In deciding where to rank fighters, I look at head-to-head matchups first, then primarily results over the last three years, giving more credence to recent bouts. The level of competition is always considered, even outside the UFC, activity is important and MMA math plays a small part in the process.
MEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND
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dB rankings 1. Jon Jones 2. Kamaru Usman (C) 3. Francis Ngannou (C) 4. Stipe Miocic 5. Jan Blachowicz (C) 6. Israel Adesanya (C) 7. Alexander Volkanovski (C) +1 8. Dustin Poirier +1 9. Max Holloway +1 10. Robert Whittaker +1 11. Charles Oliveira (C) +1 12. Brandon Moreno (C) * 13. Aljamain Sterling (C) 14. Petr Yan 15. Justin Gaethje |
UFC rankings 1. Jon Jones 2. Kamaru Usman (C) 3. Israel Adesanya (C) +1 4. Alexander Volkanovski (C) -1 5. Francis Ngannou (C) 6. Dustin Poirier 7. Jan Blachowicz (C) 8. Stipe Miocic 9. Max Holloway 10. Charles Oliveira (C) +1 11. Robert Whittaker +1 12. Brandon Moreno (C) * 13. Petr Yan 14. Justin Gaethje 15. Aljamain Sterling (C) |
Out of dB/UFC rankings: Deiveson Figueiredo
X: Last month, Figueiredo was on a fast track toward top five P4P position and perhaps even a BW title shot. Today, he no longer holds the FW belt and isn’t even in the top 15 P4P. How fast things can change in the Octagon.
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dB rankings C: Brandon Moreno +1 1. Askar Askarov +1 2. Deiveson Figueiredo -2 3. Alex Perez 4. Alexandre Pantoja 5. Joseph Benavidez 6. Brandon Royval 7. Kai Kara France 8. David Dvorak +1 9. Rogerio Bontorin -1 10. Matt Schnell 11. Tim Elliott 12. Raulian Paiva 13. Amir Albazi 14. Su Mudaerji 15. Matheus Nicolau |
UFC rankings C: Brandon Moreno +1 1. Deiveson Figueiredo -1 2. Askar Askarov 3. Alexandre Pantoja 4. Alex Perez 5. Joseph Benavidez 6. Brandon Royval 7. Kai Kara France 8. Rogerio Bontorin 9. Matt Schnell 10. Tim Elliott 11. David Dvorak 12. Raulian Paiva 13. Su Mudaerji 14. Matheus Nicolau 15. Amir Albazi |
Out of dB/UFC rankings: None
X: For Moreno to go from a No. 16 seed on “The Ultimate Fighter” to being cut to being the first Mexican-born UFC champion is the kind of feel-good story combat sports have been built around. Askarov, who already fought to a draw with Moreno, clearly deserves the next title shot instead of an immediate trilogy with Figueiredo. Thankfully for him, Moreno fights even better after draws.
BANTAMWEIGHT
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dB rankings C: Aljamain Sterling 1. Petr Yan 2. Cory Sandhagen 3. Rob Font 4. Marlon Moraes 5. Jose Aldo 6. Frankie Edgar 7. Pedro Munhoz 8. Cody Garbrandt 9. Dominick Cruz 10. Merab Dvalishvili 11. Jimmie Rivera 12. Raphael Assuncao 13. Ricky Simon 14. Kyler Phillips 15. Raoni Barcelos |
UFC rankings C: Aljamain Sterling 1. Petr Yan 2. Cory Sandhagen 3. Rob Font 4. Jose Aldo +1 5. Cody Garbrandt -1 6. Marlon Moraes 7. Frankie Edgar 8. Pedro Munhoz 9. Dominick Cruz 10. Merab Dvalishvili 11. Raphael Assuncao 12. Jimmie Rivera 13. Cody Stamann 14. Kyler Phillips 15. Marlon Vera |
Out of dB/UFC rankings: None
X: This is where I continue to harp on the fact that Munhoz deserves to ranked above Garbrandt, who is 1-4 in his last five. How badly do you have to knock someone out to get above them? I hope Figueiredo moves to BW to clear up his weight-cutting issues, and Garbrandt would be the perfect person to meet him there since they were supposed to fight each other for the FW belt last year before both lost.
