UFC Rankings Update: Inactive Since 2016, Conor McGregor Somehow Moves Up

Former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor may not have competed since November 2016, and he’s currently awaiting his next court date on assault charges, but that hasn’t stopped him from actually rising on the latest UFC official rankings.

That was just the case this week when the media-voted rankings voted for to move McGregor up one spot to a tie with current UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic at the No. 3 pound-for-pound spot.

This was despite McGregor not fighting or even having a clear return date even close to confirmed, something that will undoubtedly put the already questionable ‘official’ rankings under even more scrutiny.

The UFC was in New Jersey last weekend for UFC Fight Night 128 from Atlantic City, where rising contender Kevin Lee battered Edson Barboza on the way to a fifth-round TKO stoppage, but the fact that McGregor somehow moved up the pound-for-pound list overshadows Lee’s move up to No. 5 and Barboza’s move down to 6.

In other rankings movement, Cub Swanson moved down one spot on the featherweight rankings after his decision loss to Frankie Edgar in the UFC Atlantic City co-main event, allowing Jeremy Stephens to rise to No. 4. Swanson has now lost to the top three contenders at 145 pounds and owns a 2014 decision win over No. 4 Stephens.

You can check out the fully updated rankings via UFC.com right here:

POUND-FOR-POUND:

1 Demetrious Johnson
2 Georges St-Pierre
3 Stipe Miocic
3 Conor McGregor +1
5 Daniel Cormier
6 Max Holloway
7 TJ Dillashaw
8 Tyron Woodley
9 Khabib Nurmagomedov -1
10 Cris Cyborg
11 Tony Ferguson
12 Amanda Nunes
13 Robert Whittaker
14 Cody Garbrandt
15 Rose Namajunas

FLYWEIGHT:

Champion: Demetrious Johnson

1 Joseph Benavidez
2 Henry Cejudo
3 Ray Borg
4 Jussier Formiga
5 Sergio Pettis
6 John Moraga
7 Brandon Moreno
8 Wilson Reis
9 Ben Nguyen
10 Dustin Ortiz
11 Matheus Nicolau
12 Alexandre Pantoja
13 Tim Elliott
14 Deiveson Figueiredo
15 Magomed Bibulatov

BANTAMWEIGHT:

Champion: TJ Dillashaw

1 Cody Garbrandt
2 Dominick Cruz
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 Jimmie Rivera
5 Marlon Moraes
6 John Lineker
7 John Dodson
8 Aljamain Sterling
9 Bryan Caraway
10 Pedro Munhoz
11 Cody Stamann -1
12 Rob Font
13 Thomas Almeida
14 Brett Johns
15 Eddie Wineland

FEATHERWEIGHT:

Champion: Max Holloway

1 Brian Ortega
2 Jose Aldo
3 Frankie Edgar
4 Jeremy Stephens +1
5 Cub Swanson -1
6 Josh Emmett
7 Ricardo Lamas
8 Chan Sung Jung
9 Renato Moicano
10 Darren Elkins
11 Yair Rodriguez
12 Mirsad Bektic
13 Zabit Magomedsharipov +1
14 Dooho Choi -1
15 Myles Jury

LIGHTWEIGHT:

Champion: Khabib Nurmagomedov

1 Conor McGregor
2 Tony Ferguson
3 Eddie Alvarez
4 Dustin Poirier
5 Kevin Lee +1
6 Edson Barboza -1
7 Justin Gaethje
8 Nate Diaz
9 Michael Chiesa
10 Al Iaquinta
11 James Vick
12 Anthony Pettis
13 Alexander Hernandez
14 Paul Felder
15 Olivier Aubin-Mercier

WELTERWEIGHT:

Champion: Tyron Woodley

1 Stephen Thompson
2 Rafael Dos Anjos
3 Colby Covington
4 Robbie Lawler
5 Demian Maia
6 Jorge Masvidal
7 Kamaru Usman
8 Darren Till -1
9 Neil Magny
10 Santiago Ponzinibbio
11 Donald Cerrone
12 Gunnar Nelson
13 Alex Oliveira
14 Leon Edwards
15 Dong Hyun Kim

MIDDLEWEIGHT:

Champion: Robert Whittaker

1 Yoel Romero
2 Jacare Souza
3 Luke Rockhold
4 Chris Weidman
5 Kelvin Gastelum
6 Michael Bisping
7 Derek Brunson
8 David Branch
9 Vitor Belfort
10 Brad Tavares
11 Uriah Hall -1
12 Lyoto Machida +1
13 Thiago Santos -1
13 Antonio Carlos Junior +2
15 Paulo Costa -1

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT:

Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Alexander Gustafsson
2 Volkan Oezdemir
3 Glover Teixeira
4 Ilir Latifi
5 Jan Blachowicz
6 Jimi Manuwa
7 Mauricio Rua
7 Ovince Saint Preux +1
9 Corey Anderson +1
10 Misha Cirkunov -1
11 Patrick Cummins
12 Tyson Pedro
13 Gadzhimurad Antigulov
14 Gian Villante
15 Jordan Johnson

HEAVYWEIGHT:

Champion: Stipe Miocic

1 Francis Ngannou
2 Alistair Overeem
3 Alexander Volkov
4 Curtis Blaydes
5 Fabricio Werdum
6 Derrick Lewis
6 Mark Hunt
8 Marcin Tybura
9 Andrei Arlovski
10 Aleksei Oleinik
11 Stefan Struve
12 Tai Tuivasa
13 Shamil Abdurakhimov
14 Junior Albini
15 Justin Willis *NR

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT:

Champion: Rose Namajunas

1 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
2 Jessica Andrade
3 Claudia Gadelha
4 Karolina Kowalkiewicz
5 Tecia Torres
6 Carla Esparza
7 Michelle Waterson
8 Felice Herrig
9 Alexa Grasso
10 Cortney Casey
11 Randa Markos
12 Tatiana Suarez
13 Joanne Calderwood
14 Nina Ansaroff
15 Angela Hill

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT:

Champion: Nicco Montano

1 Valentina Shevchenko
2 Sijara Eubanks
3 Lauren Murphy
4 Alexis Davis
5 Roxanne Modafferi
5 Katlyn Chookagian -3
7 Barb Honchak -1
8 Liz Carmouche -1
9 Jessica-Rose Clark
10 Jessica Eye
11 Ashlee Evans-Smith
12 Mara Romero Borella
13 Paige VanZant
14 Montana De La Rosa
15 Rachael Ostovich

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT:

Champion: Amanda Nunes

1 Holly Holm
2 Raquel Pennington
3 Julianna Pena
4 Ketlen Vieira
5 Germaine de Randamie
6 Cat Zingano
7 Marion Reneau
8 Sara McMann
9 Aspen Ladd +1
10 Bethe Correia +1
11 Irene Aldana +1
12 Lucie Pudilova +1
13 Sarah Moras +1
14 Lina Lansberg +1
15 Gina Mazany *NR