 | Ronda Rousey |
| 5 | TJ Dillashaw |
| 6 | Fabricio Werdum |
| 7 | Rafael dos Anjos |
| 8 | Robbie Lawler |
| 9 | Daniel Cormier |
| 10 | Cain Velasquez |
| 11 | Anderson Silva (+2) |
| 12 | Renan Barao |
| 13 | Anthony Pettis (-2) |
| 14 | Frankie Edgar |
| 15 | Johny Hendricks |
Removed: None
Good Calls
Anderson Silva Moves Above Renan Barao and Anthony Pettis
His future is still very uncertain, but Anderson Silva has a resume that is much stronger than that of any non-champion on the UFC roster.
For that reason, since Joanna Jedrzejczyk is still unranked, Silva could conceivably sit as high as No. 10 in the pound-for-pound rankings without there being much argument against his positioning. Should Silva receive a suspension for his failed drug test, though, I would fully support his removal from the UFC rankings until that suspension is served.
While Silva deserved to have his side of the story heard, cheaters should lose the privilege to be ranked.
Bad Calls
No bad calls were made in the pound-for-pound rankings.
Heavyweight
2 of 11
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Fabricio Werdum |
| 1 | Cain Velasquez |
| 2 | Junior dos Santos |
| 3 | Stipe Miocic |
| 4 | Andrei Arlovski |
| 5 | Travis Browne |
| 6 | Josh Barnett |
| 7 | Mark Hunt (+1) |
| 8 | Ben Rothwell (-1) |
| 9 | Alistair Overeem |
| 10 | Frank Mir |
| 11 | Roy Nelson |
| 12 | Antonio Silva |
| 13 | Matt Mitrione |
| 14 | Stefan Struve |
| 15 | Alexey Oliynyk |
Removed: None
Good Calls
Mark Hunt Overtakes Ben Rothwell
While Mark Hunt is slumping, he's only lost to Top Five heavyweight contenders since beating Ben Rothwell in September 2011.
Rothwell has picked up three straight wins and is looking much better than Hunt at the moment. However, he needs one more big win to really erase the relevance of his prior loss to Hunt.
For now, Hunt belongs above Rothwell, but it's only by a slim margin.
Bad Calls
No bad calls were made in the heavyweight rankings.
Light Heavyweight
3 of 11
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Daniel Cormier |
| 1 | Anthony Johnson |
| 2 | Alexander Gustafsson |
| 3 | Ryan Bader |
| 4 | Glover Teixeira (+1) |
| 5 | Rashad Evans (-2) |
| 6 | Ovince Saint Preux |
| 7 | Jimi Manuwa |
| 8 | Mauricio Rua |
| 9 | Rampage Jackson |
| 10 | Rafael Cavalcante |
| 11 | Antonio Rogerio Nogueira |
| 12 | Jan Blachowicz |
| 13 | Fabio Maldonado |
| 14 | Patrick Cummins |
| 15 | Gian Villante |
Removed: None
Good Calls
Rashad Evans Falls Behind Glover Teixeira
If Rashad Evans were remaining active, he'd definitely deserve a spot over Glover Teixeira.
Evans owns a dominant win over Phil Davis. Teixeira, on the other hand, was shut down by Davis' wrestling in his latest outing.
Unfortunately, though, Evans is going on two years without stepping into the Octagon. It's time for his inactivity to start impacting his standing in the light heavyweight rankings.
Bad Calls
No bad calls were made in the light heavyweight rankings.
Middleweight
4 of 11
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Chris Weidman |
| 1 | Luke Rockhold |
| 2 | Ronaldo Souza |
| 3 | Yoel Romero (+3) |
| 4 | Vitor Belfort (-1) |
| 5 | Lyoto Machida (-1) |
| 5 | Anderson Silva |
| 7 | Gegard Mousasi |
| 8 | Tim Kennedy |
| 9 | Michael Bisping (+1) |
| 10 | Thales Leites (-1) |
| 11 | C.B. Dollaway |
| 12 | Costas Philippou |
| 13 | Dan Henderson |
| 14 | Robert Whittaker |
| 15 | Roan Carneiro |
Removed: None
Good Calls
Yoel Romero Moves to No. 3 Position
With his win over Machida at UFC Fight Night 70, Romero emerged as one of the top threats to middleweight champion Chris Weidman's crown.