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dB rankings C: Alexander Volkanovski 1. Max Holloway 2. Brian Ortega 3. Yair Rodriguez 4. Chan Sung Jung 5. Arnold Allen 6. Calvin Kattar 7. Josh Emmett 8. Dan Inge 9. Edson Barboza 10. Gigi Chikadze 11. Sodiq Yusuff 12. Bryce Mitchell 13. Movsar Evloev +1 14. Shane Burgos -1 15. Hakeem Dawodu |
UFC rankings C: Alexander Volkanovski 1. Max Holloway 2. Brian Ortega 3. Yair Rodriguez 4. Chan Sung Jung 5. Calvin Kattar 6. Josh Emmett 7. Arnold Allen 8. Dan Ige 9. Edson Barboza 10. Giga Chikadze 11. Sodiq Yusuff 12. Bryce Mitchell 13. Movsar Evloev +1 14. Shane Burgos -1 15. Alex Caceres * |
Out of dB rankings: None
Out of UFC rankings: Hakeem Dawodu
X: Caceres, the fun “Bruce Leeroy,” has won his last four fights, but all were against lower-level competition, and he was just 2-4 against unranked opponents before that streak. Despite his loss to Evloev, Dawodu deserves to keep his spot until a better contender rises up.
LIGHTWEIGHT
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dB rankings C: Charles Oliveira 1. Dustin Poirier 2. Justin Gaethje 3. Beneil Dariush 4. Michael Chandler 5. Conor McGregor 6. Tony Ferguson 7. Rafael dos Anjos 8. Islam Makhachev 9. Dan Hooker 10. Kevin Lee +1 11. Gregor Gillespie +1 12. Brad Riddell * 13. Grant Dawson 14. Diego Ferreira +1 15. Damir Ismagulov * |
UFC rankings C: Charles Oliveira 1. Dustin Poirier 2. Justin Gaethje 3. Beneil Dariush 4. Michael Chandler 5. Conor McGregor 6. Tony Ferguson 7. Rafael dos Anjos 8. Dan Hooker 9. Islam Makhachev +1 10. Gregor Gillespie +1 11. Kevin Lee +1 12. Diego Ferreira +1 13. Brad Riddell * 14. Thiago Moises +1 15. Arman Tsarukyan * |
Out of dB/UFC rankings: Paul Felder, Drew Dober
X: Lots of movement at LW with Felder’s retirement and Riddell beating Dober, plus Lee going to WW soon will open another spot, which I have for Tsarukyan. I ranked Ismagulov over Moises for one simple, yet big reason – he beat him in 2019 and hasn’t lost since.
WELTERWEIGHT
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dB rankings C: Kamaru Usman 1. Colby Covington 2. Gilbert Burns 3. Leon Edwards 4. Stephen Thompson 5. Vicente Luque 6. Michael Chiesa 7. Neil Magny 8. Jorge Masvidal +1 9. Geoff Neal +1 10. Belal Muhammad +2 11. Li Jingliang 12. Sean Brady +1 13. Demian Maia -5 14. Santiago Ponzinibbio * 15. Muslim Saikhov * |
UFC rankings C: Kamaru Usman 1. Colby Covington 2. Gilbert Burns 3. Leon Edwards 4. Stephen Thompson 5. Vicente Luque 6. Michael Chiesa 7. Jorge Masvidal 8. Neil Magny 9. Belal Muhammad +3 10. Geoff Neal 11. Demian Maia -2 12. Li Jingliang -1 13. Santiago Ponzinibbio * 14. Sean Brady -1 15. Muslim Saikhov * |
Out of dB rankings: James Krause, Miguel Baeza
Out of UFC rankings: Robbie Lawler, Khamzat Chimaev
X: As much as I hate un-ranking the criminally underrated Krause, Ponzinibbio (who beat Baeza) and the streaking Saikhov earned it. That’s a good thing, too, because having Lawler and Chimaev still ranked was kind of embarrassing. While Maia’s run in the Octagon may be over, he’ll be remembered as one of the best jiu-jitsu practitioners ever – as well as a heck of a nice guy.
