UFC News: Latest UFC rankings update after UFC 221
What’s the story?
Following this past weekend’s UFC 221 in Perth, Australia, there has been a massive shift in the ranks in UFC’s Heavyweight and Middleweight divisions as 26-year-old Heavyweight fighter Curtis Blaydes has broken into the Top 5 in the HW division, whereas, former Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold has fallen down the ranks in the Middleweight division after failing to regain the 185-pound championship.
In case you didn’t know…
This past weekend at the Perth Arena in Australia, Luke Rockhold had the opportunity of regaining the Middleweight Championship once again, when he went toe-to-toe with the “Soldier of God” Yoel Romero. Romero, who was ineligible for the championship title even if he won the fight, eventually knocked out Rockhold in the third round of their bout and was declared as the winner in the process.
In the co-main headliner of the UFC 221 event, UFC’s up and coming Heavyweight superstar Curtis Blaydes got the biggest win of his MMA career when he shocked the world by defeating one of the veterans of the UFC’s Heavyweight Division, Mark Hunt, who lost the fight via unanimous decision.
The heart of the matter
After his latest loss to Yoel Romero in Perth at UFC 221, former Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold has now evidently slipped behind his former rival Ronaldo Souza at No. 3 in the UFC’s current Middleweight division rankings, meanwhile, Rockhold’s adversary Yoel Romero has successfully managed to maintain his place at the peak of the 185 pound division.
On the other hand, Curtis Blaydes has broken into the top 5 of the current UFC Heavyweight standings, whereas, “Super Samoan” Mark Hunt finds himself down to No. 6, following his loss to “Razor”.
Here are the current Middleweight and Heavyweight standings:
Middleweight
Champion: Robert Whittaker
#1. Yoel Romero
#2. Jacare Souza +1
#3. Luke Rockhold -1
#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
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Stipe Miocic
#1. Francis Ngannou
#2. Alistair Overeem
#3. Fabricio Werdum
#4. Cain Velasquez
#5. Curtis Blaydes +4
#6. Mark Hunt -1
#7. Derrick Lewis -1
#8. Alexander Volkov -1
#9. Marcin Tybura -1
#10. Stefan Struve
#11. Aleksei Oleinik
#12. Andrei Arlovski
#13. Tim Johnson
#14. Junior Albini
#15. Tai Tuivasa *NR
What’s next?
UFC’s next pay-per-view, UFC 222, is slated to take place on 3rd March 2018 and the event will be headlined by Cris Cyborg who will defend her Women’s Featherweight Title against newcomer Yana Kunitskaya. Meanwhile, in the co-main event, Frankie Edgar will square off against Brian Ortega in a Featherweight bout.
Author’s Take
Luke Rockhold’s loss has definitely harmed the former Middleweight Champion’s momentum and his chances of getting another shot at the Middleweight Title anytime soon, whereas, Curtis Blaydes’ impressive win over Mark Hunt also deserves some high praises.