Updating UFC Rankings following UFC Freedom 250

For those unfamiliar with my rankings, I don’t stop at the UFC’s top 15, I rank every fighter on the roster. For the purposes of this article I will cut my rankings off at 25. I usually update the rankings every 2 weeks, but with a huge card like Freedom 250 shifting the top of the rankings, I’m going to update the rankings after just 1 event.

Heavyweight (C: Tom Aspinall)

1. Ciryl Gane (Interim)
2. Alex Pereira (NEW)
3. Sergei Pavlovich
4. Alexander Volkov
5. Josh Hokit (+1)
6. Waldo Cortes-Acosta (-1)
7. Curtis Blaydes
8. Serghei Spivac
9. Rizvan Kuniev
10. Ante Delija
11. Valter Walker (+1)
12. Brando Peričić (+1)
13. Derrick Lewis (-2)
14. Tyrell Fortune
15. Marcin Tybura
16. Shamil Gaziev
17. Mick Parkin
18. Vitor Petrino
19. Tallison Teixeira
20. Mário Pinto
21. Ryan Spann
22. Gable Steveson
23. Kennedy Nzechukwu
24. Jhonata Diniz
25. Thomas Petersen

Ciryl Gane gets a huge, if controversial, win over Alex Pereira to keep the top contender spot. Alex Pereira enters the rankings right behind Gane, although that may be generous. Hokit beats Lewis as well with Hokit jumping Waldo Cortes-Acosta while Derrick Lewis falls 2 more spots.

Light Heavyweight (C: Carlos Ulberg)

1. Alex Pereira
2. Magomed Ankalaev
3. Jiří Procházka
4. Khalil Rountree Jr.
5. Jan Błachowicz
6. Paulo Costa
7. Jamahal Hill
8. Volkan Oezdemir
9. Dominick Reyes
10. Bogdan Guskov
11. Azamat Murzakanov
12. Nikita Krylov
13. Aleksandar Rakić
14. Johnny Walker
15. Alonzo Menifield
16. Dustin Jacoby
17. AbdulRakhman Yakhyaev
18. Iwo Baraniewski
19. Navajo Stirling
20. Zhang Mingyang
21. Jimmy Crute
22. Modestas Bukauskas
23. Ion Cutelaba
24. Oumar Sy
25. Billy Elekana

Division remains unchanged, although I did decide to leave Alex Pereira in the rankings.

Middleweight (C: Sean Strickland)

1. Khamzat Chimaev
2. Dricus Du Plessis
3. Nassourdine Imavov
4. Caio Borralho
5. Brendan Allen
6. Anthony Hernandez
7. Joe Pyfer
8. Reinier De Ridder
9. Israel Adesanya
10. Robert Whittaker
11. Jared Cannonier
12. Gregory Rodrigues
13. Christian Leroy Duncan
14. Bo Nickal (+3)
15. Ikram Aliskerov (-1)
16. Roman Dolidze (-1)
17. Nursulton Ruziboev (-1)
18. Brunno Ferreria
19. Roman Kopylov
20. Marvin Vettori
21. Sharabutdin Magomedov
22. Ateba Gautier
23. Vicente Luque
24. Edmen Shahbazyan
25. Abus Magomedov

Bo Nickal dominated Kyle Daukaus on the White House lawn to jump into the UFC’s top 15, for me he jumps Ikram Aliskerov for 14. Kyle Daukaus fell 6 spots as well.

Welterweight (C: Islam Makhachev)

1. Ian Machado Garry
2. Michael Morales
3. Carlos Prates
4. Sean Brady
5. Jack Della Maddalena
6. Gabriel Bonfim
7. Kamaru Usman
8. Conor McGregor
9. Belal Muhammad
10. Leon Edwards
11. Michael Page
12. Joaquin Buckley
13. Yaroslav Amosov
14. Mike Malott
15. Uroš Medić
16. Geoff Neal
17. Daniel Rodriguez
18. Stephen Thompson
19. Joel Álvarez
20. Kevin Holland
21. Neil Magny
22. Myktybek Orolbai
23. Gunnar Nelson
24. Rafael dos Anjos
25. Chris Curtis

No Changes at Welterweight

Lightweight (C: Justin Gaethje)

1. Ilia Topuria (Dethroned)
2. Arman Tsarukyan (-1)
3. Charles Oliveira (-1)
4. Max Holloway (-1)
5. Benoît Saint Denis
6. Paddy Pimblett
7. Mateusz Gamrot
8. Maurício Ruffy (+1)
9. Dan Hooker (-1)
10. Rafael Fiziev
11. Quillan Salkilld
12. Renato Moicano
13. Manuel Torres
14. Beneil Dariush
15. Tom Nolan
16. Grant Dawson
17. Ľudovít Klein
18. Farès Ziam
19. Drakkar Klose
20. King Green
21. Chris Duncan
22. Mike Davis (+1)
23. Drew Dober (+1)
24. Ignacio Bahamondes (+1)
25. Rafa García (+1)

Justin Gaethje’s huge upset win over Ilia Topuria moves him to the throne and knocks Ilia down to number 1. I considered Arman over Ilia but though that was too much of an overreaction. Meanwhile Mauricio Ruffy jumps Dan Hooker thanks to his dominant win over Michael Chandler. This loss knocks Chandler out of my top 25.

