Pound For Pound Rankings
Jones is one of the greatest fighters of all time, and though he was pushed to the limit by Dominick Reyes, he retained his belt and now returns to the top of MMA Junkie’s pound-for-pound rankings.
If you had ‘global pandemic’ on your ‘Why Khabib vs. Tony Ferguson will be canceled for a fifth time’ bingo card, congratulations.
Cejudo insists he’s walking away from the sport despite serving as a reigning UFC champion, though we’ll give him a little cooling off period before we formally pull him from the rankings.
Cormier admits he shied from the gameplan at UFC 241, and it cost him dearly in a loss to Stipe Miocic. Now, at age 41, Cormier has decided to give it one more go against Miocic before calling it a career.
After fulfilling his dream of adding a global belt to his collection of championships, ‘Mighty Mouse’ now looks to add ONE’s flyweight belt to the grand prix title he already earned.
Adesanya got to add Yoel Romero to his list of career victories, even if it wasn’t exactly a thrilling affair, and it appears the undefeated Paulo Costa is up next.
Bader’s heavyweight title defense with Cheick Kongo ended in rather odd fashion, but now it’s back to light heavyweight to defend that belt.
Miocic had to wait more than a year to get his rematch with Daniel Cormier, but he made the opportunity count, gutting through some tough rounds early to score a late knockout and reclaim the UFC title.
Following an emotional build-up to a grudge match with Colby Covington, Usman was brilliant, notching the first defense of his UFC welterweight title.
Volkanovski has said from the beginning that he deserved to be considered among the world’s best, and now he is, cracking the pound-for-pound list for the first time.
Gaethje debuts on the pound-for-pound list after an absolutely brilliant dismantling of Tony Ferguson and could take an even bigger leap if he’s able to unseat Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Holloway is considered an all-time great, but a pair of losses in 2019 leaves ‘Blessed’ in a position to think about exactly what he wants to do next.
Ferguson’s loss to Justin Gaethje was his first setback in eight years, and ‘El Cucuy’ must now begin a new drive back to title contention.
Costa has made clear his disdain for UFC champ Israel Adesanya, and it appears the two are set to meet sometime this summer to work out their differences.
Honorable Mentions
USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings, June 2: Gilbert Burns shoots up charts
When you earn the biggest win of your career, big things tend to follow. And that’s the case with Gilbert Burns.
Burns put on an impressive performance this past Saturday in the UFC on ESPN 9 headliner as he dominated former welterweight champion Tyron Woodley for five rounds to earn a unanimous decision. The victory made it six in a row for Burns (19-3 MMA, 12-3 UFC), while Woodley (19-5-1 MMA, 9-4-1 UFC) dropped his second consecutive fight for the first losing streak of his career.
As expected, both men went in opposite directions in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie welterweight rankings. Burns, who entered the fight No. 12, climbed all the way to No. 5 with the victory. As for Woodley, he dropped out of the top 5 for the first time in five years, to No. 6, after his second straight lackluster performance in defeat.
Colby Covington, Jorge Masvidal and Bellator champion Douglas Lima all benefited from the shakeup near the top.
There was more movement coming out of UFC on ESPN 9 and surely more to come with UFC 250 on Saturday. You can take a look at the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings across all divisions in the dropdowns above.
Ranking Criteria
The rankings take into account a fighter’s wins/losses, quality of competition, finishing rate/dominance and frequency of fights.
Fighters are no longer eligible to be ranked after they’ve been inactive for 24 months, either due to injuries, drug/conduct suspensions, contract disputes or self-imposed hiatuses.
Fighters serving drug/conduct suspensions are eligible to be ranked, so long as they’re not inactive for more than 24 months.
To the best of our ability, fighters will be ranked in their primary weight class. Catchweight fights and bouts outside the fighter’s primary weight class can have a positive or negative impact on the ranking. However, non-titleholders can be ranked in only one weight class at a given time, and in most cases, they won’t be ranked in a new weight class until they’ve had their first fight at that weight.