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Fightful MMA Weekly Rankings (12/22/21): Belal Muhammad Climbs Welterweight Ranks Following UFC Vegas 45

MMA UFC Rose Namajunas Stipe Miocic TJ Dillashaw Megan Anderson Jon Jones Cat Zingano Fedor Emelianenko Amanda Nunes
Colby Faria & Stephen Jensen Dec 22, 2021 11:58AM

Welcome to Fightful MMA's weekly rankings for 12/22/21.

Belal Muhammad thoroughly dominated former two-time UFC title challenger Stephen Thompson in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 45 this past weekend, which will see the Chicago-native climb the ladder in our welterweight rankings.

Max Holloway KO's Justin Gaethje In Buzzer Beater Throwdown Finish At UFC 300

With the holidays on the horizon, that means no UFC event for the next three weekends, which will see our next set of rankings following UFC Vegas 46: Kattar vs. Chikadze which is set for Jan. 15 and our next set of rankings will be released on Jan. 19.

Happy holidays from everyone here at Fightful MMA!

Men’s Pound-For-Pound

  1. Kamaru Usman (20-1) — UFC Welterweight Champion
  2. Jon Jones (26-1) — UFC
  3. Francis Ngannou (16-3) — UFC Heavyweight Champion
  4. Alex Volkanovski (22-1) — UFC Featherweight Champion
  5. Israel Adesanya (21-1) — UFC Middleweight Champion
  6. Charles Oliveira (32-8) — UFC Lightweight Champion
  7. Ciryl Gane (10-0) — UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion
  8. Max Holloway (23-6) — UFC
  9. Dustin Poirier (28-7) — UFC
  10. Jan Blachowicz (28-9)
  11. Stipe Miocic (20-4) — UFC
  12. Robert Whittaker (23-5) — UFC
  13. Brandon Moreno (19-5) — UFC Flyweight Champion
  14. Peter Yan (16-2) — UFC Interim Bantamweight Champion
  15. Colby Covington (16-3) — UFC

Women’s Pound-For-Pound

  1. Valentina Shevchenko (22-3) — UFC Flyweight Champion
  2. Julianna Peña (11-4) — UFC Bantamweight Champion
  3. Amanda Nunes (21-5) — UFC Featherweight Champion
  4. Cris Cyborg (24-2) — Bellator Featherweight Champion
  5. Rose Namajunas (10-4) — UFC Strawweight Champion
  6. Kayla Harrison (12-0) — PFL Lightweight Champion
  7. Germaine De Randamie (10-4) — UFC
  8. Weili Zhang (21-2) — UFC
  9. Holly Holm (14-5) — UFC
  10. Joanna Jedrzejczyk (16-4) — UFC
  11. Juliana Velasquez (12-0) — Bellator Bantamweight Champion
  12. Jessica Andrade (22-9) — UFC
  13. Julia Budd (16-3) — PFL
  14. Carla Esparza (18-6) — UFC
  15. Marina Rodriguez (15-1) — UFC

Heavyweight

  1. Francis Ngannou (16-3) — UFC Champion
  2. Ciryl Gane (10-0) — UFC Interim Champion
  3. Stipe Miocic (20-4) — UFC
  4. Derrick Lewis (26-8) — UFC
  5. Curtis Blaydes (15-3) — UFC
  6. Alexander Volkov (33-9) — UFC
  7. Valentin Moldavsky (11-1) — Bellator Champion
  8. Tom Aspinall (11-2) - UFC
  9. Jairzinho Rozenstruik (12-3) — UFC
  10. Marcin Tybura (22-6) — UFC
  11. Cheick Kongo (31-11) — Bellator — (+1)
  12. Chris Daukaus (12-4) — UFC — (-1)
  13. Augusto Sakai (15-3-1) — UFC
  14. Fedor Emelianenko (40-6-1) — Bellator
  15. Fabricio Werdum (24-9) — PFL

Light Heavyweight

  1. Glover Teixeira (33-7) — UFC Champion
  2. Jan Blachowicz (28-9)
  3. Vadim Nemkov (13-2) — Bellator Champion
  4. Jiri Prochazka (28-3-1) — UFC
  5. Corey Anderson (16-5) — Bellator
  6. Ryan Bader (28-7) — Bellator
  7. Phil Davis (22-6) — Bellator
  8. Aleksandar Rakic (14-2) — UFC
  9. Thiago Santos (22-9) — UFC
  10. Dominick Reyes (12-3) — UFC
  11. Anthony Smith (35-16) — UFC
  12. Anthony Johnson (23-6) — Bellator
  13. Magomed Ankalaev (15-1) — UFC
  14. Paul Craig (15-4-1) — UFC
  15. Jamahal Hill (9-1) — UFC

