UFC Rankings Update: Valentina Shevchenko Soars In New Division
Former UFC women’s bantamweight title challenger Valentina Shevchenko is making waves in her new weight class.
‘Bullet’ made her women’s 125-pound debut against debuting Brazilian Priscilia Cachoeira in the co-main event of last weekend’s (Sat., February 3, 2018) UFC Fight Night 125 from Arena Guilherme Paraense in Belém, Brazil, and her performance was as dominant a one we’ve seen in the UFC.
So much so that the bigger overall story of her one-sided beating was referee Mario Yamasaki’s insistence to let the overmatched Cachoeira continue fighting despite being outstruck 230-3 before having to tap out multiple times to a Shevchenko rear-naked choke for Yamasaki to call it off. The horrific refereeing has caused Dana White to embark on a justified smear campaign against Yamasaki, calling him a ‘moron’ and saying he’ll never referee again.
But that was beyond her control.
What was in her control was an absolutely perfect performance where she looked sharp in all aspects of MMA, resulting in one of the most flawless wins in UFC history to the point where some questioned the matchmaking in the still-developing division.
For the win, “Bullet” shot all the way up to the No. 1 spot in the class and should be headed for a clash with champion Nicco Montano. She was removed from the women’s bantamweight rankings as well, bumping the rest of the top 15 up one spot apiece and allowing Ashlee Evans-Smith to re-debut at No. 15.
Check out the full updated rankings courtesy of UFC.com right here:
POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Demetrious Johnson
2 Conor McGregor
3 Daniel Cormier
4 Stipe Miocic
5 Max Holloway -1
6 Georges St-Pierre
7 TJ Dillashaw
8 Tyron Woodley
9 Cris Cyborg
10 Tony Ferguson
11 Cody Garbrandt
12 Robert Whittaker
13 Amanda Nunes
14 Khabib Nurmagomedov
15 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Demetrious Johnson
1 Joseph Benavidez
2 Henry Cejudo
3 Ray Borg
4 Jussier Formiga
5 Sergio Pettis
6 Wilson Reis
7 Brandon Moreno
8 Ben Nguyen
9 Dustin Ortiz
10 John Moraga
11 Matheus Nicolau
12 Tim Elliott
13 Alexandre Pantoja
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 Bryan Caraway
8 John Dodson
9 Aljamain Sterling
10 Pedro Munhoz
11 Rob Font
12 Thomas Almeida
13 Eddie Wineland
14 Brett Johns
15 Matthew Lopez
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Max Holloway
1 Jose Aldo
2 Frankie Edgar
3 Brian Ortega
4 Josh Emmett
5 Cub Swanson
6 Ricardo Lamas
7 Chan Sung Jung
8 Jeremy Stephens
9 Darren Elkins
10 Yair Rodriguez
11 Renato Moicano
12 Mirsad Bektic
13 Dooho Choi
14 Myles Jury
15 Calvin Kattar
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Conor McGregor
1 Tony Ferguson (Interim Champion)
2 Khabib Nurmagomedov
3 Eddie Alvarez
4 Edson Barboza
5 Dustin Poirier
6 Justin Gaethje
7 Kevin Lee
8 Nate Diaz
9 Michael Chiesa
10 Al Iaquinta
11 Beneil Dariush
12 James Vick
13 Anthony Pettis
14 Francisco Trinaldo
15 Evan Dunham
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Tyron Woodley
1 Stephen Thompson
2 Rafael Dos Anjos
3 Colby Covington
4 Robbie Lawler
5 Demian Maia
6 Jorge Masvidal
7 Darren Till
8 Neil Magny
9 Kamaru Usman
10 Santiago Ponzinibbio
11 Donald Cerrone
12 Carlos Condit
13 Gunnar Nelson
14 Dong Hyun Kim
15 Yancy Medeiros
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Robert Whittaker
1 Yoel Romero
2 Luke Rockhold
3 Jacare Souza
4 Chris Weidman
5 Kelvin Gastelum
6 Michael Bisping
7 Derek Brunson
8 David Branch
9 Uriah Hall
10 Vitor Belfort
11 Thiago Santos +4
12 Lyoto Machida +1
13 Krzysztof Jotko -1
14 Paulo Costa
15 Brad Tavares -4
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Alexander Gustafsson
2 Glover Teixeira
2 Volkan Oezdemir
4 Jimi Manuwa
5 Ovince Saint Preux
6 Mauricio Rua
7 Misha Cirkunov
8 Corey Anderson
8 Ilir Latifi
10 Patrick Cummins
11 Jan Blachowicz
12 Gadzhimurad Antigulov
13 Tyson Pedro
14 Gian Villante
15 Jared Cannonier
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Stipe Miocic
1 Francis Ngannou
2 Alistair Overeem
3 Fabricio Werdum
4 Cain Velasquez
5 Mark Hunt
6 Derrick Lewis
7 Alexander Volkov
8 Marcin Tybura
9 Curtis Blaydes
10 Stefan Struve
11 Aleksei Oleinik
12 Andrei Arlovski
13 Tim Johnson +2
14 Junior Albini -1
15 Shamil Abdurakhimov *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 Cynthia Calvillo
10 Alexa Grasso
11 Randa Markos
12 Cortney Casey
13 Joanne Calderwood
14 Maryna Moroz
15 Tatiana Suarez
WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Nicco Montano
1 Valentina Shevchenko *NR
2 Sijara Eubanks -1
3 Lauren Murphy -1
4 Alexis Davis -1
5 Roxanne Modafferi -1
6 Barb Honchak -1
7 Liz Carmouche -1
8 Katlyn Chookagian -1
9 Jessica-Rose Clark -1
10 Jessica Eye -1
11 Montana De La Rosa -1
12 Rachael Ostovich
13 Mara Romero Borella -2
14 Paige VanZant -1
15 Shana Dobson -1
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Amanda Nunes
1 Holly Holm +1
2 Julianna Pena +1
3 Raquel Pennington +1
4 Germaine de Randamie +1
5 Ketlen Vieira +1
6 Cat Zingano +1
7 Sara McMann +1
8 Ronda Rousey +1
9 Marion Reneau +1
10 Leslie Smith +1
11 Bethe Correia +1
12 Aspen Ladd +1
13 Sarah Moras +1
14 Irene Aldana +1
15 Ashlee Evans-Smith *NR
