UFC rankings update: Big changes at light heavyweight, flyweight looks rough

The official UFC rankings have been updated in the wake of Saturday’s action-packed UFC Stockholm card, and as expected, there have been some big changes, particularly in the light heavyweight division.

Anthony Smith, who defeated Alexander Gustafsson in the card’s main event, has cruised up to the division’s No. 3 spot, behind only Thiago Santos and Daniel Cormier. Aleksandar Rakic, meanwhile, has rocketed into the rankings, settling at No. 11 on the strength of his decapitation of Jimi Manuwa.

Interestingly, Gustafsson and Manuwa are both still featured in the rankings, despite the fact that both retired after their losses in Stockholm.

Outside of these shakeups at light heavyweight, the biggest thing to note in these latest UFC rankings is probably the destitute state of the flyweight division. Once packed with elite talent, the UFC flyweight division now seems to be populated by more tumbleweeds than actual fighters.

See the latest UFC rankings below (h/t MMA Mania):

Official UFC Rankings:

POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Daniel Cormier
2 Jon Jones
3 Khabib Nurmagomedov
4 Henry Cejudo
5 Max Holloway
6 Amanda Nunes
7 Kamaru Usman
8 Dustin Poirier
9 Conor McGregor
10 Robert Whittaker
11 Stipe Miocic
12 Tony Ferguson
13 Tyron Woodley
14 Valentina Shevchenko
15 Jessica Andrade

FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Henry Cejudo
1 Jussier Formiga
2 Joseph Benavidez
3 Alexandre Pantoja
4 Deiveson Figueiredo
5 Tim Elliott
6 Rogerio Bontorin
7 Ryan Benoit
8 Jordan Espinosa
9 Kai Kara France
10 Alex Perez +1
11 Raulian Paiva +1
12 Matt Schnell +1
13 VACANT
14 VACANT
15 VACANT

BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: VACANT
1 Marlon Moraes
2 Raphael Assuncao
3 Aljamain Sterling
4 Pedro Munhoz
5 Dominick Cruz
6 Cody Garbrandt
7 Jimmie Rivera
8 Corey Sandhagen
9 Petr Yan
10 John Lineker
11 Cody Stamann
12 Rob Font
13 John Dodson
14 Alejandro Perez
15 Thomas Almeida

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

LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Khabib Nurmagomedov
1 Dustin Poirier (Interim Champion)
2 Tony Ferguson
3 Conor McGregor
4 Donald Cerrone
5 Justin Gaethje
6 Al Iaquinta
7 Edson Barboza
8 Anthony Pettis
9 Kevin Lee
10 Paul Felder
11 Charles Oliveira
12 Gregor Gillespie
13 Alexander Hernandez
14 Islam Makhachev
15 James Vick

WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Kamaru Usman
1 Tyron Woodley
2 Colby Covington
3 Rafael Dos Anjos
4 Jorge Masvidal
5 Ben Askren
6 Darren Till
7 Stephen Thompson
8 Anthony Pettis
9 Santiago Ponzinibbio
10 Robbie Lawler
11 Leon Edwards
12 Demian Maia
13 Neil Magny
14 Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
15 Vincente Luque

MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Robert Whittaker
1 Israel Adesanya (Interim Champion)
2 Yoel Romero
3 Luke Rockhold
4 Kelvin Gastelum
5 Jack Hermansson
6 Ronaldo Souza
7 Chris Weidman
8 Paulo Costa
9 Derek Brunson
10 Jared Cannonier
11 Ian Heinisch
12 Brad Tavares
13 Antonio Carlos Junior
14 Uriah Hall
15 David Branch *NR

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Jon Jones
1 Daniel Cormier
2 Thiago Santos +1
3 Anthony Smith +1
4 Alexander Gustafsson -2
5 Dominick Reyes
6 Jan Blachowicz
7 Volkan Oezdemir
8 Corey Anderson
9 Ilir Latifi
10 Glover Teixeira
11 Aleksandar Rakic *NR
12 Johnny Walker
13 Mauricio Rua
14 Jimi Manuwa -3
15 Misha Cirkunov -1

HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Stipe Miocic
2 Francis Ngannou
3 Junior Dos Santos
4 Curtis Blaydes
5 Derrick Lewis
6 (T) Alexander Volkov
6 (T) Alistair Overeem
8 Cain Velasquez
9 Aleksei Oleinik
10 Shamil Abdurakhimov
11 Tai Tuivasa
12 Marcin Tybura
13 Blagoy Ivanov
14 Walt Harris
15 Augusto Sakai

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

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Valentina Shevchenko
1 Jessica Eye
2 Katlyn Chookagian
3 Liz Carmouche
4 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
5 Roxanne Modafferi
6 Joanne Calderwood
7 Alexis Davis
8 (T) Lauren Murphy
8 (T) Jennifer Maia
10 Andrea Lee
11 Montana De La Rosa
12 Mara Romero Borella
13 Maycee Barber
14 Paige VanZant
15 Poliana Botelho

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

What do you think of these latest UFC rankings?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 6/5/2019.