UFC Rankings Update: Mackenzie Dern Falls Out After One Week
The new UFC rankings are here, and the backlash directed at Mackenzie Dern‘s debut last week has apparently persuaded the media-generated list.
Although the UFC staged a pivotal welterweight main event between Kamaru Usman and Demian Maia at last weekend’s UFC Fight Night 129 from Santiago, Chile, that caused Usman to rise two spots to No. 5 and dropped Maia one spot to No. 6 for his loss, the popular women’s strawweight prospect is drawing most of the attention for the latest set of official UFC ranks.
After Dern debuted at No. 15 on the women’s strawweight Top 15 following her first-round submission victory over Amanda Bobby Cooper at May 12’s UFC 224 from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a proverbial brush fire was ignited based on the fact that Dern had missed weight by an awe-inspiring seven pounds for the fight, putting her closer to flyweight than strawweight. The backlash came from both fans and fellow fighters such as strawweight competitors Felice Herrig and Angela Hill.
Apparently, the media members who vote for the highly-lambasted rankings took notice a week later, as Dern has been left off of the women’s strawweight rankings, allowing Hill to appear back on the list. Tatiana Suarez also rose up three spots to No. 9 in the class following her submission win over Alexa Grasso in Chile. Grasso fell two spots to No. 11 for the rapid loss.
In other movement, former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum was removed from the rankings after news arrived he had failed a USADA drug test and was facing a potential violation as his reported UFC Moscow fight with Alexey Oleynik was called off.
Check out the full updated rankings via UFC.com right here:
POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Demetrious Johnson
2 Georges St-Pierre
3 Stipe Miocic
3 Conor McGregor
5 Daniel Cormier
6 Max Holloway
7 TJ Dillashaw
8 Tyron Woodley
9 Khabib Nurmagomedov
10 Cris Cyborg
11 Tony Ferguson
12 Amanda Nunes
13 Robert Whittaker
14 Cody Garbrandt
15 Rose Namajunas
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Demetrious Johnson
1 Joseph Benavidez
2 Henry Cejudo
3 Ray Borg
4 Jussier Formiga
5 Sergio Pettis
6 John Moraga
7 Wilson Reis +1
8 Alexandre Pantoja +4
9 Brandon Moreno -2
10 Dustin Ortiz
11 Ben Nguyen -2
12 Matheus Nicolau -1
13 Tim Elliott
14 Deiveson Figueiredo
15 Magomed Bibulatov
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: TJ Dillashaw
1 Cody Garbrandt
2 Dominick Cruz
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 Jimmie Rivera
5 Marlon Moraes
6 John Lineker
7 John Dodson
8 Aljamain Sterling
9 Bryan Caraway
10 Pedro Munhoz
11 Cody Stamann
12 Rob Font
13 Thomas Almeida
14 Brett Johns
15 Eddie Wineland
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Max Holloway
1 Brian Ortega
2 Jose Aldo
3 Frankie Edgar
4 Jeremy Stephens
5 Cub Swanson
6 Josh Emmett
7 Ricardo Lamas
8 Chan Sung Jung
9 Renato Moicano
10 Darren Elkins
11 Mirsad Bektic
12 Zabit Magomedsharipov +1
13 Myles Jury +1
14 Dooho Choi +1
15 Calvin Kattar *NR
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Khabib Nurmagomedov
1 Conor McGregor
2 Tony Ferguson
3 Eddie Alvarez
4 Dustin Poirier
5 Kevin Lee
6 Edson Barboza
7 Justin Gaethje
8 Nate Diaz
9 Michael Chiesa
10 Al Iaquinta
11 James Vick
12 Anthony Pettis
13 Alexander Hernandez
14 Paul Felder
15 Olivier Aubin-Mercier
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Tyron Woodley
1 Stephen Thompson
2 Rafael Dos Anjos
3 Robbie Lawler +1
3 Colby Covington
5 Kamaru Usman +2
6 Demian Maia -1
7 Jorge Masvidal -1
8 Darren Till
9 Neil Magny
10 Santiago Ponzinibbio
11 Donald Cerrone
12 Gunnar Nelson
13 Alex Oliveira
14 Leon Edwards
15 Dong Hyun Kim
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Robert Whittaker
1 Yoel Romero
2 Luke Rockhold
3 Chris Weidman
4 Kelvin Gastelum
5 Jacare Souza
6 Michael Bisping
7 Derek Brunson
8 David Branch
9 Lyoto Machida
9 Brad Tavares +1
11 Uriah Hall
12 Thiago Santos
12 Antonio Carlos Junior
14 Paulo Costa
15 Elias Theodorou *NR
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Alexander Gustafsson
2 Volkan Oezdemir
3 Glover Teixeira
4 Ilir Latifi
5 Jan Blachowicz
6 Jimi Manuwa
7 Ovince Saint Preux
7 Mauricio Rua
9 Corey Anderson
10 Misha Cirkunov
11 Patrick Cummins
12 Dominick Reyes *NR
13 Gadzhimurad Antigulov
14 Tyson Pedro -2
15 Gian Villante -1
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Stipe Miocic
1 Francis Ngannou
2 Alistair Overeem
3 Alexander Volkov
4 Curtis Blaydes
5 Derrick Lewis +1
6 Mark Hunt +1
7 Marcin Tybura +1
8 Andrei Arlovski +1
9 Aleksei Oleinik +1
10 Stefan Struve +1
11 Tai Tuivasa +1
12 Shamil Abdurakhimov +1
13 Justin Willis +1
14 Junior Dos Santos +1
15 Junior Albini *NR
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Rose Namajunas
1 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
2 Jessica Andrade
3 Claudia Gadelha
4 Karolina Kowalkiewicz
5 Tecia Torres
6 Carla Esparza
7 Michelle Waterson
8 Felice Herrig
9 Tatiana Suarez +3
10 Cortney Casey
11 Alexa Grasso -2
12 Randa Markos -1
13 Nina Ansaroff +1
14 Joanne Calderwood -1
15 Angela Hill *NR
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Nicco Montano
1 Valentina Shevchenko
2 Sijara Eubanks
3 Lauren Murphy
4 Alexis Davis
5 Katlyn Chookagian
6 Barb Honchak +1
7 Liz Carmouche +1
8 Roxanne Modafferi -2
9 Jessica-Rose Clark
10 Jessica Eye
11 Ashlee Evans-Smith
12 Andrea Lee *NR
13 Mara Romero Borella -1
14 Paige VanZant -1
15 Montana De La Rosa -1
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Amanda Nunes
1 Holly Holm
2 Ketlen Vieira
3 Julianna Pena
4 Raquel Pennington
5 Germaine de Randamie
6 Cat Zingano
7 Marion Reneau
8 Sara McMann
9 Aspen Ladd
10 Bethe Correia
11 Irene Aldana
12 Lucie Pudilova
13 Sarah Moras
14 Lina Lansberg
15 Gina Mazany
