UFC rankings update: Kamaru Usman surges up at welterweight, heavyweight division sees big changes

The official UFC rankings have been updated in the wake of last weekend’s TUF 28 Finale and UFC Adelaide cards.

The biggest changes in these new UFC rankings occurred in the welterweight and heavyweight divisions.

At welterweight, streaking contender Kamaru Usman surged up to the number-two spot on the strength of his unanimous decision defeat of former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos.

In the heavyweight division, Justin Willis climbed up a whopping six spots for his defeat of Mark Hunt, who has left the rankings as the result of his departure from the UFC, making room for previously unranked former WSOF champ Blagoy Ivanov.

Interestingly neither Junior dos Santos nor his vanquished foe Tai Tuivasa moved in the UFC rankings after their UFC Adelaide battle.

Without further ado, here are the latest UFC rankings (h/t MMA Mania)

Note:
+/- = movement in rankings
*NR = Not previously ranked

POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Daniel Cormier
2 Khabib Nurmagomedov
3 Jon Jones
4 TJ Dillashaw
5 Max Holloway
6 Georges St-Pierre
7 Tyron Woodley
8 Conor McGregor
9 Stipe Miocic
10 Henry Cejudo
11 Cris Cyborg
12 Robert Whittaker
13 Tony Ferguson
14 Amanda Nunes
15 Rose Namajunas

FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Henry Cejudo
1 Jussier Formiga
2 Sergio Pettis
3 Joseph Benavidez
4 Ray Borg
5 Deiveson Figueiredo
6 John Moraga
7 Wilson Reis +1
8 Dustin Ortiz -1
9 Alexandre Pantoja
10 Ben Nguyen +1
11 Alex Perez +1
12 Tim Elliott -1
13 Magomed Bibulatov
14 Said Nurmagomedov
15 Ryan Benoit

BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: TJ Dillashaw
1 Cody Garbrandt
2 Dominick Cruz
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 Marlon Moraes
5 Jimmie Rivera
6 John Lineker
7 Aljamain Sterling
8 John Dodson
9 Pedro Munhoz
10 Cody Stamann
11 Rob Font
12 Alejandro Perez
13 Thomas Almeida
14 Douglas Silva De Andrade +1
15 Rani Yahya *NR

FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Max Holloway
1 Brian Ortega
2 Jose Aldo
3 Frankie Edgar
4 Renato Moicano
5 Chad Mendes
6 Jeremy Stephens
7 Cub Swanson
8 Mirsad Bektic
9 Josh Emmett
10 Alexander Volkanovski
11 Ricardo Lamas
12 Yair Rodriguez
13 Chan Sung Jung
14 Zabit Magomedsharipov
15 Darren Elkins

LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Khabib Numragomedov
1 Tony Ferguson
2 Conor McGregor
3 Dustin Poirier
4 Kevin Lee
5 Edson Barboza
6 Justin Gaethje
7 Anthony Pettis
8 Al Iaquinta
9 Nate Diaz
10 Michael Chiesa
11 James Vick
12 Alexander Hernandez
13 Francisco Trinaldo
14 Dan Hooker
15 Paul Felder

WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Tyron Woodley
1 Colby Covington
2 Kamaru Usman +3
3 Darren Till -1
4 Stephen Thompson
5 Rafael Dos Anjos -2
6 Robbie Lawler
7 Santiago Ponzinibbio
8 Demian Maia
9 Jorge Masvidal
10 Leon Edwards
11 Neil Magny
12 Donald Cerrone
13 Alex Oliveira
14 Gunnar Nelson
15 Elizeu Dos Santos

MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Robert Whittaker
1 Yoel Romero
2 Luke Rockhold
3 Ronaldo Souza
4 Kelvin Gastelum
5 Chris Weidman
6 Israel Adesanya
7 Paulo Costa
8 Derek Brunson
9 Jared Cannonier
10 Brad Tavares
11 David Branch
12 Antonio Carlos Junior
13 Uriah Hall
14 Elias Theodorou
15 Thiago Santos

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Jon Jones
2 Alexander Gustafsson
3 Anthony Smith
4 Jan Blachowicz
5 Ilir Latifi
6 Volkan Oezdemir
7 Jimi Manuwa
7 Dominick Reyes +1
9 Corey Anderson
10 Ovince Saint Preux
11 Glover Teixeira
12 Mauricio Rua +1
13 Misha Cirkunov -1
14 Nikita Krylov +1
15 Patrick Cummins *NR

HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Stipe Miocic
2 Derrick Lewis
3 Francis Ngannou
4 Curtis Blaydes
5 Alexander Volkov
6 Alistair Overeem
7 Junior Dos Santos
8 Aleksei Oleinik
9 Justin Willis +6
10 Marcin Tybura -1
11 Tai Tuivasa
12 Shamil Abdurakhimov
13 Andrei Arlovski
14 Stefan Struve
15 Blagoy Ivanov *NR

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Rose Namajunas
1 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
2 Jessica Andrade
3 Claudia Gadelha
4 Tatiana Suarez
5 Karolina Kowalkiewicz
6 Tecia Torres
7 Michelle Waterson
8 Carla Esparza
9 Felice Herrig
10 Cortney Casey
11 Nina Ansaroff
12 Cynthia Calvillo
13 Alexa Grasso
14 Randa Markos
15 Mackenzie Dern

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Vacant
1 Valentina Shevchenko
2 Nicco Montano
3 Katlyn Chookagian
4 Sijara Eubanks
5 Alexis Davis
6 Liz Carmouche
7 Roxanne Modafferi
7 Lauren Murphy
9 Jessica Eye
10 Jessica-Rose Clark
11 Ashlee Evans-Smith
12 Joanne Calderwood
13 Mara Romero Borella
14 Jennifer Maia
15 Andrea Lee

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Amanda Nunes
1 Germaine De Randamie
2 Holly Holm
3 Ketlen Vieira
4 Julianna Peña
5 Raquel Pennington
6 Cat Zingano
7 Marion Reneau
8 Aspen Ladd
9 Sara McMann
10 Yana Kunitskaya
11 Irene Aldana
12 Bethe Correia
13 Tonya Evinger
14 Lucie Pudilova
15 Lina Lansberg

What do you think of these updated UFC rankings?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 12/3/2018.