Jon ‘Bones’ Jones returns to the UFC light heavyweight rankings in the #1 spot

Now that former UFC champion Jon Jones is scheduled to return to the Octagon on December 29, “Bones” has also found himself in the top spot of the 205-pound rankings.

The latest UFC rankings have Jones (22-1) one spot ahead of his UFC 232 foe Alexander Gustafsson and two spots ahead of UFC Moncton main event winner Anthony Smith. The 31-year-old hasn’t fought since a July 2017 no contest against Daniel Cormier at UFC 214 where he failed a pre-fight drug test.

Other highlights from the updated rankings list include Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza moving up to the No. 3 spot at middleweight after knocking out Chris Weidman this past Saturday at UFC 230. Also in the 185-pound class, Israel Adesanya moves up three spots to the number No. 6 ranking – after his first-round finish over Derek Brunson that same night. Weidman drops to the No. 5 spot, while Brunson falls to the No. 8 spot.

Despite rumblings of Colby Covington being stripped of his title in the welterweight division, “Chaos” still has the interim welterweight championship next to his name in the No. 1 spot. Also of note, the flyweight rankings are still intact despite the fact that the division is set to fold at the end of this year.

The rankings are generated by a select group of media members who pick active fighters on the UFC roster.

Here’s a look at the latest list via UFC.com 

POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Daniel Cormier
2 Khabib Nurmagomedov
3 Jon Jones *NR
4 TJ Dillashaw -1
5 Max Holloway -1
6 Georges St-Pierre -1
7 Tyron Woodley -1
8 Conor McGregor
9 Stipe Miocic +1
10 Henry Cejudo -1
11 Cris Cyborg
12 Robert Whittaker
13 Tony Ferguson
14 Amanda Nunes
15 Rose Namajunas

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

BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: TJ Dillashaw
1 Cody Garbrandt
2 Dominick Cruz
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 Marlon Moraes
5 Jimmie Rivera
6 John Lineker
7 Aljamain Sterling
8 John Dodson
9 Pedro Munhoz
10 Cody Stamann
11 Rob Font
12 Alejandro Perez
13 Thomas Almeida
14 Douglas Silva de Andrade
15 Rani Yahya

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

LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Khabib Nurmagomedov
1 Tony Ferguson
2 Conor McGregor
3 Dustin Poirier
4 Kevin Lee
5 Edson Barboza
6 Justin Gaethje
7 Anthony Pettis
8 Al Iaquinta
9 Nate Diaz
10 Michael Chiesa
11 James Vick
12 Alexander Hernandez
13 Francisco Trinaldo
14 Dan Hooker
15 Paul Felder

WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Tyron Woodley
1 Colby Covington (Interim Champion)
2 Darren Till
3 Rafael Dos Anjos
4 Stephen Thompson
5 Robbie Lawler
6 Kamaru Usman
7 Demian Maia
8 Neil Magny
9 Jorge Masvidal
10 Santiago Ponzinibbio
11 Leon Edwards
12 Donald Cerrone
13 Alex Oliveira
14 Gunnar Nelson
15 Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos

MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Robert Whittaker
1 Yoel Romero
2 Luke Rockhold
3 Jacare Souza +2
4 Kelvin Gastelum
5 Chris Weidman -2
6 Israel Adesanya +3
7 Paulo Costa +1
8 Derek Brunson -2
9 Jared Cannonier *NR
9 Brad Tavares +1
11 David Branch -4
12 Antonio Carlos Junior -1
13 Uriah Hall -1
14 Elias Theodorou -1
15 Thiago Santos -1

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Jon Jones *NR
2 Alexander Gustafsson -1
3 Anthony Smith -1
4 Jan Blachowicz -1
5 Ilir Latifi -1
6 Volkan Oezdemir -1
7 Jimi Manuwa -1
8 Dominick Reyes -1
9 Corey Anderson -1
10 Glover Teixeira -1
10 Ovince Saint Preux -1
12 Misha Cirkunov -1
13 Mauricio Rua -1
14 Tyson Pedro
15 Nikita Krylov -2

HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Stipe Miocic
2 Derrick Lewis
3 Curtis Blaydes
4 Francis Ngannou
5 Alexander Volkov
6 Alistair Overeem
7 Junior Dos Santos
8 Aleksei Oleinik
9 Marcin Tybura
10 Mark Hunt
11 Tai Tuivasa
12 Shamil Abdurakhimov
13 Andrei Arlovski
14 Stefan Struve
15 Justin Willis

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

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
1 Valentina Shevchenko
2 Nicco Montano
3 Katlyn Chookagian
4 Sijara Eubanks
5 Alexis Davis
6 Liz Carmouche
7 Roxanne Modafferi
7 Lauren Murphy +1
9 Jessica Eye
10 Jessica-Rose Clark
11 Ashlee Evans-Smith
12 Joanne Calderwood
13 Mara Romero Borella
14 Jennifer Maia
15 Andrea Lee

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

There you have it.

on 11/8/2018