Sherdog’s Official Mixed Martial Arts Rankings

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Heavyweight

1. Stipe Miocic (19-3)

Down on the scorecards after three rounds, Miocic showed the ability to adjust at UFC 241, as he attacked Daniel Cormier’s body to set up a fourth-round technical knockout victory in their rematch in Anaheim, Calif. Not only was it a nice rebound from his KO loss to “DC” in their first meeting at UFC 226, but it refocused talks on Miocic as potentially the greatest heavyweight of all-time. The Ohio-based firefighter now owns five victories in UFC title bouts, the second most in the history of the heavyweight division. The promotion is planning on booking a trilogy bout between Miocic and Cormier, but it likely won’t occur fall 2020 at the earliest.

2. Daniel Cormier (22-2, 1 NC)

For three rounds, Cormier waded forward with total disregard for Stipe Miocic’s power in the UFC 241 headliner. That approach ultimately failed him in the fourth stanza, however, as Miocic began to dig to the body. Those blows gradually accumulated until Miocic was able to hurt “DC” and flurry for the finish at the 4:09 mark of the period. UFC president Dana White revealed that the promotion is planning on booking a trilogy fight between Cormier and Miocic, but that bout likely won’t happen until fall 2020.

3. Francis Ngannou (15-3)

Ngannou bolstered an already-fearsome reputation at UFC 249, when he demolished the previously unbeaten Jairzinho Rozenstruik in just 20 seconds. It was the fourth straight first-round finish and eighth inside of a round overall in UFC competition for “The Predator,” who now must play the waiting game as the promotion attempts to find a date for the Stipe Miocic-Daniel Cormier trilogy.

4. Curtis Blaydes (13-2)

Blaydes couldn’t land a single takedown against Junior dos Santos in the UFC Fight Night 166 headliner in Raleigh, N.C., and it didn’t matter one bit. The Chicago native stunned his foe with a big right hand and then attacked with punches and knees near the fence for a technical knockout victory 66 seconds into the second round. “Razor” Blaydes is now 8-2 with one no contest within the Las Vegas-based promotion.

5. Junior dos Santos (21-7)

Dos Santos may be inching closer to gatekeeper status following a second-round TKO defeat at the hands of Curtis Blaydes in the UFC Fight Night 166 main event. While “Cigano” did well defending his opponent’s takedowns, he had no answers for Blaydes’ powerful overhand right, which ultimately led to his demise. The 35-year-old Brazilian has now lost back-to-back fights via TKO and his last five defeat in UFC competition have come via knockout or technical knockout.

6. Derrick Lewis (23-7)

Lewis’ penchant to go for broke saved him against Ilir Latifi at UFC 247. “The Black Beast” struggled at times with the grinding approach of the converted light heavyweight, but a furious final two minutes delighted the hometown Houston crowd and allowed Lewis to edge Latifi on the scorecards via unanimous decision. It wasn’t quite on the level of his Hail Mary finish of Alexander Volkov, but Lewis’ awareness is encouraging to see in a fight where he could have lost without a sense of urgency. Lewis has now won his last two fights in UFC competition, but the revelation that he has been dealing with “life or death” medical issue for more than a year could potentially be a cause for concern.

7. Alexander Volkov (31-7)

Faced with an inexperienced opponent on short notice, Volkov authored a veteran performance against Greg Hardy at UFC Fight Night 163, picking his foe apart with straight punches and kicks at range to earn a unanimous decision in Moscow. Volkov’s cautious effort may have been a product of his last bout, when he was ahead on the scorecards against Derrick Lewis before losing via knockout with 11 seconds left in Round 3 at UFC 229. The 31-year-old Russian has won seven of his last eight professional fights.

8. Jairzinho Rozenstruik (10-1

Perhaps Francis Ngannou was right: Rozenstruik didn’t really know what he was getting into when he called out the division’s scariest knockout artist. After a 20-second TKO defeat at FUC 249, Rozenstruik definitely knows. While “Bigi Boy” was one of 2019’s breakout fighters with a 4-0 campaign that concluded a Hail Mary KO of Alistair Overeem, it’s clear that he still has a ways to go before breaking into the upper echelon at heavyweight.

9. Alistair Overeem (45-18)

As he has aged, Overeem has adopted a conservative and efficient approach in the Octagon that has largely been successful. Unfortunately, “The Reem” was unable to make that style work for a full 25 minutes against Jairzinho Rozenstruik in the UFC on ESPN 7 headliner, as he was knocked out by a massive right hand at the 4:56 mark of Round 5. The loss has to be especially painful considering the 39-year-old Dutchman was well on his way to a decision victory prior to the decisive blow. Overeem will attempt to return to the win column against Walt Harris in the UFC Fight Night 172 main event on May 16.

10. Ryan Bader (27-5, 1 NC)

Bader was never in danger against Cheick Kongo in the Bellator 226 headliner, as he rattled the Frenchman on the feet before taking his opponent down and imposing his will on the mat. However, the bout ended prematurely due to an inadvertent eye poke from the Power MMA Team representative. As a result, Bader has a no contest on his record but is unbeaten in his last eight bouts dating back to September 2016. Bader plans on defending his light heavyweight belt next once Bellator MMA resumes its schedule.

Other Contenders: Cheick Kongo, Walt Harris, Vitaly Minakov, Blagoy Ivanov, Alexey Oleynik.

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