Featherweight (C: Alexander Volkanovski)

1. Movsar Evloev
2. Diego Lopes
3. Lerone Murphy
4. Jean Silva
5. Aljamain Sterling
6. Arnold Allen
7. Yair Rodriguez
8. Youssef Zalal
9. Kevin Vallejos (+1)
10. Steve Garcia (-1)
11. Brian Ortega
12. David Onama
13. Aaron Pico
14. Melquizael Costa
15. Josh Emmett
16. Giga Chikadze
17. Pat Sabatini
18. Patrício Pitbull
19. Dan Ige
20. Doo Ho Choi
21. Nathaniel Wood
22. Calvin Kattar
23. Mairon Santos
24. Sean Woodson
25. Chepe Mariscal

Diego Lopes got a big win over Steve Garcia but doesn’t change in the rankings with just Evloev ahead of him. Steve Garcia falls just 1 spot as Lopes was heavily favored.

Bantamweight (C: Petr Yan)

1. Merab Dvalishvili
2. Sean O’Malley (+1)
3. Umar Nurmagomedov (-1)
4. Cory Sandhagen
5. Song Yadong
6. Mario Bautista
7. David Martinez (+1)
8. Aiemann Zahabi (-1)
9. Payton Talbott
10. Deiveson Figueiredo
11. Marlon Vera
12. Vinicius Oliveira
13. Raul Rosas Jr.
14. Marcus McGhee
15. Bryce Mitchell
16. Farid Basharat
17. Raoni Barcelos
18. Rob Font
19. Montel Jackson
20. Kai Asakura
21. Charles Jourdain
22. Kyler Phillips
23. Ricky Simón
24. Jonathan Martinez
25. Aleksandre Topuria

O’Malley’s KO win over Aiemann Zahabi has him jump Umar for #2. For his loss, Zahabai drops 1 spot as well.

Flyweight (C: Joshua Van)

1. Alexandre Pantoja
2. Manel Kape
3. Tatsuro Taira
4. Brandon Royval
5. Kyoji Horiguchi
6. Asu Almabayev
7. Lone’er Kavanagh
8. Brandon Moreno
9. Amir Albazi
10. Steve Erceg
11. Tagir Ulanbekov
12. Alex Perez
13. Charles Johnson
14. Tim Elliott
15. Ramazan Temirov
16. Édgar Cháirez
17. Rei Tsuruya
18. Allan Nascimento
19. André Lima
20. Bruno Silva
21. Jose Ochoa
22. Joseph Morales
23. Alden Coria
24. Alessandro Costa
25. Imanol Rodriguez

No fights at flyweight, rankings remain unchanged.

Women’s Bantamweight (C: Kayla Harrison)

1. Amanda Nunes
2. Julianna Peña
3. Raquel Pennington
4. Ailín Pérez
5. Joselyne Edwards
6. Norma Dumont
7. Irene Aldana
8. Yana Santos
9. Karol Rosa
10. Macy Chiasson
11. Jacqueline Cavalcanti
12. Luana Santos
13. Nora Cornolle
14. Michelle Montague
15. Melissa Croden
16. Bia Mesquita
17. Dariya Zheleznyakova
18. Chelsea Chandler
19. Miesha Tate
20. Klaudia Syguła
21. Josiane Nunes
22. Melissa Mullins
23. Priscila Cachoeira
24. Montserrat Rendon
25. Alice Pereira

All 3 Women’s Divisions are unchanged.

Women’s Flyweight (C: Valentina Shevchenko)

1. Natália Silva
2. Manon Fiorot
3. Alexa Grasso
4. Erin Blanchfield
5. Maycee Barber
6. Rose Namajunas
7. Jasmine Jasudavicius
8. Tracy Cortez
9. Wang Cong
10. Casey O’Neill
11. Miranda Maverick
12. Karine Silva
13. Eduarda Moura
14. JJ Aldrich
15. Carli Judice
16. Gabriella Fernandes
17. Veronica Hardy
18. Katlyn Cerminara
19. Dione Barbosa
20. Jamey-Lyn Horth
21. Tereza Bledá
22. Regina Tarin
23. Vanessa Demopoulos
24. Jeisla Chaves
25. Juliana Miller

Women’s Strawweight (C: Mackenzie Dern)

1. Zhang Weili
2. Tatiana Suarez
3. Virna Jandiroba
4. Yan Xiaonan
5. Gillian Robertson
6. Loopy Godinez
7. Tabatha Ricci
8. Amanda Lemos
9. Jéssica Andrade
10. Amanda Ribas
11. Denise Gomes
12. Alexia Thainara
13. Iasmin Lucindo
14. Fatima Kline
15. Piera Rodriguez
16. Ketlen Souza
17. Angela Hill
18. Mizuki
19. Talita Alencar
20. Jaqueline Amorim
21. Loma Lookboonmee
22. Luana Pinheiro
23. Yazmin Jauregui
24. Julia Polastri
25. Karolina Kowalkiewicz