Conor McGregor re-enters UFC pound for pound rankings following Khabib Nurmagomedov’s official retirement

UFC superstar Conor McGregor has re-entered the UFC pound-for-pound rankings following Khabib Nurmagomedov making his retirement official.

The former UFC lightweight champion Nurmagomedov announced last week that he was stepping away from the Octagon for good, six months after first suggesting he would retire following his win over Justin Gaethje at UFC 254. With Nurmagomedov stepping away from MMA, he not only vacated the UFC lightweight title but also his spot atop the UFC pound-for-pound rankings. And with an open spot in the top-15 now that Nurmagomedov is out, McGregor — his longtime rival in the sport — is coincidentally the fighter who replaced him. Take a look at the latest UFC pound-for-pound rankings (via Jed I. Goodman).

Updated #UFC Pound-For-Pound Rankings.
Khabib out. Conor in. pic.twitter.com/9G4KwoHmFN

— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) March 23, 2021

With Nurmagomedov out of the top-15 rankings, the current P4P rankings include Jones in the first spot, followed by Kamaru Usman, Stipe Miocic, Alexander Volkanovski, and Israel Adesanya round out the top-five of the P4P list. Filling out the rest of the top-10 include Dustin Poirier, Jan Blachowicz, Max Holloway, Deiveson Figueiredo, and Justin Gaethje. The rest of the top-15 includes Robert Whittaker, Petr Yan, Francis Ngannou, Aljamain Sterling, and then rounding out the bottom of the rankings is the UFC superstar himself, McGregor.

Some might be surprised that it was McGregor who re-entered the rankings. After all, his only win since he beat Eddie Alvarez in November 2016 is a first-round TKO win over Donald Cerrone at UFC 247 in January 2020. Other than the Cerrone fight, McGregor hasn’t got his hand raised since 2016. He was the 16th ranked P4P fighter according to the media who rank the fighters, so he stepped into No. 15 in the UFC rankings once Nurmagomedov vacated his belt and decided to step away from the UFC for good.

What do you think about Conor McGregor re-entering the pound-for-pound rankings after Khabib Nurmagomedov was removed?