Romero has explosive power and the ability to shut opponents down with his world-class wrestling. It's an impressive mix that could get Romero to the top of the middleweight division very soon.
It seems likely that Romero's next bout will be against Ronaldo Souza, which would give the Cuban a chance to take another step closer to the No. 1 contender spot.
Bad Calls
Michael Bisping Moves Above Thales Leites
Even disregarding that he has more positive momentum going his way, Thales Leites should still be ranked above Michael Bisping.
Bisping is coming off a decision win over C.B. Dollaway. Meanwhile, Leites picked up a stoppage win over Tim Boetsch, who owns a win over Dollaway, in his most recent outing.
Couple that with the fact that Leites has won five in a row and it's hard to see why the rankings panel placed him below Bisping.
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 | Dong Hyun Kim |
| 8 | Tarec Saffiedine |
| 9 | Jake Ellenberger |
| 10 | Rick Story |
| 11 | Thiago Alves |
| 12 | Neil Magny |
| 13 | Kelvin Gastelum |
| 14 | Ryan LaFlare |
| 15 | Gunnar Nelson |
Removed: None
Good Calls
No changes were made in the welterweight rankings.
Bad Calls
No changes were made in the welterweight rankings.
Lightweight
6 of 11
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Rafael dos Anjos |
| 1 | Anthony Pettis |
| 2 | Donald Cerrone |
| 3 | Khabib Nurmagomedov |
| 4 | Eddie Alvarez |
| 5 | Gilbert Melendez |
| 5 | Michael Johnson |
| 7 | Benson Henderson |
| 8 | Edson Barboza |
| 9 | Myles Jury |
| 10 | Josh Thomson |
| 11 | Bobby Green |
| 12 | Tony Ferguson |
| 13 | Al Iaquinta |
| 14 | Beneil Dariush |
| 15 | Jorge Masvidal |
Removed: None
Good Calls
No changes were made in the lightweight rankings.
Bad Calls
No changes were made in the lightweight rankings.
Featherweight
7 of 11
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Jose Aldo |
| 1 | Frankie Edgar (+1) |
| 2 | Chad Mendes (-1) |
| 3 | Conor McGregor |
| 4 | Ricardo Lamas |
| 5 | Max Holloway |
| 6 | Cub Swanson |
| 7 | Charles Oliveira (+1) |
| 8 | Dennis Bermudez (-1) |
| 9 | Nik Lentz |
| 10 | Clay Guida |
| 11 | Jeremy Stephens |
| 12 | Hacran Dias (+2) |
| 13 | Tatsuya Kawajiri (-1) |
| 14 | Dennis Siver (-1) |
| 15 | Darren Elkins |
Removed: None
Good Calls
Frankie Edgar Surpasses Chad Mendes
A former UFC champion with an already outstanding featherweight resume, Frankie Edgar deserves to be considered the No. 1 contender in the 145-pound class.
Like Chad Mendes, Edgar has gone to a close decision with featherweight champion Jose Aldo.
While Mendes has many wins over highly ranked opponents, his overall resume falls short when compared to Edgar's. Among others, The Answer has three wins over B.J. Penn and a victory over former WEC champion Urijah Faber, giving him an edge over Mendes and the rest of the 145-pound contenders.
Charles Oliveira Bumps Dennis Bermudez Down to No. 8 Position
Both are up-and-coming contenders with bright futures, but Charles Oliveira has earned his spot above Dennis Bermudez in the featherweight rankings.
While Bermudez is coming off a loss, Oliveira has won four in a row. The Brazilian has also only lost to Top 10 opponents since moving to 145 pounds, while Bermudez has a loss to Diego Brandao on his record.
It is very close, but given their recent momentum, Oliveira deserves to be ranked just above Bermudez right now.
Bad Calls
Hacran Dias Jumps Above Tatsuya Kawajiri and into the No. 12 Spot
With a Top 15 win, Hacran Dias does deserve to be ranked above Dennis Siver, who is still looking for a win over a currently ranked featherweight.
However, especially with his narrow win over Levan Makashvili on Saturday, Dias should not have moved above Tatsuya Kawajiri.
Kawajiri owns a win over No. 14 Siver and hasn't come close to losing to an unranked adversary. With his biggest win coming against No. 15 Darren Elkins, Dias has some work to do to prove he belongs above Kawajiri.
