Sherdog’s Official Mixed Martial Arts Rankings

Whether he keeps his nose clean and reigns as a pound-for-pound king remains to be seen, but for now, Jon Jones is back and he is top light heavyweight on the planet.

Jones spent 15 months out of the cage and eight months out of our official rankings after his positive tests for clomiphene and letrozole prior to his slated rematch with Daniel Cormier at UFC 200. Just over a year after news of Jones' test failure broke, he returned to action at UFC 214 in Anaheim, California, and put an exclamation mark on his rivalry with Cormier, knocking out “DC” with a head kick and ground-and-pound in the third round.

The 205-pound division was on display elsewhere at UFC 214, especially where rankings are concerned. Just six months ago, few fight fans had much of an idea who Switzerland's Volkan Oezdemir was. Oezdemir is 3-0 in the Octagon after he flattened British banger Jimi Manuwa in just 42 seconds. With the victory, “No Time” jumps from No. 7 to our top five at 205 pounds.

Many of the UFC 214 particulars, even those in title fights, simply held down their positions. Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino now has a UFC title belt, but she was already the 145-pound queen of the world. Tyron Woodley is still on top at 170 pounds and Robbie Lawler is still the No. 2 welterweight in the world, while the likes of No. 3 Demian Maia and No. 10 Donald Cerrone stay put despite their defeats.

Outside of the light heavyweight class, it was the men's 145-pound division getting switched up courtesy of UFC 214.

With an unprecedented fourth consecutive third-round stoppage, Brian Ortega earned the biggest win of his career by submitting the previously undefeated Renato “Moicano” Carneiro. After Ortega's latest thrilling performance, “T-City” jumps from our contenders list to our No. 7 slot at featherweight. A divisional veteran and former UFC title challenger, Ricardo Lamas also reminded the MMA world he is still a force at 145 pounds, clobbering hot prospect and bubble-list entrant Jason Knight in the first round and rising one spot to No. 4. That very same contenders list also welcomes a new fighter, as UFC 214 late replacement Calvin Kattar won a unanimous decision over Andre Fili to take his hypothetical 15th featherweight position.

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