The newest version of the official UFC rankings feature a lot of movement. Some of it is as a result of UFC Fight Night 33, some one it is to correct injustices, and there are also some moves that seem to have come out of nowhere. In other words, welcome back to the wacky world of rankings.
You can check out the full rankings here, and use the dropdown menu to see the individual picks of the five BE contributors (myself, T.P. Grant, Chris Hall, Fraser Coffeen, and Stephie Daniels).
We'll start with the divisions affected by UFC Fight Night 33. Shogun Rua's big win over James Te Huna sent him well up in the light heavyweight rankings, from the number nine contender's spot all the way to six. As a result, Dan Henderson, Chael Sonnen, and Gegard Mousasi all fell one spot each to seven, eight, and nine respectively. And in the heavyweight division, Mark Hunt re-entered the rankings in the nine spot after his draw with Antonio Silva. Silva stayed in the four spot. Hunt's re-entry sent Stipe Miocic down a spot to 10, while Roy Nelson was bumped off the list.
As a result of his move to light heavyweight, Daniel Cormier has started his descent down the heavyweight ladder. It's slow-going at first though - he dropped just one spot to number three, giving Fabricio Werdum the number two spot. Also, for reasons unknown, UFC 168 opponents Josh Barnett and Travis Browne flip-flopped the five and six spots.
One of the more obvious disgraces in ranking history has quickly been recified, as Robbie Lawler has moved back into the third spot at welterweight ahead of Rory MacDonald, the guy he just beat.
In one of the more humorous errors I've seen on the rankings, Scott Jorgensen is tied at number seven on the bantamweight rankings with...Scott Jorgensen. Yeah. I think that's supposed to be UFN 33 winner Takeya Mizugaki, but I'm not sure. Jorgensen's move up to the seven spot (?) sent T.J. Dillashaw and Mike Easton down a spot. Also for no apparent reason, Raphael Assuncao and Eddie Wineland flip-flopped the four and five spots.
Here's a rundown of the other changes:
- Ali Bagautinov and Tim Elliott both moved past Chris Cariaso at flyweight into the seven and eight spots.
- Khabib Nurmagomedov and Rafael dos Anjos flip-flopped the six and seven spots at lightweight.
- Martin Kampmann moved up to number seven at welterweight, bumping Jake Shields down to number eight.
- Lyoto Machida moved up to number four at middleweight, dropping Michael Bisping to number five. Also, Tim Kennedy moved up to number nine, which dropped Costa Philippou to 10.
- Jessica Eye moved back ahead of Liz Carmouche for the six spot in the women's 135-pound division.