UFC Rankings Update: Fabricio Werdum Soars Up Pound-For-Pound List

UFC 188 went down this past weekend (June 6, 2015) live on pay-per-view (PPV) from Mexico City, Mexico, and what an eventful night it was. In the main event, now former heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez made his long-awaited, and highly-anticipated return after 20-months on the shelf, but it was his opponent, former interim champion Fabricio “Vai Cavalo” Werdum who shocked the world.

Velasquez was the heavy favorite coming in, as many thought he would use his insane cardio, and relentless pace to break Werdum as he has so many others, but it was Werdum who broke the ex-champion. Velasquez seemed to tire and gas early due to the altitude in Mexico, and Werdum capitalized on a lazy Velasquez takedown attempt, and locked in a guillotine choke to steal the belt in Mexico City. Wow, what a shakeup! Check out the highlights here.

“Vai Cavalo” definitely opened up the heavyweight division, as there are now many interesting fights and possibilities. He also soared up the pound-for-pound rankings for his efforts, jumping up eight spots to No. 6, while Velasquez dropped six spots to No. 10.

In the co-main event of the evening, former Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert “El Nino” Melendez met former Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, a bout years in the making. After having his eye almost completely close after getting battered in the first, Alvarez battled back to earn a hard-fought, yet somewhat controversial split-decision win. The ex-Bellator boss jumped up five spots in the 155-pound rankings, now sitting at No. 4, while “El Nino” only dropped one spot to No. 5. Check out the highlights of the scrap here.

Check out the full rankings update below, courtesy of UFC.com:

POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Jose Aldo
2 Chris Weidman +1
3 Demetrious Johnson -1
4 Ronda Rousey +1
5 TJ Dillashaw +1
6 Fabricio Werdum +8
7 Rafael dos Anjos
8 Robbie Lawler
9 Daniel Cormier
10 Cain Velasquez -6
11 Anthony Pettis
12 Anderson Silva -2
13 Renan Barao -1
14 Frankie Edgar -1
15 Johny Hendricks

FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Demetrious Johnson
1 John Dodson
2 Joseph Benavidez
3 Jussier Formiga
4 Ian McCall
5 Henry Cejudo +2
6 John Moraga -1
7 John Lineker -1
8 Kyoji Horiguchi -1
9 Zach Makovsky
10 Chris Cariaso
11 Dustin Ortiz
12 Wilson Reis
13 Chico Camus
14 Ray Borg
15 Brad Pickett

BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: 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

FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Jose Aldo
1 Chad Mendes
2 Frankie Edgar
3 Conor McGregor
4 Ricardo Lamas
5 Max Holloway
6 Cub Swanson
7 Charles Oliveira
8 Dennis Bermudez
9 Nik Lentz
10 Clay Guida
11 Jeremy Stephens
12 Dennis Siver
13 Hacran Dias
14 Darren Elkins
15 Tatsuya Kawajiri

LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Rafael dos Anjos
1 Anthony Pettis
2 Donald Cerrone
3 Khabib Nurmagomedov
4 Eddie Alvarez +5
5 Gilbert Melendez -1
6 Michael Johnson -1
7 Benson Henderson -1
8 Edson Barboza -1
9 Myles Jury -1
10 Josh Thomson
11 Bobby Green
12 Tony Ferguson
13 Al Iaquinta
14 Beneil Dariush
15 Jorge Masvidal

WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: 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 +1
11 Neil Magny +1
12 Thiago Alves +1
13 Kelvin Gastelum -3
14 Ryan LaFlare +1
15 Gunnar Nelson -1

MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Chris Weidman
1 Luke Rockhold
2 Jacare Souza
3 Vitor Belfort
3 Lyoto Machida +1
5 Anderson Silva
6 Yoel Romero
7 Gegard Mousasi
8 Tim Kennedy
9 Thales Leites
10 Michael Bisping
11 CB Dollaway
12 Costas Philippou
13 Dan Henderson
14 Robert Whittaker
15 Roan Carneiro

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Anthony Johnson
2 Alexander Gustafsson
3 Rashad Evans
4 Ryan Bader
5 Glover Teixeira
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

HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Fabricio Werdum
1 Cain Velasquez -1
2 Junior Dos Santos
3 Stipe Miocic
4 Andrei Arlovski
5 Travis Browne
6 Josh Barnett
7 Mark Hunt
8 Ben Rothwell
9 Alistair Overeem
10 Frank Mir
11 Roy Nelson
12 Antonio Silva
13 Matt Mitrione
14 Stefan Struve
15 Alexey Oliynyk

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Joanna Jedrzejczyk
1 Carla Esparza
2 Claudia Gadelha
3 Jessica Penne
4 Rose Namajunas
5 Tecia Torres
6 Randa Markos
7 Paige VanZant
8 Maryna Moroz
9 Joanne Calderwood
10 Felice Herrig
11 Juliana Lima
12 Heather Clark +1
13 Aisling Daly -1
14 Valerie Letourneau
15 Bec Rawlings *NR

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: 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 Raquel Pennington