UFC rankings update: Ilir Latifi and Jeremy Stephens crack top-5 in their divisions

In the wake of last weekend’s action-packed UFC Orlando card, the UFC has updated its official rankings. As expected, featherweight knockout artist Jeremy Stephens has made a big climb up the featherweight ladder for his crushing knockout of Josh Emmett, while light heavyweight contender Ilir Latifi burst into his divisional top-5 for his submission of Ovince Saint Preux.

Here are the latest rankings (via MMAMania).

Note: + = up in rankings, – = down in rankings, *NR = not previously ranked.

POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Demetrious Johnson
2 Conor McGregor
3 Daniel Cormier
4 Stipe Miocic
5 Max Holloway
6 Georges St-Pierre
7 TJ Dillashaw
8 Tyron Woodley
9 Cris Cyborg 
10 Tony Ferguson
11 Robert Whittaker
12 Cody Garbrandt
13 Amanda Nunes
14 Khabib Nurmagomedov
15 Joanna Jedrzejczyk

FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Demetrious Johnson
1 Joseph Benavidez
2 Henry Cejudo
3 Ray Borg
4 Jussier Formiga
5 Sergio Pettis
6 Wilson Reis
7 Brandon Moreno
8 Ben Nguyen
9 Dustin Ortiz
10 John Moraga
11 Matheus Nicolau
12 Tim Elliott
13 Alexandre Pantoja
14 Deiveson Figueiredo
15 Magomed Bibulatov

BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: TJ Dillashaw
1 Cody Garbrandt
2 Dominick Cruz
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 Jimmie Rivera
5 Marlon Moraes
6 John Lineker
7 Bryan Caraway
8 John Dodson
9 Aljamain Sterling
10 Pedro Munhoz
11 Rob Font
12 Thomas Almeida
13 Brett Johns +1
14 Eddie Wineland -1
15 Brian Kelleher *NR

FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Max Holloway
1 Jose Aldo
2 Frankie Edgar
3 Brian Ortega
4 Cub Swanson +1
5 Jeremy Stephens +3
6 Josh Emmett -2
7 Ricardo Lamas -1
8 Chan Sung Jung -1
9 Darren Elkins
10 Yair Rodriguez
11 Renato Moicano
12 Mirsad Bektic
13 Dooho Choi
14 Calvin Kattar +1
15 Myles Jury -1

LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Conor McGregor
1 Tony Ferguson (Interim Champion)
2 Khabib Nurmagomedov
3 Eddie Alvarez
4 Edson Barboza
5 Dustin Poirier
6 Justin Gaethje
7 Kevin Lee
8 Nate Diaz
9 Michael Chiesa
10 Al Iaquinta
11 James Vick
12 Beneil Dariush
13 Anthony Pettis
14 Evan Dunham
15 Francisco Trinaldo

WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Tyron Woodley
1 Stephen Thompson
2 Rafael Dos Anjos
3 Colby Covington
4 Robbie Lawler
5 Demian Maia
6 Jorge Masvidal
7 Darren Till
8 Kamaru Usman
9 Neil Magny -1
10 Santiago Ponzinibbio
11 Donald Cerrone
12 Carlos Condit
13 Gunnar Nelson
14 Dong Hyun Kim
15 Leon Edwards

MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Robert Whittaker
1 Yoel Romero
2 Jacare Souza
3 Luke Rockhold
4 Chris Weidman
5 Kelvin Gastelum
6 Michael Bisping
7 Derek Brunson
8 David Branch
9 Uriah Hall
10 Vitor Belfort
11 Thiago Santos
12 Lyoto Machida
13 Krzysztof Jotko
14 Paulo Costa
15 Brad Tavares

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

HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Stipe Miocic
1 Francis Ngannou
2 Alistair Overeem
3 Fabricio Werdum
4 Cain Velasquez
5 Curtis Blaydes
6 Mark Hunt
6 Derrick Lewis
8 Alexander Volkov
9 Marcin Tybura
10 Stefan Struve
11 Aleksei Oleinik
12 Andrei Arlovski
13 Tim Johnson
14 Junior Albini
15 Tai Tuivasa

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

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Nicco Montano
1 Valentina Shevchenko
2 Sijara Eubanks
3 Lauren Murphy
4 Alexis Davis
5 Roxanne Modafferi
6 Barb Honchak
7 Liz Carmouche
8 Katlyn Chookagian
9 Jessica-Rose Clark
10 Jessica Eye
11 Montana De La Rosa
12 Rachael Ostovich
13 Mara Romero Borella
14 Paige VanZant
15 Shana Dobson

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Amanda Nunes
1 Holly Holm
2 Raquel Pennington +1
3 Julianna Pena -1
4 Germaine de Randamie
5 Ketlen Vieira
6 Cat Zingano
7 Marion Reneau +1
8 Sara McMann -1
9 Bethe Correia +2
9 Leslie Smith +1
11 Ronda Rousey -2
12 Aspen Ladd
13 Lucie Pudilova
14 Irene Aldana
15 Sarah Moras

What do you think of Jeremy Stephens and Ilir Latifi’s positions as top-5 fighters?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/27/2018.