MMA rankings for July: Alistair Overeem moves up in the heavyweight division

The Times’ MMA rankings for July, as compiled by Todd Martin.

Heavyweight

1. Stipe Miocic

2. Alistair Overeem

3. Fabricio Werdum

4. Cain Velasquez

5. Junior Dos Santos

6. Ben Rothwell

7. Vitaly Minakov

8. Francis Ngannou

9. Mark Hunt

10. Derrick Lewis

Alistair Overeem picked up a close and debatable decision win over Fabricio Werdum at UFC 213 to move closer to another title shot. The clearest round of the fight was Werdum’s success in the third but Overeem did a little bit more in the first and second. Mark Hunt moves back into the top 10 with a TKO win over Derrick Lewis in a war of heavyweight attrition. Travis Browne drops out after another loss, this time via submission to Oleksiy Oliynyk.

Light Heavyweight

1. Daniel Cormier

2. Alexander Gustafsson

3. Ryan Bader

4. Phil Davis

5. Jimi Manuwa

6. Glover Teixeira

7. Volkan Oezdemir

8. Misha Cirkunov

9. King Mo Lawal

10. Nikita Krylov

A rather bleak light-heavyweight division will get a talent infusion when longtime champion Jon Jones returns to take on Daniel Cormier in the main event of UFC 214. Jones was suspended for a year by USADA and now gets a chance to recapture the light-heavyweight title he never lost in the cage. Ryan Bader captured the Bellator light heavyweight title via split decision from Phil Davis at Madison Square Garden. Bader and Davis have fought twice and given how lackluster those fights have been, fans can only hope there won’t be a third fight between the two.

Middleweight

1. Michael Bisping

2. Robert Whittaker

3. Yoel Romero

4. Luke Rockhold

5. Gegard Mousasi

6. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza

7. Chris Weidman

8. Kelvin Gastelum

9. David Branch

10. Krzysztof Jotko

The UFC middleweight division gained a little bit of clarity and lost a little bit of clarity in the last month. Things became clearer when Robert Whittaker defeated Yoel Romero to be declared interim middleweight champion and it was announced Whittaker will fight Michael Bisping next to crown a unified champion. However, things became murkier when Gegard Mousasi left UFC for Bellator, a crucial loss of one of the top contenders before he had the opportunity to prove where he stood relative to the other top UFC middleweights. If Mousasi continues to win in Bellator, fans will wonder whether he’s better than the UFC’s middleweight best.

Welterweight

1. Tyron Woodley

2. Demian Maia

3. Robbie Lawler

4. Stephen Thompson

5. Rory MacDonald

6. Ben Askren

7. Neil Magny

8. Douglas Lima

9. Jorge Masvidal

10. Colby Covington

A couple of newcomers enter the top 10. First is Douglas Lima, the Bellator welterweight champion, who won his third straight at Bellator NYC. Those victories have come over highly regarded opposition: Lorenz Larkin, Andrey Koreshkov and Paul Daley. Dangerous wrestler Colby Covington also cracks the top 10 after a clear decision win over longtime contender Dong Hyun Kim.

Lightweight

1. Conor McGregor

2. Khabib Nurmagomedov

3. Tony Ferguson

4. Justin Gaethje

5. Eddie Alvarez

6. Edson Barboza

7. Kevin Lee

8. Michael Chiesa

9. Beneil Dariush

10. Anthony Pettis

Justin Gaethje may have authored the most spectacular debut in UFC history in Las Vegas, entering into a thrilling brawl with Michael Johnson and overwhelming Johnson for the knockout in the second round. Gaethje announced himself as one of the most exciting fighters in the sport and surely set himself up for more big fights in the near future. Kevin Lee got the last word over Michael Chiesa, dominating him in Oklahoma City before the fight was stopped in the first round. Chiesa complained about the stoppage but Lee had a deep rear naked choke with plenty of time left in the round. The referee shouldn’t have stepped in but it’s highly unlikely it made any difference in the outcome. Anthony Pettis returned to lightweight with a unanimous decision win over quality opponent Jim Miller.

Featherweight

1. Max Holloway

2. Jose Aldo

3. Frankie Edgar

4. Cub Swanson

5. Ricardo Lamas

6. Patricio “Pitbull” Freire

7. Daniel Straus

9. Doo Ho Choi

10. Chan Sung Jung

Max Holloway’s long path to the top of the featherweight division reached its conclusion at UFC 212 when he knocked out longtime champion Jose Aldo to become unified featherweight champion. With his unique personality and entertaining fight style, Holloway has the potential to become one of the sport’s top stars. However, he faces a stiff challenge next time out when he defends against the great Frankie Edgar.

Bantamweight

1. Cody Garbrandt

2. Dominick Cruz

3. T.J. Dillashaw

4. Raphael Assuncao

5. Marlon Moraes

6. Bibiano Fernandes

7. John Lineker

8. Eduardo Dantas

9. Jimmie Rivera

10. Thomas Almeida

Few thought that Raphael Assuncao defeated Marlon Moraes in Moraes’ UFC debut but all that mattered was two of the three judges gave it to Assuncao. That got Moraes’ UFC career off to a rough start against an opponent it is difficult to look impressive against.

Women’s Bantamweight

1. Amanda Nunes

2. Valentina Shevchenko

3. Julianna Pena

4. Holly Holm

5. Cat Zingano

6. Sara McMann

7. Raquel Pennington

8. Alexis Davis

9. Tonya Evinger

10. Sarah Kaufman

The women’s bantamweight title fight between Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko scheduled for the main event of UFC 213 unfortunately did not take place as Nunes was hospitalized the day of the fight. The fight will be rescheduled likely for September and there’s no particular hurry as there aren’t a lot of challengers in line for the next shot.

Flyweight

1. Demetrious Johnson

2. Joseph Benavidez

3. Henry Cejudo

4. Kyoji Horiguchi

5. Ray Borg

6. Jussier Formiga

7. Wilson Reis

8. Brandon Moreno

9. Ian McCall

10. Sergio Pettis

Demetrious Johnson’s immediate direction in the UFC is unclear. Johnson was insistent upon not fighting T.J. Dillashaw for the UFC flyweight title, leading to a dispute between Johnson and the UFC. When that dispute is resolved it’s likely Johnson will fight his preferred opponent Ray Borg instead, an ironic twist given Johnson’s complaints that it’s UFC’s fault there’s little fan interest in his fights.

Women’s Strawweight

1. Joanna Jedrzejczyk

2. Claudia Gadelha

3. Karolina Kowalkiewicz

4. Rose Namajunas

5. Jessica Andrade

6. Tecia Torres

7. Carla Esparza

8. Maryna Moroz

9. Jessica Aguilar

10. Cynthia Calvillo

Claudia Gadelha cemented her position as the #2 women’s strawweight fighter with a first round submission over fellow top contender Karolina Kowalkiewicz. Given Gadelha has lost twice to Joanna Jedrzejczyk, she will likely have to wait for another opportunity. It has been a busy period for the division as Carla Esparza, Tecia Torres and Cynthia Calvillo all picked up wins in addition to Gadelha’s.