UFC rankings update: Aleksandar Rakic rises, Robbie Lawler plummets

The official UFC rankings have been updated after last weekend’s UFC Vegas 8 card at the Apex facility, and as expected there’s been quite a bit of movement.

Most notably, Aleksandar Rakic can now call himself a top-5 light heavyweight after beating up former title challenger Anthony Smith in the card’s main event.

Elsewhere in the rankings, Neil Magny took a big leap up the welterweight list on the strength of his short-notice decision victory over the division’s former champ, Robbie Lawler, who tumbled to the outer edge of the top-15 in defeat.

See the new UFC rankings below (via MMA Mania):

Note:
+/- = movement in rankings
*NR = Not previously ranked

MEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND RANKINGS

1. Jon Jones
2. Khabib Nurmagomedov
3. Stipe Miocic
4. Israel Adesanya
5. Kamaru Usman
6. Alexander Volkanovski
7. Daniel Cormier
8. Justin Gaethje
9. Dustin Poirier
10. Max Holloway
11. Conor McGregor
12. Petr Yan
13. Deiveson Figueiredo
14. Robert Whittaker
15. Tony Ferguson

FLYWEIGHT RANKINGS

Champion: Deiveson Figueiredo

1. Joseph Benavidez
2. Brandon Moreno
3. Askar Askarov
4. Alex Perez
5. Alexandre Pantoja
6. Jussier Formiga
7. Kai Kara France
8. Rogerio Bontorin
9. Matt Schnell
10. Brandon Royval
11. Tim Elliott
12. Raulian Paiva
13. Jordan Espinosa
14. David Dvorak
15. Amir Albazi

BANTAMWEIGHT RANKINGS

Champion: Petr Yan

1. Marlon Moraes
2. Aljamain Sterling
3. Cody Garbrandt
4. Cory Sandhagen
5. Frankie Edgar
6. Pedro Munhoz
7. Jose Aldo
8. Jimmie Rivera
9. Raphael Assuncao
10. Rob Font
11. Dominick Cruz
12. Cody Stamann
13. Merab Dvalishvili
14. Song Yadong
15. Marlon Vera

FEATHERWEIGHT RANKINGS

Champion: ALEXANDER VOLKANOVSKI

1. Max Holloway
2. Brian Ortega
3. Zabit Magomedsharipov
4. Chan Sung Jung
5. Yair Rodriguez
6. Calvin Kattar
7. Josh Emmett
8. Jeremy Stephens
9. Arnold Allen
10. Dan Ige
11. Sodiq Yusuff
12. Ryan Hall
13. Shane Burgos
14. Jose Aldo
15. Edson Barboza *NR

LIGHTWEIGHT RANKINGS

Champion: KHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV

1. Justin Gaethje
2. Dustin Poirier
3. Tony Ferguson
4. Conor McGregor
5. Dan Hooker
6. Charles Oliveira
7. Paul Felder
8. Diego Ferreira
9. Al Iaquinta
10. Kevin Lee
11. Beneil Dariush
12. Islam Makhachev
13. Gregor Gillespie
14. Donald Cerrone
15. Drew Dober

WELTERWEIGHT RANKINGS

Champion: KAMARU USMAN

1. Gilbert Burns
2. Colby Covington
3. Leon Edwards
4. Jorge Masvidal
5. Tyron Woodley
6. Stephen Thompson
7. Demian Maia
8. Michael Chiesa
9. Rafael dos Anjos
10. Vicente Luque
11. Neil Magny +3
12. Geoff Neal -1
13. Nate Diaz -1
14. Anthony Pettis +1
15. Robbie Lawler -2

MIDDLEWEIGHT RANKINGS

Champion: ISRAEL ADESANYA

1. Robert Whittaker
2. Paulo Costa
3. Jared Cannonier
4. Jack Hermansson
5. Yoel Romero
6. Darren Till
7. Derek Brunson
8. Kelvin Gastelum
9. Uriah Hall
10. Edmen Shahbazyan
11. Chris Weidman
12. Brad Tavares
13. Omari Akhmedov
14. Ian Heinisch
15. Marvin Vettori

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT RANKINGS

Champion: VACANT

1. Dominick Reyes
2. Thiago Santos
3. Jan Blachowicz
4. Glover Teixeira
5. Aleksandar Rakic +3
6. Jiri Prochazka
7. Volkan Oezdemir
8. Anthony Smith -3
9. Nikita Krylov
10. Misha Cirkunov
11. Johnny Walker
12. Ryan Spann
13. (T) Magomed Ankalaev
13. (T) Mauricio Rua +1
15. Paul Craig

HEAVYWEIGHT RANKINGS

Champion: STIPE MIOCIC

1. Francis Ngannou
2. Curtis Blaydes
3. Daniel Cormier
4. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
5. Derrick Lewis
6. Alistair Overeem
7. Junior dos Santos
8. Alexander Volkov
9. Augusto Sakai
10. Walt Harris
11. Shamil Abdurakhimov
12. Aleksei Oleinik
13. Ciryl Gane +1
14. Sergei Pavlovich -1
15. Blagoy Ivanov

WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND RANKINGS

1. Amanda Nunes
2. Weili Zhang
3. Valentina Shevchenko
4. Rose Namajunas
5. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
6. Jessica Andrade
7. Tatiana Suarez
8. Holly Holm
9. Germaine De Randamie
10. Aspen Ladd
11. Katlyn Chookagian
12. Claudia Gadelha
13. Cynthia Calvillo
14. Julianna Pena
15. Nina Ansaroff

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT RANKINGS

Champion: WEILI ZHANG

1. Rose Namajunas
2. Jessica Andrade
3. Tatiana Suarez
4. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
5. Nina Ansaroff
6. Claudia Gadelha
7. Carla Esparza
8. Michelle Waterson
9. Marina Rodriguez
10. Yan Xiaonan
11. Tecia Torres
12. Amanda Ribas
13. Angela Hill
14. Virna Jandiroba +1
15. Mackenzie Dern *NR

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT RANKINGS

Champion: VALENTINA SHEVCHENKO

1. Katlyn Chookagian
2. Cynthia Calvillo
3. Jennifer Maia
4. Lauren Murphy
5. (T) Joanne Calderwood
5. (T) Jessica Eye
7. Roxanne Modafferi
8. Viviane Araujo
9. Andrea Lee
10. Maycee Barber
11. Alexis Davis
12. Montana De La Rosa
13. Antonina Shevchenko
14. Alexa Grasso *NR
15. Gillian Robertson

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT RANKINGS

Champion: AMANDA NUNES

1. Germaine de Randamie
2. Holly Holm
3. Aspen Ladd
4. Julianna Pena
5. Raquel Pennington
6. Irene Aldana
7. Ketlen Vieira
8. Yana Kunitskaya
9. Sara McMann
10. Marion Reneau
11. Lina Lansberg
12. Macy Chiasson
13. Pannie Kianzad
14. Julia Avila
15. Sijara Eubanks

What are your thoughts on the updated UFC rankings?