Updated UFC rankings reflect chaos at light heavyweight

By Tom Taylor - September 14, 2017

Earlier this week, we learned that Jon Jones’ B sample confirmed that he had indeed ingested the banned substance Turinabol in advance of his UFC 214 light heavyweight title fight with Daniel Cormier. Yesterday, the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) overturned Jones’ UFC 214 knockout win over Daniel Cormier, rendering it a no contest. With this development, the UFC moved to strip Jones of the light heavyweight title, and reinstate Cormier as the champion.

Daniel Cormier

Needless to say, things have been crazy. The latest UFC rankings, updated Wednesday, reflect this craziness, as Jones has been ejected from both the light heavyweight and pound-for-pound rankings. Cormier, meanwhile, has been elevated to a bizarre “0” ranking at light heavyweight, reflecting that fact that’s he’s no longer simply the number-one-contender, but apparently not the champion either…

Here are the official UFC rankings, updated on Wednesday, in the wake of Jon Jones’ failed B sample (h/t MMAMania.com).

POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Demetrious Johnson 
2 Conor McGregor 
3 Stipe Miocic +1
4 Max Holloway +1
5 Cody Garbrandt +1
6 Daniel Cormier +1
7 Joanna Jedrzejczyk +1
8 Tyron Woodley +1
9 Dominick Cruz +1
10 Jose Aldo +2
11 Michael Bisping 
12 Cris Cyborg +1
13 Robert Whittaker +1
14 Amanda Nunes +1
15 TJ Dillashaw *NR

FLYWEIGHT
Champion : Demetrious Johnson
1 Joseph Benavidez 
2 Henry Cejudo 
3 Ray Borg 
4 Sergio Pettis 
5 Jussier Formiga +1
6 Wilson Reis -1
7 Brandon Moreno 
8 Ben Nguyen 
9 Tim Elliott 
10 John Moraga 
11 Dustin Ortiz 
12 Ian McCall 
13 Alexandre Pantoja 
14 Louis Smolka 
15 Magomed Bibulatov 

BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion : Cody Garbrandt
1 Dominick Cruz 
2 TJ Dillashaw 
3 Jimmie Rivera 
4 Raphael Assuncao 
5 John Lineker 
6 Bryan Caraway 
7 Aljamain Sterling 
8 John Dodson 
9 Thomas Almeida 
10 Marlon Moraes 
11 Eddie Wineland 
12 Pedro Munhoz 
13 Rob Font 
14 Matthew Lopez 
15 Johnny Eduardo

FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion : Max Holloway
1 Jose Aldo 
2 Frankie Edgar 
3 Ricardo Lamas 
4 Cub Swanson 
5 Chan Sung Jung 
6 Brian Ortega 
7 Yair Rodriguez 
8 Jeremy Stephens 
9 Darren Elkins 
10 Renato Moicano 
11 Dennis Bermudez 
12 Dooho Choi 
13 Mirsad Bektic 
14 Myles Jury 
15 Jason Knight 

LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion : Conor McGregor
1 Khabib Nurmagomedov 
2 Tony Ferguson 
3 Eddie Alvarez 
4 Edson Barboza 
5 Justin Gaethje 
6 Nate Diaz 
7 Kevin Lee 
8 Dustin Poirier 
9 Michael Johnson 
10 Michael Chiesa 
11 Al Iaquinta 
12 Beneil Dariush 
13 Anthony Pettis 
14 Evan Dunham +1
15 Mairbek Taisumov *NR

WELTERWEIGHT
Champion : Tyron Woodley
1 Robbie Lawler +1
1 Stephen Thompson 
3 Demian Maia 
4 Jorge Masvidal 
5 Rafael Dos Anjos +5
6 Donald Cerrone 
7 Carlos Condit -2
8 Colby Covington 
9 Santiago Ponzinibbio 
9 Neil Magny -3
11 Gunnar Nelson 
12 Dong Hyun Kim 
13 Kamaru Usman 
14 Alex Oliveira 
15 Tarec Saffiedine

MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion : Michael Bisping
1 Robert Whittaker (Interim Champion)
2 Yoel Romero 
3 Luke Rockhold 
4 Jacare Souza 
5 Chris Weidman 
6 Anderson Silva 
7 Derek Brunson 
8 Kelvin Gastelum 
9 David Branch 
10 Krzysztof Jotko 
11 Vitor Belfort 
12 Thales Leites 
13 Tim Boetsch 
14 Uriah Hall 
15 Thiago Santos 

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
0 Daniel Cormier +1
1 Alexander Gustafsson +1
2 Volkan Oezdemir +1
3 Glover Teixeira +1
4 Jimi Manuwa +1
5 Mauricio Rua +1
6 Ovince Saint Preux +1
7 Corey Anderson +1
8 Misha Cirkunov +1
9 Ilir Latifi +1
10 Rogerio Nogueira +1
11 Patrick Cummins +1
12 Gadzhimurad Antigulov +3
13 Gian Villante +1
14 Tyson Pedro -1

HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion : Stipe Miocic
1 Alistair Overeem 
2 Fabricio Werdum 
3 Cain Velasquez 
4 Francis Ngannou 
5 Mark Hunt 
6 Derrick Lewis 
7 Alexander Volkov 
8 Marcin Tybura 
9 Aleksei Oleinik 
10 Stefan Struve 
11 Andrei Arlovski 
12 Junior Albini 
13 Curtis Blaydes 
14 Travis Browne 
15 Tim Johnson

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion : Joanna Jedrzejczyk
1 Claudia Gadelha 
2 Karolina Kowalkiewicz 
3 Rose Namajunas 
4 Jessica Andrade 
5 Tecia Torres 
6 Michelle Waterson 
7 Cynthia Calvillo +1
8 Carla Esparza -1
9 Felice Herrig 
10 Paige VanZant 
11 Cortney Casey +1
11 Alexa Grasso +2
13 Joanne Calderwood -2
14 Randa Markos 
15 Maryna Moroz 

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion : Amanda Nunes
1 Valentina Shevchenko 
2 Holly Holm 
3 Julianna Pena 
4 Raquel Pennington +1
5 Ronda Rousey -1
6 Cat Zingano +1
7 Sara McMann -1
8 Germaine de Randamie 
9 Ketlen Vieira +4
10 Liz Carmouche -1
10 Alexis Davis 
12 Marion Reneau -1
13 Katlyn Chookagian -1
14 Bethe Correia 
15 Leslie Smith *NR

What do you think of these new rankings? Do you consider Jon Jones or Daniel Cormier the light heavyweight king?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 9/14/2017.


Topics:

Daniel Cormier Jon Jones