Stock Up, Stock Down: Pound-for-Pound Rankings After UFC 260

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The official UFC rankings are a farce. That sounds harsh, but it's the truth.

The entire system seems to be predicated on the whims and fancies of the voting panelists, many of whom don't even appear to closely follow mixed martial arts. There is no consistency in terms of what happens when a ranked fighter changes weight classes or retires. There is legitimate evidence that suggests the UFC nudges its panelists in the directions it deems most suitable.

The list of problems goes on and on. 

We here at Bleacher Report are tired of it and have decided to take a stand by creating our own UFC pound-for-pound lists: one list for men and another for women.

We will update our pound-for-pound rankings after each UFC pay-per-view and, with a little luck, bring some order to the chaotic world of mixed martial arts. 

With UFC 260 going down in Las Vegas last Saturday, that means it's time for another update. 

The card featured a number of important fights—none more so than the main event, which saw Francis Ngannou knock out Stipe Miocic to capture the UFC heavyweight title. 

How did Ngannou's big win affect the B/R Pound-for-Pound UFC Rankings? Keep scrolling to see how the land lies. 

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10. Deiveson Figueiredo 

9. Jan Blachowicz

8. Francis Ngannou

7. Max Holloway

6. Dustin Poirier

The bottom half of our men's pound-for-pound list has experienced some big changes, and they can all be attributed to Francis Ngannou.

Ngannou returned to the Octagon in the main event of UFC 260, scoring a devastating second-round knockout victory over pound-for-pound stalwart Stipe Miocic to capture the UFC heavyweight title. He wasn't featured in our last rankings update, but his heavyweight title win catapulted him into our No. 8 spot.

The new heavyweight champ's debut on the list pushed light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz down to No. 9 and flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo down to the No. 10 spot, while former bantamweight champion Petr Yan has been bounced from this list altogether.

Ngannou's naysayers will likely argue that he shouldn't be making such a big climb so early into his title reign, but a knockout win over a pound-for-pound mainstay like Miocic is incredibly impressive, particularly when combined with his previous wins over ranked contenders and former champions like Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Junior dos Santos, Cain Velasquez, Curtis Blaydes and Alistair Overeem.

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5. Stipe Miocic

4. Alexander Volkanovski

3. Israel Adesanya

2. Kamaru Usman

1. Jon Jones

The only change to our men’s top-5 surrounds the former heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic. After losing his title to Francis Ngannou in the UFC 260 main event, he’s taken a tumble from No. 3 to No. 5.

Miocic’s detractors will likely argue that he should fall farther down our list. Some will even argue that he should now be ranked behind Ngannou. We remind those fans that Miocic is the most accomplished heavyweight in UFC history and that he also holds a fairly recent win over Ngannou. 

One loss doesn’t erase a fighter’s previous accomplishments—particularly in the heavyweight division, where win streaks are tremendously difficult to sustain. 

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10. Katlyn Chookagian

9. Holly Holm

8. Tatiana Suarez

7. Germaine de Randamie

6. Jessica Andrade 

The bottom end of our women's pound-for-pound rankings is unchanged in the wake of UFC 260, as nobody on the list was in action on the card.

That being said, two of the women on our list will be in action again soon. No. 10 fighter Katlyn Chookagian is set to fight Viviane Araujo at UFC 262 on May 15, while No. 6-ranked fighter Jessica Andrade will challenge Valentina Shevchenko for the flyweight title at UFC 261 on April 20.

In other words, this half of our women's pound-for-pound rankings could look very different by the summer.

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5. Joanna Jedrzejczyk

4. Rose Namajunas

3. Weili Zhang

2. Valentina Shevchenko

1. Amanda Nunes 

The top half of our women's pound-for-pound rankings is also unchanged after UFC 260. Just like the bottom half of the list, however, it could change quite a bit in the near future. 

No. 4-ranked fighter Rose Namajunas is slated to challenge strawweight champion Weili Zhang, our No. 3 fighter, at UFC 261 on April 20. And as we covered on the previous slide, flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko, our No. 2 fighter, will defend her belt against Jessica Andrade on the same card.

Both of those fights could create massive changes on this list.