UFC fighter rankings: Major changes after TUF Finale and UFC 213

The TUF 25 Finale introduced fans to a new lightweight contender. UFC 213 gave us a new (interim) middleweight champion, a heavyweight re-asserting himself as a top contender, and much more. While the women’s bantamweight title fight between Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko was unfortunately shelved at the last minute, a lot still happened. And it caused quite a ripple in the UFC rankings, with only one division seeing no changes from last week.

So without further ado, let’s get to it.

P4P – Welterweight champion Tyron Woodley moved up a spot from eight to seven, flip-flopping with Dominick Cruz. Michael Bisping re-entered the top 10, bumping Jose Aldo to 11. New champ Robert Whittaker enters the list at 13, dropping T.J. Dillashaw and Khabib Nurmagomedov to 14 and 15 respectively.

Heavyweight – Alistair Overeem’s close win over Fabricio Werdum pushed him back to the number-one contender spot. Werdum dropped to two, while Cain Velasquez dropped one to three. Travis Browne’s fourth straight loss sent him plummeting five spots from nine to fourteen. Stefan Struve took over the nine spot, rising one. Marcin Tybura moves up one to enter the top ten. And the man that vanquished Browne, Aleksei Oleinik, moved up three spots from 14 to 11. Curtis Blaydes moved up one to 15 after his UFC 213 win.

Light Heavyweight – Gadzhimurad Antigulov moved up one spot to 14. Jared Cannonierentered the list at 15.

Middleweight – Only one fighter didn’t change his ranking on the entire list. The new champion and the loss of Gegard Mousasi to Bellator flipped everything upside down. Whittaker is now the interim champ of course, moving up two spots to what would normally be the number one contender spot. Yoel Romero, the man Whittaker defeated, dropped one spot to two. Luke Rockhold dropped one to three. Mousasi was in the four spot, so the next eight fighters all moved up one spot. That would be Ronaldo Souza, Chris Weidman, Anderson Silva, Derek Brunson, David Branch, Krzysztof Jotko, Vitor Belfort, and Thales Leites. Tim Boetschmoved up two spots to 12. Thiago Santos entered the rankings at 15, with Brad Tavares re-entering at 15.

Welterweight – No changes.

Lightweight – Nate Diaz moved up one spot to five. Justin Gaethje, who stopped Michael Johnson in a fight of the year contender at the TUF Finale, enters the rankings at number six. Johnson dropped four spots from five to nine. Michael Chiesa, Al Iaquinta, and Beneil Dariushdropped one spot each to 10, 11, and 12 respectively. Former champ Anthony Pettis re-enters the list at 13 with his win over Jim Miller. Evan Dunham dropped two spots to 14. And the soon-to-be-featherweight Gilbert Melendez dropped two spots to 15.

Featherweight – The removal of Pettis from the featherweight rankings meant that a lot of fighters moved up. Yair Rodriguez, Jeremy Stephens, and Brian Ortega are all up a spot to 6, 7, and 8 respectively. Renato Moicano is up two to 9. Darren Elkins, Doo Ho Choi, Mirsad Bektic, and Renan Barao moved up one spot to 10-14 respectively. And Jason Knight entered the rankings at 15.

Bantamweight – Eddie Wineland moved up one spot to 11, with Pedro Munhoz dropping one to 12. Rob Font’s nice UFC 213 win earned him a bump from 15 to 13. Matthew Lopez and Johnny Eduardo both dropped a spot to 14 and 15.

Flyweight – John Moraga fell from a tie for 9 into having the 10 spot on his own.

Women’s Bantamweight – Alexis Davis moved into a tie for eight with Liz Carmouche. Bethe Correia moved into a tie with Katlyn Chookagian for 13.

Women’s Strawweight – Cortney Casey moved up one spot to 12, dropping Maryna Moroz to 13.