UFC Rankings Report: Movement in 4 Divisions

The new UFC rankings were released last night. The biggest movement in the rankings occurred in the flyweight, lightweight, and middleweight divisions. We break down the most significant movement in the rankings below.

Lightweight Rankings

MMA’s most ridiculous division saw some movement this week. Dustin Poirier’s exciting victory over Justin Gaethje sees him move up one spot to #4 while his opponent dips one spot down to #7. This part of the rankings will likely be all muddied up again this weekend as #5 Edson Barboza takes on #6 Kevin Lee.

Lightweight Champion: Khabib Nurmagomedov

1. Conor McGregor
2. Tony Ferguson
3. Eddie Alvarez
4. Dustin Poirier (+1)
5. Edson Barboza (-1)
6. Kevin Lee (+1)
7. Justin Gaethje (-1)
8. Nate Diaz
9. Michael Chiesa
10. Al Iaquinta
11. James Vick
12. Anthony Pettis
13. Alexander Hernandez
14. Paul Felder
15. Olivier Aubin-Mercier

Middleweight Rankings

Brad Tavares rattled off his 4th straight win on Saturday. The performance was good enough to launch him up 5 spots in the rankings into a tie for 10th with Uriah Hall.

Tavares TKO’ed Krzysztof Jotko in the 3rd round on Saturday. In his 3 previous bouts, Tavares defeated Thales Leites, Elias Theodorou, and Caio Magalhaes. His last loss was a 1st round TKO loss to the division’s champion, Robert Whitaker.

Middleweight Champion: Robert Whittaker

1. Yoel Romero
2. Jacare Souza
3. Luke Rockhold
4. Chris Weidman
5. Kelvin Gastelum
6. Michael Bisping
7. Derek Brunson
8. David Branch
9. Vitor Belfort
10. Uriah Hall (tied)
11. Brad Tavares (tied) (+5)
12. Thiago Santos (-1)
13. Lyoto Machida (-1)
14. Paulo Costa
15. Antonio Carlos Junior (NR)

Flyweight Rankings

Flyweight, #6 John Moraga, moved up 4 spots in the rankings this week. He defeated Wilson Reis on Saturday. It was the 3rd win in a row for Moraga, who was fighting in front of his home state fans with his MMA Lab teammates in attendance.

Moraga now sits one spot behind Sergio Pettis, who he dropped a decision to in January of 2017. His previous fight before that was a split-decision loss to #11 ranked, Matheus Nicolau. The 25-year-old Brazilian is 3-0 in the UFC including his victory over Moraga. Nicolau moved past Alexandre Pantoja in the rankings this week, possibly because his victory over Moraga now carries more weight since Moraga defeated Reis.

Flyweight Champion: Demetrious Johnson

1. Joseph Benavidez
2. Henry Cejudo
3. Ray Borg
4. Jussier Formiga
5. Sergio Pettis
6. John Moraga (+4)
7. Brandon Moreno
8. Wilson Reis (-2)
9. Ben Nguyen (-1)
10. Dustin Ortiz (-1)
11. Matheus Nicolau (+1)
12. Alexandre Pantoja (-1)
13. Tim Elliott
14. Deiveson Figueiredo
15. Mogomed Bibulatov

Welterweight Rankings

Just one fight impacted the welterweight rankings over the weekend. Alex Oliveira’s submission victory over Carlos Condit in Glendale sends him back into the UFC rankings. He now sits at #13 while Condit falls out of the rankings. Gunnar Nelson moves up one spot due to Condit falling off the board.

Welterweight Champion: Tyron Woodley

1. Stephen Thompson
2. Rafael Dos Anjos
3. Colby Covington
4. Robbie Lawler
5. Demian Maia
6. Jorge Masvidal
7. Kamaru Usman
8. Darren Till
9. Neil Magny
10. Santiago Ponzinibbio
11. Donald Cerrone
12. Gunnar Nelson (+1)
13. Alex Oliveira (NR)
14. Leon Edwards
15. Dong Hyun Kim