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dB rankings C: Israel Adesanya 1. Robert Whittaker 2. Paulo Costa 3. Jared Cannonier +1 4. Derek Brunson +1 5. Marvin Vettori -2 6. Jack Hermansson 7. Darren Till 8. Kelvin Gastelum 9. Uriah Hall 10. Chris Weidman 11. Omari Akhmedov 12. Sean Strickland +1 13. Edmen Shahbazyan -1 14. Andre Muniz 15. Brad Tavares |
C: Israel Adesanya 1. Robert Whittaker 2. Paulo Costa 3. Jared Cannonier +1 4. Marvin Vettori -1 5. Derek Brunson 6. Jack Hermansson +1 7. Darren Till -1 8. Uriah Hall 9. Kelvin Gastelum 10. Edmen Shahbazyan 11. Sean Strickland 12. Chris Weidman 13. Omari Akhmedov 14. Kevin Holland 15. Brad Taveras |
Out of dB/UFC rankings: None
X: Adesanya is back where he belongs, and it’s hard to imagine anyone at MW picking him off anytime soon.
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dB rankings C: Jan Blachowicz 1. Glover Teixeira 2. Jiri Prochazka 3. Aleksandar Rakic 4. Magomed Ankalaev 5. Anthony Smith 6. Dominick Reyes 7. Thiago Santos 8. Volkan Oezdemir 9. Nikita Krylov 10. Johnny Walker 11. Ryan Spann 12. Misha Cirkunov 13. Jim Crute 14. Paul Craig 15. Jamahal Hill |
UFC rankings C: Jan Blachowicz 1. Glover Teixeira 2. Jiri Prochazka 3. Aleksandar Rakic 4. Thiago Santos 5. Dominick Reyes 6. Anthony Smith 7. Magomed Ankalaev 8. Volkan Oezdemir 9. Nikita Krylov 10. Johnny Walker 11. Ryan Spann 12. Paul Craig +2 13. Misha Cirkunov -1 14. Jim Crute -1 15. Jamahal Hill |
Out of dB/UFC rankings: None
X: Short-term memory loss seems to be obvious with some voters, who forgot that Crute has a win over Craig. That said, the “Bearjew” was impressive in the way he manhandled Hill and mangled his arm.
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dB rankings C: Francis Ngannou 1. Stipe Miocic 2. Derrick Lewis 3. Curtis Blaydes 4. Alexander Volkov 5. Ciryl Gane 6. Jairzinho Rozenstruik 7. Augusto Sakai 8. Marcin Tybura +2 9. Alexandr Romanov +6 10. Chris Daukaus +2 11. Tom Aspinall +2 12. Shamil Abdurakhimov -4 13. Sergei Pavlovich -2 14. Blagoy Ivanov 15. Walt Harris -6 |
UFC rankings C: Francis Ngannou 1. Stipe Miocic 2. Derrick Lewis 3. Ciryl Gane 4. Curtis Blaydes 5. Alexander Volkov 6. Jairzinho Rozenstruik 7. Shamil Abdurakhimov 8. Marcin Tybura +3 9. Augusto Sakai 10. Chris Daukaus 11. Walt Harris -3 12. Blagoy Ivanov 13. Tom Aspinall 14. Sergei Pavlovich 15. Aleksei Oleinik |
Out of dB/UFC rankings: None
X: Tybura’s win, combined with inactivity among some other fighters, led me to reconsider the HW rankings after the last event, with Romanov the biggest beneficiary. However, anyone can make a strong move to the top with just a couple of good performances.
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dB rankings 1. Amanda Nunes 2. Valentina Shevchenko 3. Rose Namajunas 4. Weili Zhang 5. Joanna Jedrzejczyk 6. Germaine De Randamie 7. Holly Holm 8. Aspen Ladd 9. Jessica Andrade 10. Carla Esparza * 11. Katlyn Chookagian -1 12. Lauren Murphy 13. Jennifer Maia -2 14. Cynthia Calvillo -1 15. Yana Kunitskaya |
UFC rankings 1. Amanda Nunes 2. Valentina Shevchenko 3. Rose Namajunas 4. Weili Zhang 5. Joanna Jedrzejczyk 6. Jessica Andrade 7. Germaine De Randamie 8. Holly Holm 9. Carla Esparza +4 10. Aspen Ladd -1 11. Katlyn Chookagian -1 12. Mackenzie Dern 13. Lauren Murphy * 14. Xiaonan Yan -2 15. Julianna Pena * |
Out of dB rankings: Xiaonan Yan
Out of UFC rankings: Claudia Gadelha, Nina Nunes
X: Esparza, Murphy and Pena look like they’re up next for women’s title fights, but all of them should be sizable underdogs to the champs.
