UFC rankings update: Max Holloway rockets up the pound-for-pound list

Last weekend, in the main event of UFC 212, interim UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway stepped onto the canvas with undisputed featherweight champion Jose Aldo in a compelling featherweight title unification fight. As many expected, it was an interesting battle from the opening bell.

The fight began with Aldo efficiently navigating his Hawaiian foe’s substantial reach advantage, blasting into range to land crackling, multi-punch combos on the interim champion. This trend continued until the end of the second round. In the third, however, Aldo began to fade abruptly while Holloway simultaneously cranked up the offense. Before the third round ended, Holloway was being peeled off of his legendary foe by the referee, signalling a career-changing title win.

Now the UFC’s undisputed UFC featherweight king, and riding high on an eleven-fight win-streak, Holloway is one of the most talked about fighters in MMA. According to the official UFC rankings, he’s also one of the top-five pound-for-pound fighters on the planet.

Now several days from Holloway’s incredible UFC 212 win, the promotion has updated its official ranking. The most significant change in these updated rankings  is that Holloway has catapulted from the number-10 spot on the pound-for-pound list to number five.

Here are the updated UFC Rankings in the wake of UFC 212:

POUND-FOR-POUND

1 Demetrious Johnson
2 Conor McGregor
3 Daniel Cormier
4 Stipe Miocic
5 Max Holloway
6 Cody Garbrandt
7 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
8 Dominick Cruz
9 Tyron Woodley
10 Jose Aldo
11 Michael Bisping
12 Amanda Nunes
13 TJ Dillashaw
14 Khabib Nurmagomedov
15 Frankie Edgar

FLYWEIGHT

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

BANTAMWEIGHT

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

FEATHERWEIGHT

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

LIGHTWEIGHT

Champion : Conor McGregor
1 Khabib Nurmagomedov
2 Tony Ferguson
3 Eddie Alvarez
4 Edson Barboza
5 Rafael Dos Anjos
6 Michael Johnson
7 Michael Chiesa
8 Nate Diaz
9 Dustin Poirier
10 Beneil Dariush
11 Al Iaquinta
12 Kevin Lee
13 Evan Dunham
14 Gilbert Melendez
15 Francisco Trinaldo

WELTERWEIGHT

Champion : Tyron Woodley
1 Demian Maia
2 Stephen Thompson
3 Robbie Lawler
4 Jorge Masvidal
5 Neil Magny
6 Carlos Condit
7 Dong Hyun Kim
8 Donald Cerrone
9 Gunnar Nelson
10 Kamaru Usman
11 Tarec Saffiedine
12 Ryan LaFlare
13 Santiago Ponzinibbio
14 Leon Edwards
15 Matt Brown

MIDDLEWEIGHT

Champion : Michael Bisping
1 Yoel Romero
2 Luke Rockhold
3 Robert Whittaker
4 Gegard Mousasi
5 Jacare Souza
6 Chris Weidman
7 Anderson Silva
8 Derek Brunson
9 David Branch
10 Krzysztof Jotko
11 Vitor Belfort
12 Thales Leites
13 Uriah Hall
14 Sam Alvey
15 Daniel Kelly

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT

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

HEAVYWEIGHT

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

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 Joanne Calderwood
8 Carla Esparza
9 Randa Markos
10 Maryna Moroz
11 Cortney Casey
12 Paige VanZant
13 Felice Herrig
14 Cynthia Calvillo
15 Jessica Aguilar

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT

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

Are you surprised to see Max Holloway so high up the pound-for-pound list?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 6/8/2017.