Middleweight

  1. Israel Adesanya (21-1) — UFC Champion
  2. Robert Whittaker (23-5) — UFC
  3. Gegard Mousasi (48-7) — Bellator Champion
  4. Jared Cannonier (14-5) — UFC
  5. Derek Brunson (23-7) — UFC
  6. Marvin Vettori (18-5-1) — UFC
  7. Paulo Costa (13-2) — UFC
  8. Sean Strickland (24-3) — UFC
  9. Jack Hermansson (22-6) — UFC
  10. Darren Till (18-4-1) — UFC
  11. Kelvin Gastelum (16-8) — UFC
  12. Uriah Hall (17-10) — UFC
  13. Chris Curtis (28-8) — UFC
  14. Brendan Allen (17-4) — UFC
  15. Kevin Holland (21-7) — UFC

Welterweight

  1. Kamaru Usman (20-1) — UFC Champion
  2. Colby Covington (16-3) — UFC
  3. Gilbert Burns (20-4) — UFC
  4. Leon Edwards (19-3) - UFC
  5. Vicente Luque (21-7-1) — UFC
  6. Belal Muhammad (20-3) — UFC — (+6)
  7. Stephen Thompson (16-6-1) — UFC — (-1)
  8. Yaroslav Amosov (26-0) — Bellator Champion — (-1)
  9. Jorge Masvidal (35-15) — UFC — (-1)
  10. Ray Cooper III (24-7-1) — PFL Champion — (-1)
  11. Sean Brady (15-0) — UFC — (-1)
  12. Michael Chiesa (18-6) — UFC — (-1)
  13. Douglas Lima (32-9) — Bellator
  14. Khamzat Chimaev (10-0) — UFC
  15. Neil Magny (25-9) — UFC

Lightweight

  1. Charles Oliveira (32-8) — UFC Champion
  2. Dustin Poirier (28-7) — UFC
  3. Justin Gaethje (23-3) — UFC
  4. Beneil Dariush (21-4-1) — UFC
  5. Islam Makhachev (20-1) — UFC
  6. Conor McGregor (22-6) — UFC
  7. Michael Chandler (22-7) — UFC
  8. Rafael Dos Anjos (30-13) — UFC
  9. Tony Ferguson (25-6) — UFC
  10. Dan Hooker (21-10) — UFC
  11. Gregor Gillespie (14-1) — UFC
  12. Rafael Fiziev (11-1) — UFC
  13. Mateusz Gamrot (20-1) — UFC — (unranked)
  14. Brad Riddell (10-2) — UFC
  15. Arman Tsarukyan (17-2) — UFC

Dropped Out: Diego Ferreira (17-5)

Featherweight

  1. Alexander Volkanovski (23-1) — UFC Champion
  2. Max Holloway (23-6) — UFC
  3. AJ McKee (18-0) — Bellator Champion
  4. Brian Ortega (15-2) — UFC
  5. Patricio Pitbull (32-5) — Bellator
  6. Giga Chikadze (14-2) — UFC
  7. Calvin Kattar (22-5) — UFC
  8. Yair Rodriguez (13-3) — UFC
  9. Korean Zombie (17-6) — UFC
  10. Arnold Allen (17-1) — UFC
  11. Josh Emmett (16-2) — UFC
  12. Movsar Evloev (14-0) — UFC
  13. Movlid Khaybulaev (19-0-1) — PFL Champion
  14. Dan Ige (15-4) — UFC
  15. Edson Barboza (22-10) — UFC

Bantamweight

  1. Aljamain Sterling (20-3) — UFC Champion
  2. Petr Yan (15-2) — UFC
  3. TJ Dillashaw (17-4) — UFC
  4. Cory Sandhagen (14-3) — UFC
  5. Jose Aldo (30-7) — UFC
  6. Rob Font (19-5) — UFC
  7. Merab Dvalishviili (14-4) — UFC
  8. Dominick Cruz (23-3) — UFC
  9. Sergio Pettis (22-5) — Bellator Champion
  10. Kyoji Horiguchi (29-4) — Bellator
  11. Marlon Moraes (23-9-1) — UFC
  12. Pedro Munhoz (19-6) — UFC
  13. John Lineker (33-9) — ONE Champion
  14. Marlon Vera (18-7-1) — UFC
  15. Sean O’Malley (15-1) — UFC

