The UFC rankings have been updated following UFC 261! Check out all the changes below!
Men’s Pound for Pound: Unlike Khabib Nurmagomedov before him, Kamaru Usman does not get his wish to be placed at #1 on the pound-for-pound rankings over Jon Jones, and the rankings remain exactly the same this week, including Jones at #1 and Usman at #2.
Women’s Pound for Pound: Rose Namajunas moves up to #3 after defeating Zhang Weili for the UFC strawweight championship at UFC 261, with Zhang falling one spot down to #4. Jéssica Andrade drops one spot down to #6 after being defeated by Valentina Shevchenko, and Joanna Jędrzejczyk moves up a spot to #5. Following her latest win, Shevchenko remains ranked #2, a spot behind Amanda Nunes.
Strawweight: With Rose Namajunas now a two-time champion, Zhang Weili is the #1 contender.
Women’s Flyweight: No Changes
Women’s Bantamweight: No Changes
Women’s Featherweight: N/A
Flyweight: No Changes
Bantamweight: No Changes
Featherweight: There were some interesting changes in the featherweight rankings this week. Two days after the rankings were updated, Zabit Magomedsharipov is still missing from the rankings. There have been no reports for the reason why. Aside from an inconceivably delayed glitch, one can only speculate that this is because Magomedsharipov has not competed since November 2019. The problem with this line of reasoning is that Yair Rodriguez is ranked at #3 despite not competing since October of 2019. There are currently no official reports on the cause of this change.
In addition to this removal, days before the two meet in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 25, Giga Chikadze (#14) and Cub Swanson (#15) coincidentally appear in the rankings.
Zabit’s removal has caused #3-13 to each move up for a new-look featherweight rankings. The new top 5 is as follows:
- Max Holloway (same)
- Brain Ortega (same)
- Yair Rodriguez (+1)
- Chan Sung Jung (+1)
- Calvin Kattar (+1)
Lightweight: Donald Cerrone suddenly appears in the rankings at #15 a week before he is scheduled to return to action at UFC Vegas 26. Gregor Gillespie moves up a spot to #14.
Welterweight: After losing to the champion Kamaru Usman at UFC 261, Jorge Masvidal drops one spot to #5, with Stephen Thompson now up at #4. Khamzat Chimaev is also back in the rankings at #15. Geoff Neal (#10), Li Jingliang (#11), Belal Muhamad (#12), Sean Brady (#13), and Robbie Lawler (#14) all move up one position after Tyron Woodley’s removal from the rankings, as he is currently no longer under contract with the UFC.
Middleweight: Uriah Hall moves up one spot to #8 after his injury-ridden win over Chris Weidman at UFC 261, causing Kelvin Gastelum to drop a spot to #9. Additionally, Omari Akhmedov (#12) and Kevin Holland (#13) swap places.
Light Heavyweight: No Changes. Anthony Smith (#6) and Jim Crute (#13) remain in the same positions after Smith’s victory over Crute at UFC 261.
Heavyweight: No Changes.
You can view the full updated UFC rankings here.
What are your thoughts on this week’s UFC rankings following UFC 261?
