Yoel Romero Removed From UFC Middleweight Rankings
It looks like Yoel Romero’s ‘potential’ USADA violation may have been confirmed, as ‘Soldier of God’ gets scratched from the official rankings…
After marking his territory as the next to face newly crowned UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold, Yoel Romero has come unstuck. He defeated Jacare Souza in a close split decision at UFC 194, it was revealed that ‘Soldier of God’ had potentially violated the USADA (United States Anti Doping Agency) policy, in layman’s terms he’d possibly failed a drug test. Rumours began to swirl about designer steroids being found in the former Olympic wrestlers system, but nothing was confirmed.
Today we learn that the UFC rankings have been updated, and not only has Dominick Cruz debuted on the pound-for-pound list, but Romero has been yanked from the rankings all together. The full and updated list is here for your viewing.
POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Jon Jones
2 Demetrious Johnson
3 Conor McGregor
4 Robbie Lawler +1
5 Fabricio Werdum +2
6 Rafael dos Anjos
7 Luke Rockhold +2
8 Jose Aldo -1
9 Dominick Cruz *NR
10 Daniel Cormier
11 Chris Weidman
12 TJ Dillashaw -8
13 Holly Holm +1
14 Joanna Jedrzejczyk -1
15 Cain Velasquez -3
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 Dustin Ortiz
10 Ali Bagautinov
11 Ray Borg
12 Wilson Reis
13 Louis Smolka
14 Chris Cariaso
15 Sergio Pettis
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Dominick Cruz
1 TJ Dillashaw -1
2 Renan Barao
3 Urijah Faber
4 Raphael Assuncao
5 Aljamain Sterling
6 Michael McDonald
7 Bryan Caraway +1
7 Thomas Almeida
9 Takeya Mizugaki
10 Johnny Eduardo
11 Frankie Saenz +2
12 John Lineker -1
13 Eddie Wineland -1
14 Iuri Alcantara +1
15 Francisco Rivera -1
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 +2
14 Clay Guida -1
15 Nik Lentz -1
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Rafael dos Anjos
1 Eddie Alvarez +3
2 Khabib Nurmagomedov
3 Anthony Pettis -2
4 Donald Cerrone -1
5 Tony Ferguson
6 Nate Diaz +1
7 Michael Johnson -1
8 Beneil Dariush
9 Edson Barboza -1
10 Al Iaquinta
11 Bobby Green
12 Dustin Poirier
13 Michael Chiesa
14 Evan Dunham +1
15 Benson Henderson -1
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Robbie Lawler
1 Rory MacDonald
2 Johny Hendricks +1
3 Tyron Woodley -1
4 Carlos Condit
5 Demian Maia
6 Matt Brown
7 Dong Hyun Kim
8 Stephen Thompson +1
8 Neil Magny
10 Rick Story +1
11 Tarec Saffiedine -1
12 Kelvin Gastelum
13 Benson Henderson
14 Thiago Alves
14 Gunnar Nelson +1
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Luke Rockhold
1 Chris Weidman
2 Jacare Souza +1
3 Vitor Belfort +1
4 Lyoto Machida +1
5 Tim Kennedy +1
6 Michael Bisping +1
7 Robert Whittaker +1
8 Gegard Mousasi +1
9 Thales Leites +1
10 Uriah Hall +1
11 Derek Brunson +1
12 Dan Henderson +1
13 Roan Carneiro +1
14 CB Dollaway +1
15 Rafael Natal *NR
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Jon Jones
2 Anthony Johnson
3 Alexander Gustafsson
4 Ryan Bader
5 Glover Teixeira
6 Ovince Saint Preux
7 Rashad Evans
8 Mauricio Rua
9 Jimi Manuwa
10 Patrick Cummins +2
11 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
12 Corey Anderson +1
13 Rafael Cavalcante +1
14 Gian Villante +1
15 Ilir Latifi *NR
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Fabricio Werdum
1 Cain Velasquez
2 Stipe Miocic
3 Alistair Overeem
4 Andrei Arlovski -1
5 Junior Dos Santos
6 Travis Browne
7 Ben Rothwell
8 Josh Barnett
9 Mark Hunt
10 Frank Mir
11 Roy Nelson
12 Jared Rosholt
13 Antonio Silva
14 Matt Mitrione
15 Alexey Oliynyk
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