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dB rankings C: Rose Namajunas 1. Weili Zhang 2. Joanna Jedrzejczyk 3. Carla Esparza +2 4. Marina Rodriguez +2 5. Amanda Ribas +2 6. Mackenzie Dern +2 7. Xiaonan Yan -4 8. Claudia Gadelha -4 9. Nina Nunes 10. Michelle Waterson 11. Tecia Torres 12. Angela Hill 13. Virna Jandiroba 14. Amanda Lemos 15. Brianna Van Buren |
UFC rankings C: Rose Namajunas 1. Weili Zhang 2. Joanna Jedrzejczyk 3. Carla Esparza +1 4. Xiaonan Yan -1 5. Marina Rodriguez +1 6. Mackenzie Dern -1 7. Nina Nunes 8. Claudia Gadelha 9. Michelle Waterson 10. Tecia Torres 11. Amanda Ribas 12. Angela Hill 13. Virna Jandiroba 14. Amanda Lemos 15. Felice Herrig |
Out of dB/UFC rankings: None
X: Esparza is only a contract signature away from getting a chance to retake the SW belt, which no one could have seen coming after the way Jedrzejczyk blitzed her back in the day. And just a reminder that Herrig has not won a fight since 2017; the UFC really needs to reward the fighters who deserve it at that particular movement, not use rankings as a career achievement award.
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dB rankings C: Valentina Shevchenko 1. Jessica Andrade 2. Katlyn Chookagian 3. Lauren Murphy +1 4. Jennifer Maia -1 5. Cynthia Calvillo 6. Joanne Calderwood 7. Jessica Eye 8. Viviane Araujo 9. Roxanne Modafferi 10. Alexa Grasso 11. Andrea Lee 12. Talia Santos 13. Antonina Shevchenko 14. Miranda Maverick 15. Tracy Cortez |
UFC rankings C: Valentina Shevchenko 1. Jessica Andrade 2. Katlyn Chookagian 3. Lauren Murphy 4. Jennifer Maia 5. Cynthia Calvillo 6. Joanne Calderwood 7. Jessica Eye 8. Viviane Araujo 9. Roxanne Modafferi 10. Alexa Grasso 11. Andrea Lee 12. Talia Santos 13. Maycee Barber +1 14. Miranda Maverick -1 15. Montana De La Rosa * |
Out of dB rankings: None
Out of UFC rankings: Antonina Shevchenko
X: The younger contenders are battling it out in the bottom third of the rankings, but Barber, Maverick and Cortez all have a chance to come out of the pack and be a future star.
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dB rankings C: Amanda Nunes 1. Germaine de Randamie 2. Holly Holm 3. Aspen Ladd 4. Irene Aldana 5. Yana Kunitskaya 6. Ketlen Vieira 7. Julianna Pena 8. Sara McMann 9. Lina Lansberg 10. Macy Chiasso 11. Pannie Kianzad 12. Karol Rosa 13. Marion Reneau 14. Sijara Eubanks +1 15. Julia Avila * |
UFC rankings C: Amanda Nunes 1. Germaine de Randamie 2. Holly Holm 3. Aspen Ladd 4. Irene Aldana 5. Yana Kunitskaya 6. Julianna Pena 7. Ketlen Vieira 8. Sara McMann 9. Macy Chiasson 10. Pannie Kianzad +1 11. Lina Lansberg -1 12. Marion Reneau 13. Sijara Eubanks 14. Karol Rosa 15. Julia Avila |
Out of dB rankings: Alexis Davis
Out of UFC rankings: None
X: Not much movement this month, though Kianzad continued to improve in knocking off the always-tough Davis. BW desperately needs fresh contenders to keep life interesting for the GOAT Nunes.
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Champion: Amanda Nunes No divisional rankings. |
IMPORTANT UPCOMING FIGHTS FOR RANKINGS
June 19 – UFC on ESPN 25: Korean Zombie vs. Age
Chan Sung Yung vs. Dan Ige
Aleksei Oleinik vs. Serghei Spivac
Marlon Vera vs. Davey Grant
June 26 – UFC Fight Night 190: Gane vs. Volkov
Ciryl Gane vs. Alexander Volkov
Raoni Barcelos vs. Timur Valiev
Nicolas Dalby vs. Tim Means
July 10 – UFC 264: Poirier vs. McGregor 3
Dustin Poirier vs. Connor McGregor
Gilbert Burns vs. Stephen Thompson
Sean Brady vs. Kevin Lee
The updated July rankings will be posted after UFC 264. Until then, enjoy the fights.
For comments, questions and suggestions, email dbrown@cherokeescout.com or hit me up on Twitter @daviddbstroh.