UFC Rankings Update: Jon Jones’ Removal Causes Pound-For-Pound Shift

The UFC’s removal of former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones from the official rankings has caused a sizable shift in the pound-for-pound list.

As he awaits his punishment for a potential USADA anti-doping violation that forced him out of his UFC 200 main event with Daniel Cormier, Jones’ absence on the list that he ruled for several years boosted every fighter from No. 4 Conor McGregor down to No. 14 T.J. Dillashaw up a spot, while also allowing featherweight rival Frankie Edgar to re-debut at No. 15.

“Bones” absence from the 205-pound ranks moved everyone from No. 1 Anthony “Rumble” Johnson to No. 13 Patrick Cummins up a spot, and also allowed Misha Cirkunov to debut at No. 14.

There was also a UFC event last weekend, with touted featherweight prospect Yair Rodriguez outlasting Alex Caceres in the main event of the UFC’s Utah debut of UFC Fight Night 92. For the win, Rodriguez moved up to spots to No. 11, forcing Darren Elkins and Dooho Choi down to the Nos. 12 and 13 spots, respectively.

At middleweight, Yoel Romero moved up an alarming 11 spots to No. 4 after his USADA suspension ended, pushing Vitor Belfort, Anderson Silva, Robert Whittaker, and Gegard Mousasi down to the Nos. 5-8 spots.

Here are the full updated rankings from UFC.com:

POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Demetrious Johnson
2 Dominick Cruz
3 Daniel Cormier
4 Conor McGregor +1
5 Jose Aldo +1
6 Eddie Alvarez +1
7 Joanna Jedrzejczyk +1
8 Stipe Miocic +1
9 Tyron Woodley +1
10 Michael Bisping +1
11 Robbie Lawler +1
12 Rafael Dos Anjos +1
13 Luke Rockhold +1
14 TJ Dillashaw +1
15 Frankie Edgar *NR

FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Demetrious Johnson
1 Joseph Benavidez
2 Henry Cejudo
3 Kyoji Horiguchi
3 Jussier Formiga
5 Ian McCall
6 Wilson Reis
7 Zach Makovsky
8 Ali Bagautinov
9 Louis Smolka
10 John Moraga
11 Matheus Nicolau
12 Dustin Ortiz
13 Justin Scoggins
14 Ray Borg
15 Sergio Pettis

BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Dominick Cruz
1 TJ Dillashaw
2 Urijah Faber
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 Bryan Caraway
5 John Lineker
6 Aljamain Sterling
7 Michael McDonald
8 Cody Garbrandt
9 John Dodson
10 Thomas Almeida
11 Takeya Mizugaki
12 Eddie Wineland
13 Jimmie Rivera
14 Johnny Eduardo
15 Frankie Saenz

FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Conor McGregor
1 Jose Aldo (Interim Champion)
2 Frankie Edgar
3 Max Holloway
4 Ricardo Lamas
5 Cub Swanson
6 Charles Oliveira
7 Jeremy Stephens
8 Dennis Bermudez
9 Brian Ortega
10 Hacran Dias
11 Yair Rodriguez +2
12 Darren Elkins -1
13 Dooho Choi -1
14 Mirsad Bektic +1
15 Tatsuya Kawajiri -1

LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Eddie Alvarez
1 Khabib Nurmagomedov
2 Rafael Dos Anjos
3 Tony Ferguson
4 Nate Diaz
5 Edson Barboza
6 Donald Cerrone
7 Anthony Pettis
8 Dustin Poirier
9 Michael Chiesa
10 Michael Johnson
11 Beneil Dariush
12 Will Brooks
13 Al Iaquinta
14 Gilbert Melendez
15 Rashid Magomedov

WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Tyron Woodley
1 Robbie Lawler
2 Stephen Thompson
3 Rory MacDonald
4 Demian Maia
5 Carlos Condit
6 Kelvin Gastelum
7 Neil Magny
8 Johny Hendricks
9 Rick Story
10 Dong Hyun Kim
11 Gunnar Nelson
12 Matt Brown
13 Tarec Saffiedine
14 Donald Cerrone
15 Jake Ellenberger

MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Michael Bisping
1 Luke Rockhold
2 Chris Weidman
3 Jacare Souza
4 Yoel Romero +11
5 Vitor Belfort -1
6 Anderson Silva -1
7 Robert Whittaker -1
8 Gegard Mousasi -1
9 Uriah Hall
10 Derek Brunson
11 Thales Leites +1
12 Dan Henderson +1
12 Tim Kennedy -1
14 Rafael Natal
15 Thiago Santos *NR

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Anthony Johnson +1
2 Glover Teixeira +1
3 Alexander Gustafsson +1
4 Ryan Bader +1
5 Ovince Saint Preux +1
6 Mauricio Rua +1
7 Rashad Evans +1
8 Jimi Manuwa +1
9 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira +1
10 Nikita Krylov +1
11 Corey Anderson +1
12 Ilir Latifi +1
13 Patrick Cummins +1
14 Misha Cirkunov *NR
15 Gian Villante

HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Stipe Miocic
1 Fabricio Werdum
2 Cain Velasquez
3 Alistair Overeem
4 Junior Dos Santos
5 Ben Rothwell
6 Andrei Arlovski
7 Travis Browne
8 Mark Hunt +1
9 Josh Barnett +1
10 Derrick Lewis +1
11 Roy Nelson +1
12 Ruslan Magomedov +3
13 Stefan Struve +1
14 Francis Ngannou *NR
15 Antonio Silva *NR

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Joanna Jedrzejczyk
1 Claudia Gadelha
2 Karolina Kowalkiewicz
3 Carla Esparza
4 Rose Namajunas
5 Tecia Torres
6 Jessica Andrade
7 Joanne Calderwood
8 Valerie Letourneau
9 Maryna Moroz
10 Paige VanZant
11 Michelle Waterson
12 Jessica Penne
13 Randa Markos +1
14 Jessica Aguilar -1
15 Juliana Lima

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Amanda Nunes
1 Miesha Tate
2 Ronda Rousey
3 Valentina Shevchenko
4 Holly Holm
5 Julianna Pena
6 Cat Zingano
7 Sara McMann
8 Liz Carmouche
8 Raquel Pennington
10 Jessica Eye
11 Bethe Correia
12 Germaine de Randamie
13 Ashlee Evans-Smith
14 Katlyn Chookagian
15 Marion Reneau