UFC divisional rankings: Rose Namajunas takes No. 1 spot at strawweight with title-winning KO at UFC 261

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UFC 261 was loaded with big names and the potential for some big divisional shake-ups. With a trio of title fights atop the card, there was only one upset leading to a new champion. Rose Namajunas became strawweight champion after scoring a head kick knockout of Weili Zhang. She is the first two-time women’s champion in the history of the UFC. The victory moved Namajunas from No. 2 to the No. 1 spot in the CBS Sports UFC Divisional Rankings.

After suffering a knockout loss to welterweight champion Kamaru Usman in the main event, Jorge Masvidal dropped from No. 5 to No. 6 at 170 pounds. In the other title fight on the card, Valentina Shevchenko put on a dominant performance, taking down Jessica Andrade seven times before scoring a second-round TKO to retain the women’s flyweight championship. Andrade dropped from No. 2 to No. 5 in the division.

Saturday’s UFC Fight Night features just one fight with CBS Sports ranked fighters.

  • Light heavyweight: No. 2 Dominick Reyes vs. No. 6 Jiri Prochazka

Rankings are compiled following the submission of ballots by Brent Brookhouse, Brian Campbell and Brandon Wise. Without further ado, here’s where things stand ahead of Saturday’s card.

For Brian Campbell’s updated Pound for Pound Rankings, click here.

Flyweight

Fighter

Record

1. Deivieson Figueiredo (c)

20-1-1

2. Brandon Moreno

18-5-2

3. Askar Askarov

12-0-1

4. Matt Schnell

15-5

5. Alexandre Pantoja

23-5

6. Kai Kara-France

22-9

7. Joseph Benavidez

28-8

8. Alex Perez

24-6

9. Brandon Royval

12-5

10. Jussier Formiga

23-8

Bantamweight

Fighter

Record

1. Petr Yan

15-1

2. Aljamain Sterling (c)

19-3

3. Cory Sandhagen

14-2

4. Cody Garbrandt

12-3

5. Pedro Munhoz

19-5

6. Marlon Moraes

23-7-1

7. Jimmie Rivera

23-5

8. Raphael Assuncao

27-8

9. Merab Dvalishvili

12-4

10. Jose Aldo

29-7

Featherweight

Fighter

Record

1. Alexander Volkanovski (c)

22-1

2. Max Holloway

22-6

3. Brian Ortega

15-1

4. Zabit Magomedsharipov

18-1

5. Yair Rodriguez

12-2

6. Korean Zombie

16-6

7. Calvin Kattar

22-5

8. Josh Emmett

16-2

9. Dan Ige

15-3

10. Shane Burgos

13-2

Lightweight

Fighter

Record

1. Dustin Poirier

27-6

T2. Justin Gaethje

22-3

T2. Charles Oliveira

30-8

4. Michael Chandler

22-5

5. Tony Ferguson

25-5

6. Rafael dos Anjos

30-13

7. Conor McGregor

22-5

8. Drew Dober

23-9

9. Dan Hooker

20-10

10. Paul Felder

17-6

Welterweight

Fighter

Record

1. Kamaru Usman (c)

19-1

2. Colby Covington

16-2

3. Leon Edwards

18-3

4. Gilbert Burns

19-4

5. Stephen Thompson

16-4-1

6. Jorge Masvidal

35-15

7. Michael Chiesa

18-4

8. Vicente Luque

20-7-1

9. Santiago Ponzinibbio

27-4

10. Neil Magny

24-8

Middleweight

Fighter

Record

1. Israel Adesanya (c)

20-1

2. Robert Whittaker

23-5

3. Paulo Costa

13-1

4. Jared Cannonier

13-5

5. Derek Brunson

21-7

6. Marvin Vettori

16-4-1

7. Darren Till

18-2-1

8. Jack Hermansson

21-6

9. Uriah Hall

17-9

10. Edmen Shahbayan

11-1

Light heavyweight

Fighter

Record

1. Jan Blachowicz (c)

28-8

T2. Glover Teixeira

32-7

T2. Dominick Reyes

12-2

4. Aleksandar Rakic

14-2

5. Anthony Smith

35-16

6. Jiri Prochazka

27-3-1

7. Thiago Santos

21-9

8. Magomed Ankalaev

15-1

9. Johnny Walker

18-5

10. Nikita Krylov

26-8

Heavyweight

Fighter

Record

1. Francis Ngannou (c)

16-3

2. Stipe Miocic

20-4

3. Derrick Lewis

25-7

4. Curtis Blaydes

14-3

5. Alexander Volkov

33-8

6. Ciryl Gane

8-0

7. Alistair Overeem

47-19

8. Jairzinho Rozenstruik

11-2

9. Augusto Sakai

15-2-1

10. Marcin Tybura

21-6

Women’s strawweight

Fighter

Record

1. Rose Namajunas (c) 

10-4

2. Weili Zhang

21-1

3. Joanna Jedrzejczyk

16-4

4. Carla Esparza

17-6

5. Tatiana Suarez

9-0

6. Marina Rodriguez

13-1-2

7. Yan Xiaonan

13-1

8. Mackenzie Dern

11-1

9. Michelle Waterson

18-8

10. Jessica Andrade

21-9

Women’s flyweight

Fighter

Record

1. Valentina Shevchenko (c)

21-3

2. Lauren Murphy

14-4

3. Jessica Andrade

21-9

4. Katlyn Chookagian

15-4

5. Jennifer Maia

18-7-1

Women’s bantamweight

Fighter

Record

1. Amanda Nunes (c)

21-4

2. Germaine de Randamie

10-4

3. Holly Holm

14-5

4. Aspen Ladd

9-1

5. Yana Kunitskaya

14-5

6. Irene Aldana

12-6

7. Julianna Pena

10-4

8. Julia Avila

8-2

9. Ketlen Vieira

11-2

10. Sara McMann

12-6

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