MMA pound-for-pound rankings – Is there room near the top for Kamaru Usman?

Kamaru Usman At UFC 258 he showed an outstanding performance. His TKO in the third round of the former teammate Gilbert Burns was a rollercoaster ride that took off heartbreakingly after a climb forced upon Usman early and put the welterweight champion in the spotlight.

Not only did Usman keep his belt in Saturday’s fight in Las Vegas, but he also secured his place among the greats of mixed martial arts.

What the big win didn’t do was move Usman an inch up the ESPN men’s rankings. While two of the four voters put him in the top 10, that wasn’t enough to lift Usman up from fifth.

Usman stays behind Khabib Nurmagomedov, Jon Jones, Stipe Miocic and Israel Adesanya. How do you break into this elite foursome? Perhaps the safest option would be to just wait for the UFC to take Nurmagomedov’s resignation seriously and move on. On the other hand, Adesanya has a big fight in less than a month (March 6 against light heavyweight champion) Jan Blachowicz), and Miocic defends his belt against fear Francis Ngannou on March 27th.

At the moment, however, there is no movement in either the top 10 men or women. But the senior woman, two-weight champion Amanda nuns, defended her featherweight belt on March 6th against Megan Anderson. And the other 145 pound champion Alexander Volkanovski, also defended against later this month Brian Ortega on March 27th.

(For Brett Okamoto’s ranking by division, go to Here.)

Note: The results are current. Ranking from February 15th.

Men’s pound-for-pound ranking

1. Khabib Nurmagomedov  

UFC lightweight champion
Record: 29-0
Last: W (SUB2) Justin Gaethje, October 24, 2020
Next: Announcement of retirement

2. Jon Jones  

UFC light heavyweight / announced switch to heavyweight division
Record: 26-1, 1 NC
Last: W (UD) Dominick ReyesFebruary 8, 2020
Next: TBD

3. Stipe Miocic  

UFC heavyweight champion
Record: 20-3
Last: W (UD) Daniel Cormier15th August 2020
Next: March 27th vs. Francis Ngannou

4th Israel Adesanya  

UFC middleweight champion
Record: 20-0
Last: W (TKO2) Paulo CostaSeptember 26, 2020
Next: March 6th vs. Jan Blachowicz

5. Kamaru Usman  

UFC welterweight champion
Record: 18-1
Last: W (TKO3) Gilbert BurnsFebruary 13, 2021
Next: TBD

6th Alexander Volkanovski  

UFC featherweight champion
Record: 22-1
Last: W (SD) Max HollowayJuly 11, 2020
Next: March 27th vs. Brian Ortega

T-7. Deiveson Figueiredo  

UFC flyweight champion
Record: 20-1-1
Last: D (MD) Brandon Moreno, December 12, 2020
Next: TBD

T-7. Dustin Poirier  

UFC lightweight
Record: 27-6, 1 NC
Last: W (TKO2) Conor McGregorJanuary 23, 2021
Next: TBD

9. Demetrious Johnson  

A championship flyweight
Record: 30-3-1
Last: W (UD) Danny shoesOctober 12, 2019
Next: April 7th vs. Adriano Moraes

10. Max Holloway  

UFC featherweight
Record: 22-6
Last: W (UD) Calvin KattarJanuary 16, 2021
Next: TBD

Other fighters who get votes: Petr Yan, Justin Gaethje and Francis Ngannou

Dustin Poirier put in a great performance in the main spotlight against Conor McGregor at UFC 257. Jeff Bottari / Zuffa LLC

As our authors voted

Brett Okamoto
1. Khabib Nurmagomedov
2. Jon Jones
3. Israel Adesanya
4. Kamaru Usman
5. Stipe Miocic
6. Alexander Volkanovski
7. Deiveson Figueiredo
8. Dustin Poirier
9. Demetrious Johnson
10. Max Holloway

Marc Raimondi
1. Khabib Nurmagomedov
2. Jon Jones
3. Kamaru Usman
4. Stipe Miocic
5. Israel Adesanya
6. Alexander Volkanovski
7. Petr Yan
8. Dustin Poirier
9. Deiveson Figueiredo
10. Max Holloway

Ariel Helwani
1. Khabib Nurmagomedov
2. Jon Jones
3. Stipe Miocic
4. Israel Adesanya
5. Kamaru Usman
6. Alexander Volkanovski
7. Dustin Poirier
8. Max Holloway
9. Justin Gaethje
10. Deiveson Figueiredo

Jeff Wagenheim
1. Khabib Nurmagomedov
2. Jon Jones
3. Stipe Miocic
4. Demetrious Johnson
5. Israel Adesanya
6. Kamaru Usman
7. Deiveson Figueiredo
8. Alexander Volkanovski
9. Francis Ngannou
10. Dustin Poirier

Amanda Nunes is still the number 1 woman in MMA. Jeff Bottari / Zuffa LLC

1. Amanda nuns  

UFC bantamweight / featherweight champion
Record: 20-4
Last: W (UD) Felicia Spencer, 6th of June
Next: March 6th vs. Megan Anderson

2. Valentina Shevchenko  

UFC flyweight champion
Record: 20-3
Last: W (UD) Jennifer Maia, 21st November
Next: TBD

3. Cris cyborg  

Bellator featherweight champion
Record: 23-2, 1 NC
Last: W (SUB2) Arlene Blencowe, 15th October
Next: TBD

4th Zhang Weili  

UFC strawweight champion
Record: 21-1
Last: W (SD) Joanna Jedrzejczyk, 7th March
Next: TBD

5. Rose Namajunas  

UFC straw weight
Record: 9-4
Last: W (SD) Jessica AndradeJuly 11th
Next: TBD

6th Jessica Andrade  

UFC flyweight
Recording: 21-8
Last: W (TKO1) Katlyn ChookagianOctober 17th
Next: TBD

7th Joanna Jedrzejczyk  

UFC straw weight
Record: 16-4
Last: L (SD) Zhang Weili, 7th March
Next: TBD

8th. Germaine de Randamie  

UFC bantamweight
Record: 10-4
Last: W (TechSUB3) Julianna Pena, October 3
Next: TBD

9. Holly Holm  

UFC bantamweight
Record: 14-5
Last: W (UD) Irene Aldana, October 3
Next: TBD

10. Katlyn Chookagian  

UFC flyweight
Record: 15-4
Last: W (UD) Cynthia Calvillo, 21st November
Next: TBD

Other fighters who get votes: Julia Budd and Seo Hee Ham

As our authors voted

Brett Okamoto
1. Amanda Nunes
2. Valentina Shevchenko
3. Zhang Weili
4. Rose Namajunas
5. Cris Cyborg
6. Jessica Andrade
7. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
8. Germaine de Randamie
9. Holly Holm
10. Katlyn Chookagian

Marc Raimondi
1. Amanda Nunes
2. Valentina Shevchenko
3. Cris Cyborg
4. Zhang Weili
5. Rose Namajunas
6. Jessica Andrade
7. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
8. Germaine de Randamie
9. Holly Holm
10. Seo Hee Ham

Ariel Helwani
1. Amanda Nunes
2. Valentina Shevchenko
3. Cris Cyborg
4. Zhang Weili
5. Rose Namajunas
6. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
7. Jessica Andrade
8. Germaine de Randamie
9. Holly Holm
10. Katlyn Chookagian

Jeff Wagenheim
1. Amanda Nunes
2. Valentina Shevchenko
3. Cris Cyborg
4. Zhang Weili
5. Rose Namajunas
6. Jessica Andrade
7. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
8. Germaine de Randamie
9. Holly Holm
10. Julia Budd

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