Now that the Mayweather vs McGregor boxing dream match has taken place, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is ready to kick things back into high gear, so there’s no better time than now to update the rankings, which haven’t been changed since July. MMAOddsBreaker’s Brian Hemminger (@BrianHemminger) has taken over the reigns of the rankings, which are updated after nearly every UFC event.
As always, we only show changes in the rankings with this update. To access the full MMAOddsBreaker rankings, click here. Disagree? Feel free to give us your take on our rankings either in the comment section here or on Twitter!
Heavyweight
1. Stipe Miocic
2. Cain Velasquez
3. Alistair Overeem
4. Fabricio Werdum
5. Francis Ngannou
6. Junior dos Santos
7. Ben Rothwell
8. Mark Hunt
9. Derrick Lewis
10. Stefan Struve
11. Marcin Tybura
12. Curtis Blaydes
13. Alexander Volkov
14. Vitaly Minakov
15. Junior Albini (NR)
Junior Albini makes his top 15 debut after a successful UFC debut where he knocked out Timothy Johnson in the first round. Albini is a bit of an unknown, but heavyweight is so thin right now that he deserves a top 15 ranking regardless. Here’s hoping some new contenders can pop up over the next few months and add some depth to the division.
Welterweight
1. Tyron Woodley
2. Demian Maia
3. Stephen Thompson
4. Robbie Lawler
5. Rory MacDonald
6. Ben Askren
7. Jorge Masvidal
8. Carlos Condit
9. Donald Cerrone
10. Kamaru Usman (+1)
11. Colby Covington (+1)
12. Santiago Ponzinibbio (NR)
13. Gunnar Nelson (-3)
14. Neil Magny (-1)
15. Douglas Lima
It was a while ago, but Santiago Ponzinibbio looked great with his destruction of Gunnar Nelson. It was Nelson’s second headlining bout and the second time he’s been defeated inside the Octagon. Nelson has talent, but perhaps he’s just not ready to main event shows. Ponzinibbio could become a contender if he can stuff some takedowns and his chin holds up against some of the other strikers in the division.
Featherweight
1. Max Holloway
2. Frankie Edgar
3. Jose Aldo
4. Chad Mendes
5. Cub Swanson
6. Ricardo Lamas
7. Yair Rodriguez
8. Chan Sung Jung
9. Darren Elkins
10. Mirsad Bektic
11. Dennis Bermudez
12. Myles Jury
13. Patricio Pitbull (+2)
14. Brian Ortega (NR)
15. Renato Moicano (-1)
Brian Ortega hasn’t honestly been that impressive, but I have to give credit where it’s due. He loses the first two rounds and then comes back and gets third round finishes. I don’t know if his run is sustainable, but he deserves to be ranked at this point. He takes the place of Jason Knight, who was exposed by Ricardo Lamas in a violent beatdown.
Flyweight
1. Demetrious Johnson
2. Joseph Benavidez
3. Kyoji Horiguchi
4. Henry Cejudo
5. Ray Borg
6. Wilson Reis
7. Sergio Pettis (+7)
8. Ben Nguyen
9. Jussier Formiga (-2)
10. Tim Elliott (-1)
11. Ulka Sasaki (-1)
12. Justin Scoggins (-1)
13. Brandon Moreno
14. Ali Bagautinov (-2)
15. Dustin Ortiz (NR)
Brandon Moreno started strong against Sergio Pettis, earning a 10-8 round with dominant position on the ground, but Pettis’ technique and conditioning were too much for him as he was able to pull away as the fight wore on. Pettis looks like a legitimate contender at the top of the division so he makes the biggest jump in this entire rankings update. I won’t punish Moreno for losing because he still has several quality wins, but he’ll need to shore up some of his technique if he wants to contend down the line. Dustin Ortiz also returns to the top 15 after his impressive knockout of Hector Sandoval, the fasted finish in UFC flyweight history at just 15 seconds.
Women’s Strawweight
1. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
2. Claudia Gadelha
3. Jessica Andrade
4. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
5. Rose Namajunas
6. Tecia Torres
7. Carla Esparza (+1)
8. Cynthia Calvillo (+4)
9. Michelle Waterson
10. Alexa Grasso (NR)
11. Cortney Casey (+2)
12. Randa Markos (-5)
13. Juliana Lima (-2)
14. Joanne Calderwood (-4)
15. Maryna Moroz (-1)
Cynthia Calvillo looks like a legitimate up-and-coming contender after she easily passed the test of Joanne Calderwood in Scotland, no less. Alexa Grasso also returns to the rankings after her decision victory over Randa Markos. Grasso didn’t look amazing, but Markos was coming off a victory over former champ Carla Esparza, so this was definitely a quality win for her. Grasso still needs to become more of a threat with her striking, but she’s taking some nice steps.
