UFC Rankings Shakeup: Hunt And Shogun Get A Boost, Lawler Reclaims His Spot

There’s been quite the outcry over the validity of the UFC’s ‘official’ rankings system that is voted on by members of various media outlets. Last week a strange scenario unfolded where Rory MacDonald took the spot held by the man that just beat him, ‘Ruthless’ Robbie Lawler.

It looks like that’s been corrected for the time being as MacDonald dropped back down to number four. ‘Ares’ will have a chance to prove he deserves such a high ranking when he faces off with Demian Maia at UFC 170 in February.

In terms of fighters who actually fought at last weekend’s UFC Fight Night 33 in Brisbane, Australia, it was a good night.

Mark Hunt returned to the heavyweight top ten at number eight after his rousing five round affair with Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva ended in a draw. Hunt was fine with the outcome despite breaking his hand in two places in the bout. Hunt’s arrival in the rankings dropped Stipe Miocic one peg and kicked Roy Nelson out of the top ten altogether, which isn’t at all a surprise. For his efforts ‘Bigfoot’ remained at his lofty number four position.

Soon-to-be heavyweight title challenger Fabricio ‘Vai Cavalo’ Werdum moved up to number two after previous number two Daniel Cormier was announced to be moving down to light heavyweight to fight Rashad Evans in the main event of UFC 170.

Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua also got a much-needed boost after his impressive one-punch KO of Aussie James Te Huna at UFN 33. He left number nine spot to land at number six, jumping Dan Henderson, Chael Sonnen, and Gegard Mousasi.

The lower weight classes could experience a shakeup following this Saturday’s UFC on Fox 9 in Sacramento. The card features a flyweight title bout between champion Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson and current number one Joseph Benavidez, a pivotal bantamweight showdown between number two Urijah Faber and number three Michael McDonald, and a featherweight scrap between number one Chad Mendes and number eight Nik Lentz.

Here’s a full rundown of this week’s current rankings:

Pound-for-Pound

1. Jon Jones?

2. Georges St-Pierre?

3. Jose Aldo?

4. Anderson Silva??

5. Cain Velasquez?

6. Renan Barao??

7. Demetrious Johnson?

8. Anthony Pettis??

9. Chris Weidman??

10. Ben Henderson

Heavyweight

Champion: Cain Velasquez??

1. Junior dos Santos??

2. Fabricio Werdum +1?

3. Daniel Cormier -1?

4. Antonio Silva??

5. Travis Browne??

6. Josh Barnett??

7. Alistair Overeem??

8. Mark Hunt (not ranked) ??

9. Frank Mir -1??

10. Stipe Miocic -1

Light Heavyweight

Champion: Jon Jones??

1. Alexander Gustafsson??

2. Glover Teixeira??

3. Rashad Evans??

4. Phil Davis??

5. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira??

6. Mauricio Rua +3 ??

7. Dan Henderson -1 ??

8. Chael Sonnen -1 ??

9. Gegard Mousasi -1??

10. Lyoto Machida

Middleweight

Champion: Chris Weidman??

1. Anderson Silva??

2. Vitor Belfort??

3. Ronaldo Souza??

4. Lyoto Machida +1??

5. Michael Bisping -1??

6. Luke Rockhold??

7. Mark Munoz?

8. Francis Carmont??

9. Tim Kennedy +1 ??

10. Constantinos Philippou -1

Welterweight

Champion: Georges St-Pierre??

1. Johny Hendricks??

2. Carlos Condit??

3. Robbie Lawler +1?

4. Rory MacDonald -1??

5. Jake Ellenberger??

6. Demian Maia?

7. Jake Shields??

8. Martin Kampmann +1

9. Matt Brown -1?

10. Nick Diaz

Lightweight

Champion: Anthony Pettis??

1. Ben Henderson?

2. Gilbert Melendez??

3. T.J. Grant??

4. Josh Thomson??

5. Nate Diaz??

6. Rafael dos Anjos??

7. Khabib Nurmagomedov??

8. Donald Cerrone +1??

9. Gray Maynard -1??

10. Jim Miller

Featherweight

Champion: Jose Aldo?

1. Chad Mendes??

2. Ricardo Lamas??

3. Frankie Edgar??

4. Cub Swanson??

5. Chan Sung Jung??

6. Dustin Poirier?

7. Dennis Siver?

8. Nik Lentz?

9. Clay Guida??

10. Darren Elkins

Bantamweight

Champion: Dominick Cruz??

1. Renan Barao (Interim Champion)??

2. Urijah Faber??

3. Michael McDonald??

4. Raphael Assuncao +1 ?

5. Eddie Wineland -1??

6. Brad Pickett??

7. Scott Jorgensen??

8. T.J. Dillashaw?

9. Mike Easton??

10. Takeya Mizugaki??

Flyweight

Champion: Demetrious Johnson??

1. Joseph Benavidez??

2. John Dodson?

3. Ian McCall??

4. John Moraga?

5. John Lineker??

6. Jussier Formiga?

7. Chris Cariaso??

8. Tim Elliott +1??

9. Ali Bagautinov -1??

10. Louis Gaudinot

Women’s Bantamweight

Champion: Ronda Rousey??

1. Cat Zingano?

2. Miesha Tate?

3. Alexis Davis??

4. Sara McMann?

5. Sarah Kaufman?

6. Liz Carmouche??

7. Jessica Eye??

8. Amanda Nunes?

9. Jessica Andrade?

10. Germaine de Randamie

Photo Credit: Bruce Fedyck for USA TODAY Sports