UFC Rankings Update: Tyron Woodley Rises On Pound-For-Pound List
The official UFC rankings have been updated in the days following last weekend’s (Sat., September 8, 2018) UFC 228 from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
In the card’s headliner, welterweight champion Tyron Woodley submitted touted rising challenger Darren Till to become the longest-reigning current UFC champion. For his efforts, he earned a massive one spot rise on the pound-for-pound list, putting him behind Conor McGregor, Max Holloway, and Georges St-Pierre.
McGregor has been out of action for almost two years and will return at October’s UFC 229. Holloway had a dominant 2017 but has since seen three high-profile fights fall apart in the first seven months of 2018 with his health now a major question. St-Pierre has fought once in the last nearly five years, most recently defeating a now-retired Michael Bisping before promptly vacating the title last November.
All are amazing fighters to be certain, but it’s also safe to ask if Woodley is getting his fair due as one of the most decorated and dominant champions of the current era. It’s also safe to ask if the UFC rankings are a legitimate picture of what’s really going on in the sport because of it.
But that’s a larger discussion for another time. In terms of other movement, women’s featherweight champion Cris Cybrog and flyweight champion Henry Cejudo moved up one spot each on the pound-for-pound list, pushing middleweight champ Robert Whittaker down two spots.
Two women’s divisions saw a ton of movement in the fallout of UFC 228. Surging strawweight Tatiana Suarez rose five spots to No. 4 for her dominant TKO win over former champion Carla Esparza, who fell two spots to No. 8. Jessica Andrade held firm at No. 2 following her KO of Karolina Kowalkiewicz, who fell one spot to No. 5.
At flyweight, a mess was incited when former champion Nicco Montano was hospitalized before the UFC 228 weigh-ins. The promotion stripped her of the title and her scheduled opponent Valentina Shevchenko became the No. 1-ranked fighter at 125 pounds. Montano fell two spots to No. 2, Sijara Eubanks did the same to No. 4, and the rest of the Top 15 slid as a result.
Check out the fully updated rankings via UFC.com here:
POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Daniel Cormier
2 Conor McGregor
3 TJ Dillashaw
4 Max Holloway
5 Georges St-Pierre
6 Tyron Woodley +1
7 Demetrious Johnson -1
8 Khabib Nurmagomedov
9 Stipe Miocic
10 Cris Cyborg +1
11 Henry Cejudo +1
12 Robert Whittaker -2
13 Tony Ferguson
14 Amanda Nunes
15 Rose Namajunas
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Henry Cejudo
1 Demetrious Johnson
2 Sergio Pettis
3 Joseph Benavidez
4 Ray Borg
5 Jussier Formiga
6 Deiveson Figueiredo
7 John Moraga
8 Wilson Reis
9 Dustin Ortiz +1
10 Alexandre Pantoja -1
11 Brandon Moreno
12 Ben Nguyen
13 Tim Elliott
14 Matheus Nicolau
15 Ulka Sasaki
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: TJ Dillashaw
1 Cody Garbrandt
2 Dominick Cruz
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 Marlon Moraes
5 Jimmie Rivera
6 John Lineker
7 Aljamain Sterling +1
8 John Dodson -1
9 Pedro Munhoz
10 Cody Stamann
11 Rob Font
12 Alejandro Perez
13 Thomas Almeida
14 Douglas Silva de Andrade
15 Rani Yahya
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Max Holloway
1 Brian Ortega
2 Jose Aldo
3 Frankie Edgar
4 Renato Moicano
5 Chad Mendes
6 Jeremy Stephens
7 Cub Swanson
8 Josh Emmett
8 Mirsad Bektic +1
10 Chan Sung Jung
11 Alexander Volkanovski
12 Ricardo Lamas
13 Darren Elkins
14 Zabit Magomedsharipov +1
15 Yair Rodriguez -1
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Khabib Nurmagomedov
1 Conor McGregor
2 Tony Ferguson
3 Dustin Poirier
4 Eddie Alvarez
5 Kevin Lee
6 Edson Barboza
7 Justin Gaethje
8 Anthony Pettis
9 Al Iaquinta
10 Nate Diaz
11 Michael Chiesa
12 James Vick
13 Alexander Hernandez
14 Dan Hooker
15 Islam Makhachev
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Tyron Woodley
1 Colby Covington (Interim Champion)
2 Darren Till
3 Rafael Dos Anjos
4 Stephen Thompson
5 Robbie Lawler
6 Kamaru Usman
7 Demian Maia
8 Neil Magny
9 Jorge Masvidal
10 Santiago Ponzinibbio
11 Leon Edwards
12 Donald Cerrone
13 Gunnar Nelson
14 Alex Oliveira
15 Curtis Millender
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion : Robert Whittaker
1 Yoel Romero
2 Luke Rockhold
3 Chris Weidman
4 Kelvin Gastelum
5 Jacare Souza
6 Derek Brunson
7 David Branch
8 Paulo Costa
9 Israel Adesanya
10 Brad Tavares
11 Antonio Carlos Junior
12 Thiago Santos
13 Uriah Hall
14 Elias Theodorou
15 Krzysztof Jotko
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Alexander Gustafsson
2 Volkan Oezdemir
3 Ilir Latifi
4 Jan Blachowicz
5 Jimi Manuwa
6 Corey Anderson
7 Ovince Saint Preux
8 Glover Teixeira
9 Anthony Smith
10 Misha Cirkunov
11 Mauricio Rua
12 Dominick Reyes
13 Patrick Cummins
14 Tyson Pedro
15 Sam Alvey
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Stipe Miocic
2 Derrick Lewis
3 Curtis Blaydes
4 Francis Ngannou
5 Alexander Volkov
6 Alistair Overeem
7 Junior Dos Santos
8 Mark Hunt
9 Marcin Tybura
10 Tai Tuivasa
11 Aleksei Oleinik
12 Andrei Arlovski
13 Stefan Struve
14 Shamil Abdurakhimov
15 Justin Willis
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Rose Namajunas
1 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
2 Jessica Andrade
3 Claudia Gadelha
4 Tatiana Suarez +5
5 Karolina Kowalkiewicz -1
6 Tecia Torres -1
7 Michelle Waterson
8 Carla Esparza -2
9 Felice Herrig -1
10 Cortney Casey
11 Nina Ansaroff
12 Alexa Grasso
13 Randa Markos
14 Angela Hill
15 Mackenzie Dern
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
1 Valentina Shevchenko
2 Nicco Montano -2
3 Katlyn Chookagian
4 Sijara Eubanks -2
5 Alexis Davis
6 Liz Carmouche
6 Roxanne Modafferi -2
8 Lauren Murphy -1
9 Jessica Eye -1
10 Jessica-Rose Clark -1
11 Ashlee Evans-Smith -1
12 Joanne Calderwood -1
13 Mara Romero Borella -1
14 Andrea Lee -1
15 Jennifer Maia
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 +1
12 Lina Lansberg -1
13 Lucie Pudilova
14 Sarah Moras
15 Gina Mazany
