UFC Moncton was nothing to write home from a relevance standpoint, though it did provide some good action. There was one shining star coming out of the event though, and that was the winner of the main event - Anthony Smith. After taking out the former number two contender in the 205-pound division, Smith was propelled way up in the rankings and is now a legitimate contender there.
The only other major changes came at flyweight and lightweight. The man that the 125-pound division was based around, Demetrious Johnson, is now out of the rankings since he’s been “traded” to ONE Championship. And Eddie Alvarez is as well due to his signing with the same organization.
Here’s a look at all of the changes this week.
Heavyweight - No changes.
Light Heavyweight - Smith is up eight huge spots to take over number two. The man he defeated, Volkan Oezdemir, dropped three spots to five. Jimi Manuwa, Dominick Reyes, Corey Anderson, and Glover Teixeira all dropped one spot each, to six through nine respectively. Tyson Pedro is up one to 14. Patrick Cummins, who lost to Misha Cirkunov at UFC Moncton, is down one to 15.
Middleweight - Thiago Santos is inexplicably up one to 14, even though he fights at 205 now. Krzysztof Jotko is down one to 15.
Welterweight - No changes.
Lightweight - Alvarez was at number four, but he’s out. This meant that nine fighters - Kevin Lee, Edson Barboza, Justin Gaethje, Anthony Pettis, Al Iaquinta, Nate Diaz, Michael Chiesa, James Vick, and Alexander Hernandez - all moved up one spot from four to twelve respectively. Francisco Trinaldo is up two to 13. Paul Felder enters the rankings at 15.
Featherweight - No changes.
Bantamweight - No changes.
Flyweight - With the removal of the number one contender, everyone just moved up a spot. Jussier Formiga is the new number one contender. Alex Perez entered the rankings at 15.
Women’s Bantamweight - Aspen Ladd fell from a tie for seven to take over eight on her own. Irene Aldana is up one to 11. Bethe Correia is down one to 12. Tonya Evinger is up two to 13. Lucie Pudilova and Lina Lansberg are down one each to 14 and 15.
Women’s Flyweight - No changes.
Women’s Strawweight - No changes.