After a rare stretch of weeks without action in the Octagon, UFC is ready to kick 2020 off with UFC 246 on Saturday, Jan. 18, featuring a big welterweight main event between Conor McGregor and Donald Cerrone. The rankings implications of that fight are complicated as both are effectively campaigning as lightweights but meeting at welterweight in what UFC president Dana White has called “a lightweight fight without weight cutting.”
That is not the only fight featuring CBS Sports ranked fighters this weekend. Seven ranked fighters will be in action at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas across five different fights.
Here are the weekend’s upcoming fights featuring CBS Sports ranked fighters:
- Welterweight: Conor McGregor, No. 5 (lightweight) vs. Donald Cerrone, No. 8 (lightweight)
- Women’s bantamweight: Holly Holm, No. 5 vs. Raquel Pennington, No. 7
- Women’s strawweight: Claudia Gadelha, No. 5 vs. Alexa Grasso
- Women’s flyweight: Maycee Barber, No. 4 vs. Roxanne Modafferi
- Flyweight: Tim Elliott, No. 9 vs. Askar Askarov
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Rankings are compiled following the submission of ballots by Brent Brookhouse, Brian Campbell, Jack Crosby and Brandon Wise. Without further ado, here’s where things stand ahead of the monumental UFC 244 event on Saturday night.
For Brian Campbell’s updated Pound for Pound Rankings, click here.
Flyweight
|
Fighter |
Record |
|
1. Henry Cejudo (c) |
15-2 |
|
2. Joseph Benavidez |
28-5 |
|
3. Jussier Formiga |
23-6 |
|
4. Deivieson Figueiredo |
16-1 |
|
5. Brandon Moreno |
16-5 |
|
6. Alexandre Pantoja |
21-4 |
|
7. Matt Schnell |
14-4 |
|
8. Kai Kara-France |
20-8 |
|
T9. Rogerio Bontorin |
16-1 |
|
T9. Tim Elliott |
15-9-1 |
Bantamweight
|
Fighter |
Record |
|
1. Henry Cejudo (c) |
15-2 |
|
2. Petr Yan |
14-1 |
|
3. Aljamain Sterling |
18-3 |
|
T4. Marlon Moraes |
23-6-1 |
|
T4. Cory Sandhagen |
12-1 |
|
6. Pedro Munhoz |
18-4 |
|
7. Jimmie Rivera |
22-4 |
|
T8. Raphael Assuncao |
27-7 |
|
T8. TJ Dillashaw |
16-4 |
|
10. Song Yadong |
15-4-1 |
Featherweight
|
Fighter |
Record |
|
1. Alexander Volkanovski (c) |
22-1 |
|
2. Max Holloway |
21-5 |
|
T3. Korean Zombie |
16-5 |
|
T3. Zabit Magomedsharipov |
18-1 |
|
5. Brian Ortega |
14-1 |
|
6. Yair Rodriguez |
12-2 |
|
7. Shane Burgos |
13-1 |
|
8. Chase Hooper |
9-0-1 |
|
9. Josh Emmett |
15-2 |
|
10. Jeremy Stephens |
28-17 |
Lightweight
|
Fighter |
Record |
|
1. Khabib Nurmagomedov (c) |
28-0 |
|
2. Tony Ferguson |
25-3 |
|
3. Dustin Poirier |
25-6 |
|
4. Justin Gaethje |
21-2 |
|
5. Conor McGregor |
21-4 |
|
6. Dan Hooker |
19-8 |
|
7. Paul Felder |
17-4 |
|
8. Donald Cerrone |
36-13 |
|
9. Kevin Lee |
18-5 |
|
10. Al Iaquinta |
14-6-1 |
Welterweight
|
Fighter |
Record |
|
1. Kamaru Usman (c) |
16-1 |
|
2. Jorge Masvidal |
35-13 |
|
3. Colby Covington |
15-2 |
|
4. Leon Edwards |
18-3 |
|
5. Tyron Woodley |
19-4-1 |
|
6. Nate Diaz |
20-12 |
|
7.Stephen Thompson |
15-4-1 |
|
T8. Santiago Ponzinibbio |
27-3 |
|
T8. Demian Maia |
28-9 |
|
10. Rafael dos Anjos |
29-12 |
Middleweight
|
Fighter |
Record |
|
1. Israel Adesanya (c) |
18-0 |
|
2. Paulo Costa |
13-0 |
|
3. Robert Whittaker |
20-5 |
|
4. Yoel Romero |
13-4 |
|
5. Jared Cannonier |
13-4 |
|
6. Derek Brunson |
20-7 |
|
7. Kelvin Gastelum |
15-5 |
|
8. Jack Hermansson |
20-5 |
|
9. Darren Till |
18-2-1 |
|
10. Uriah Hall |
15-9 |
Light heavyweight
|
Fighter |
Record |
|
1. Jon Jones (c) |
25-1 |
|
2. Dominick Reyes |
12-0 |
|
3. Jan Blachowicz |
25-8 |
|
4. Thiago Santos |
21-7 |
|
5. Corey Anderson |
13-4 |
|
6. Anthony Smith |
32-14 |
|
7. Volkan Oezdemir |
17-4 |
|
8. Glover Teixeira |
30-7 |
|
9. Aleksandr Rakic |
12-2 |
|
10. Johnny Walker |
17-4 |
Heavyweight
|
Fighter |
Record |
|
1. Stipe Miocic (c) |
19-3 |
|
2. Daniel Cormier |
22-2 |
|
3. Francis Ngannou |
14-3 |
|
4. Junior dos Santos |
21-6 |
|
5. Curtis Blaydes |
12-2 |
|
6. Derrick Lewis |
21-7 |
|
T7. Alexander Volkov |
31-7 |
|
T7. Jairzinho Rozenstruik |
10-0 |
|
9. Walt Harris |
13-7 |
|
10. Alistair Overeem |
45-18 |
Women’s strawweight
|
Fighter |
Record |
|
1. Weili Zhang (c) |
20-1 |
|
2. Jessica Andrade |
20-7 |
|
3. Tatiana Suarez |
8-0 |
|
4. Joanna Jedzejczyk |
16-3 |
|
5. Claudia Gadelha |
17-4 |
|
6. Nina Ansaroff |
10-6 |
|
7. Carla Esparza |
14-6 |
|
8. Michelle Waterson |
17-7 |
|
9. Cynthia Carvalho |
8-1 |
|
10. Rose Namajunas |
8-4 |
Women’s flyweight
|
Fighter |
Record |
|
1. Valentina Shevchenko (c) |
18-3 |
|
2. Katlyn Chookagin |
12-2 |
|
3. Joanne Calderwood |
14-4 |
|
4. Maycee Barber |
8-0 |
|
5. Jessica Eye |
14-7 |
Women’s bantamweight
|
Fighter |
Record |
|
1. Amanda Nunes (c) |
19-4 |
|
2. Aspen Ladd |
9-1 |
|
3. Germaine de Randamie |
9-4 |
|
4. Irene Aldana |
11-5 |
|
5. Holly Holm |
12-5 |
|
6. Julianna Pena |
9-3 |
|
7. Raquel Pennington |
10-5 |
|
8. Ketlen Vieira |
10-1 |
|
9. Yana Kunitskaya |
12-5 |
|
10. Sara McMann |
11-5 |
