UFC Rankings Update: Stephen Thompson On The Rise

Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson set the mixed martial arts (MMA) world on fire when he knocked out former champion Johny Hendricks in the main event of last weekend’s (Sat., February 6, 2015) UFC Fight Night 82 from the MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, and he’s deservedly earned a big boost up the official UFC rankings as a result.

Thompson rose up a whopping five spots in the welterweight ranks to No. 3 after defeating the previously No. 2-ranked ‘Bigg Rigg,’ who fell to No. 5. Tyron Woodley overtook his No. 2 spot. Hendricks’ demotion caused Nos. 6-9 fighters Demian Maia, Matt Brown, Dong Hyun Kim, and Neil Magny to all drop one spot from their previous ranking as a result.

In other rankings movement, lightweight saw some changes when Tony Ferguson changed spots with Donald Cerrone, moving up to No. 4. Edson Barboza did the same with Beneil Dariush at the Nos. 8 and 9 spots, respectively, and Dustin Poirer and Bobby Green did the same at No. 11 and 12.

At middleweight, Anderson Silva continued his rise up the rankings heading into his UFC Fight Night 84 main event against Michael Bisping, clocking in at No. 7 after re-debuting at No. 10 last week. The move sent Robert Whittaker, Gegard Mousasi, and Thales Leites all down one spot, while Rafael Natal and Derek Brunson traded the Nos. 12 and 13 spots.

Heavyweight saw a bit of movement as surging ‘Big’ Ben Rothwell sent Andrei Arlovski from the No. 4 spot, forcing the former champion into a tie with Junior dos Santos, whom Rothwell will fight in Coratia this April, at No. 5. Josh Barnett took the No. 8 spot from Mark Hunt, while Antonio Slva, Matt Mitrione, and Alexei Oliynyk all benefited from Jared Rosholt’s decision loss to Roy Nelson, which sent him plummeting three spots to No. 15.

Finally, the pound-for-pound rankings saw quite the upheaval for not having a single member of the list fight last weekend, as Rafael dos Anjos moved up two spots to No. 4 heading into his UFC 196 clash with Conor McGregor. Robbie Lawler moved down two spots as a result. Also on the pound-for-pound list, newly re-crowned bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz took over the No. 7 spot from middleweight champion Luke Rockhold.

Here are the fully updated rankings from the UFC’s official website:

POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Jon Jones
2 Demetrious Johnson
3 Conor McGregor
4 Rafael dos Anjos +2
5 Fabricio Werdum
6 Robbie Lawler -2
7 Dominick Cruz +1
8 Luke Rockhold -1
9 Jose Aldo
10 Daniel Cormier
11 Chris Weidman
12 TJ Dillashaw
13 Holly Holm
14 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
15 Frankie Edgar *NR

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

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

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

LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Rafael dos Anjos
1 Eddie Alvarez
2 Khabib Nurmagomedov
3 Anthony Pettis
4 Tony Ferguson +1
5 Donald Cerrone -1
6 Nate Diaz
7 Michael Johnson
8 Edson Barboza +1
9 Beneil Dariush -1
10 Al Iaquinta
11 Dustin Poirier +1
12 Bobby Green -1
13 Michael Chiesa
14 Evan Dunham
15 Rashid Magomedov *NR

WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Robbie Lawler
1 Rory MacDonald
2 Tyron Woodley +1
3 Stephen Thompson +5
4 Carlos Condit
5 Johny Hendricks -3
6 Demian Maia -1
7 Matt Brown -1
8 Dong Hyun Kim -1
9 Neil Magny -1
10 Tarec Saffiedine
11 Rick Story
12 Kelvin Gastelum
13 Thiago Alves +1
14 Albert Tumenov *NR
15 Gunnar Nelson

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

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

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

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

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