Flyweight

  1. Brandon Moreno (19-5-2) — UFC Champion
  2. Deiveson Figueiredo (20-2-1) — UFC
  3. Adriano Moraes (19-3) — ONE Champion
  4. Askar Askarov (13-0) — UFC
  5. Demetrious Johnson (30-4-1) — ONE
  6. Matheus Nicolau (17-2-1) — UFC
  7. Alexandre Pantoja (24-5) — UFC
  8. Alex Perez (24-6) — UFC
  9. Brandon Royval (12-6) — UFC
  10. Kai Kara-France (22-9) — UFC
  11. Manel Kape (17-6) — UFC
  12. Rogerio Bontorin (17-3) — UFC
  13. David Dvorak (20-3) — UFC
  14. Jose Torres (10-1-1) — Brave CF Champion
  15. Matt Schnell (15-6) — UFC

Women’s Featherweight

  1. Amanda Nunes (21-5) — UFC Champion
  2. Cris Cyborg (24-2) — Bellator Champion
  3. Kayla Harrison (12-0) — PFL Champion
  4. Norma Dumont (7-1) — UFC
  5. Julia Budd (16-3) — PFL
  6. Megan Anderson (11-5) — UFC
  7. Pam Sorensen (9-3) — Invicta FC Champion
  8. Larissa Pacheco (15-4) — PFL
  9. Cat Zingano (12-4) — Bellator
  10. Arlene Blancowe (14-8) — Bellator
  11. Leslie Smith (12-9-1) — Bellator
  12. Leah McCourt (4-1) — Bellator
  13. Leah Letson (5-2) — UFC
  14. Janay Harding (6-5) — Bellator
  15. Sarah Kaufman (21-5) — PFL

Women’s Bantamweight

  1. Julianna Peña (11-4) — UFC Champion
  2. Amanda Nunes (21-5)
  3. Germaine De Randamie (10-4) — UFC
  4. Holly Holm (14-5) — UFC
  5. Irene Aldana (13-6) — UFC
  6. Aspen Ladd (9-2) — UFC
  7. Yana Kunitskaya (14-6) — UFC
  8. Ketlen Vieira (12-2) — UFC
  9. Raquel Pennington (12-8) — UFC
  10. Macy Chiasson (7-1) — UFC
  11. Meisha Tate (19-8) — UFC
  12. Sara McMann (12-6) — UFC
  13. Josiane Nunes (8-2) — UFC
  14. Pannie Kianzad (15-6) — UFC
  15. Karol Rosa (14-3) — UFC

Women’s Flyweight

  1. Valentina Shevchenko (22-3) — UFC Champion
  2. Jessica Andrade (22-9) — UFC
  3. Juliana Velasquez (12-0) — Bellator Champion
  4. Katlyn Chookagian (16-4) — UFC
  5. Liz Carmouche (16-7) — UFC
  6. Lauren Murphy (14-6) — UFC
  7. Jennifer Maia (19-7-1) — UFC
  8. Andrea Lee (13-5) — UFC
  9. Cynthia Calvillo (9-4-1) — UFC
  10. Taila Santos (19-1) — UFC
  11. Joanne Wood (15-7) — UFC
  12. Ilima Lei-MacFarlane (11-1) — Bellator
  13. Alexa Grasso (13-3) — UFC
  14. Viviane Araujo (9-3) — UFC
  15. Roxanne Modaferri (25-18) — UFC

Women’s Strawweight

  1. Rose Namajunas (12-4) — UFC Champion
  2. Weili Zhang (21-3) — UFC
  3. Joanna Jedrzejczyk (16-4) — UFC
  4. Carla Esparza (18-6) — UFC
  5. Marina Rodriguez (15-1) — UFC
  6. MacKenzie Dern (11-2) — UFC
  7. Yan Xionan (13-2) — UFC
  8. Amanda Lemos (11-1-1) — UFC — (+2)
  9. Tecia Torres (13-5) — UFC — (-1)
  10. Amanda Ribas (10-2) — UFC — (+1)
  11. Michelle Waterson (18-9) — UFC — (+1)
  12. Angela Hill (13-11) — UFC — (+1)
  13. Nina Nunes (10-7) — UFC
  14. Virna Jandiroba (17-2) — UFC
  15. Kanako Murata (12-2) — UFC

Dropped Out: Claudia Gadelha (18-5) — (retired)

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