Bantamweight
8 of 11
| No. | Fighter |
| C | TJ Dillashaw |
| 1 | Renan Barao |
| 2 | Dominick Cruz |
| 3 | Raphael Assuncao |
| 4 | Urijah Faber |
| 5 | Michael McDonald |
| 6 | Eddie Wineland |
| 7 | Aljamain Sterling (+1) |
| 8 | Johnny Eduardo (-1) |
| 9 | Takeya Mizugaki |
| 10 | Francisco Rivera |
| 11 | Bryan Caraway |
| 12 | Iuri Alcantara |
| 13 | Frankie Saenz |
| 14 | Thomas Almeida |
| 15 | Erik Perez |
Removed: None
Good Calls
Johnny Eduardo Falls to No. 8 Position
It's a bit awkward to see Johnny Eduardo falling farther behind Eddie Wineland in the bantamweight rankings, seeing as he defeated Wineland in his latest outing.
That said, Eduardo has now been inactive for more than 12 months and doesn't have another bout scheduled. At this point, his position in the rankings needs to start taking a hit.
When fighters like Aljamain Sterling have won three in a row, most recently beating Takeya Mizugaki, they deserve to be ranked above fighters who are out of commission this long.
Bad Calls
No bad calls were made in the bantamweight rankings.
Flyweight
9 of 11
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Demetrious Johnson |
| 1 | John Dodson |
| 2 | Joseph Benavidez |
| 3 | Jussier Formiga |
| 4 | Ian McCall |
| 5 | Henry Cejudo |
| 6 | John Moraga |
| 7 | John Lineker |
| 8 | Kyoji Horiguchi |
| 9 | Zach Makovsky |
| 10 | Chris Cariaso |
| 11 | Dustin Ortiz |
| 12 | Wilson Reis |
| 13 | Chico Camus |
| 14 | Ray Borg |
| 15 | Justin Scoggins |
Removed: None
Good Calls
No changes were made in the flyweight rankings.
Bad Calls
No changes were made in the flyweight rankings.
Women's Bantamweight
10 of 11
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Ronda Rousey |
| 1 | Cat Zingano |
| 2 | Miesha Tate |
| 3 | Alexis Davis |
| 4 | Sara McMann |
| 5 | Jessica Eye |
| 6 | Sarah Kaufman |
| 7 | Bethe Correia |
| 8 | Amanda Nunes |
| 9 | Liz Carmouche |
| 10 | Holly Holm |
| 11 | Marion Reneau |
| 12 | Julianna Pena |
| 13 | Jessica Andrade |
| 14 | Germaine de Randamie |
| 15 | Lauren Murphy |
Removed: None
Good Calls
No changes were made in the women's bantamweight rankings.
Bad Calls
No changes were made in the women's bantamweight rankings.
Women's Strawweight
11 of 11
| No. | Fighter |
| C | Joanna Jedrzejczyk |
| 1 | Carla Esparza |
| 2 | Claudia Gadelha |
| 3 | Jessica Penne |
| 4 | Rose Namajunas |
| 5 | Tecia Torres |
| 6 | Randa Markos |
| 7 | Paige VanZant (+1) |
| 8 | Maryna Moroz (-1) |
| 9 | Joanne Calderwood |
| 10 | Felice Herrig |
| 11 | Juliana Lima |
| 12 | Heather Clark (+1) |
| 13 | Aisling Daly (-1) |
| 14 | Valerie Letourneau |
| 15 | Bec Rawlings |
Removed: None
Good Calls
Heather Clark Surpasses Aisling Daly
It's a tough call between these two, but I think the rankings panel got it right by ranking Heather Clark higher than Aisling Daly.
Clark is undefeated in official UFC bouts and owns a win over No. 15 Bec Rawlings. Daly, on the other hand, does not own a UFC win over a ranked adversary.
This could change the next time either fighter competes, but Clark should get the nod over Daly right now.
Bad Calls
Paige VanZant Moves Above Maryna Moroz
Although Paige VanZant has one more UFC win than Maryna Moroz, she shouldn't be ranked higher than the Ukranian.
In her debut, Moroz submitted No. 9 contender Joanne Calderwood. Meanwhile, VanZant's biggest win came via decision against No. 10 Felice Herrig.
VanZant might have the bigger upside, but Moroz has the slightly better resume at this moment.
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