Fabricio Werdum, Holly Holm stay on top of Times’ MMA rankings

The Times’ MMA rankings for the month of February

Heavyweight

1. Fabricio Werdum
2. Cain Velasquez
3. Stipe Miocic
4. Ben Rothwell
5. Alistair Overeem
6. Junior Dos Santos
7. Andrei Arlovski
8. Travis Browne
9. Vitaly Minakov
10. Josh Barnett

An impressive victory by Ben Rothwell, submitting Josh Barnett, adds a measure of clarity to the top of the heavyweight division. There is the champion Fabricio Werdum and also the former dominant champion Cain Velasquez. There are three additional challengers in the top mix riding a measure of momentum: Stipe Miocic (winner in five of his last six), Ben Rothwell (winner of four in a row) and Alistair Overeem (winner in four of his last five). Those are the fighters who are likely to be in the title mix over the next year or so as the division sorts itself out.

Light Heavyweight

1. Jon Jones
2. Daniel Cormier
3. Anthony Johnson
4. Alexander Gustafsson
5. Ryan Bader
6. Phil Davis
7. Glover Teixeira
8. Rashad Evans
9. Liam McGeary
10. Ovince St. Preux

Anthony Johnson had Ryan Bader intimidated from the jump in their Fox main event. Bader dove in for a desperation takedown pretty much immediately, pulled guard, went for a submission that had no chance of succeeding and then just covered up when Johnson was free and ready to start throwing punches. There are few fighters who want to deal with Johnson’s power. In another notable result, Ovince St. Preux badly injured his foot in a fight with Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante but still handily won the fight. Feijao inexplicably mostly backed away for most of three rounds from a limping, compromised St. Preux, who showed tremendous heart.

Middleweight

1. Luke Rockhold
2. Chris Weidman
3. Yoel Romero
4. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza
5. Anderson Silva
6. Lyoto Machida
7. Vitor Belfort
8. Tim Kennedy
9. Michael Bisping
10. Gegard Mousasi

Chris Weidman will receive an immediate rematch for the UFC middleweight championship against Luke Rockhold at UFC 199 in June. It’s a risky move for Weidman, who was battered in the first fight and will have limited time to alter his approach for the second. Weidman and his camp appear to be banking on the premise that he was winning the fight except for a spinning wheel kick. We’ll see about that.

Welterweight

1. Robbie Lawler
2. Carlos Condit
3. Rory MacDonald
4. Tyron Woodley
5. Stephen Thompson
6. Demian Maia
7. Ben Askren
8. Johny Hendricks
9. Hector Lombard
10. Dong Hyun Kim

Stephen Thompson put the welterweight division on notice with a shockingly dominant first round TKO over Johny Hendricks. Hendricks had fought the best of the division, he had never been stopped, and Thompson just picked him apart. Thompson has over time adapted his kickboxing style to MMA and he is now ready for the best in a deep and talented division.

Lightweight

1. Rafael Dos Anjos
2. Khabib Nurmagomedov
3. Tony Ferguson
4. Eddie Alvarez
5. Anthony Pettis
6. Donald Cerrone
7. Gilbert Melendez
8. Will Brooks
9. Beneil Dariush
10. Nate Diaz

A pair of big fights in the next two months will provide some substantial answers in the lightweight division. First, Rafael Dos Anjos will defend his UFC lightweight title against featherweight champion Conor McGregor in one of the biggest fights of the year. Then, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson will square off on Fox in April to determine the likely next challenger in a deep and talented division.

Featherweight

1. Conor McGregor
2. Jose Aldo
3. Frankie Edgar
4. Max Holloway
5. Chad Mendes
6. Ricardo Lamas
7. Cub Swanson
8. Daniel Straus
9. Patricio “Pitbull” Freire
10. Charles Oliveira

There’s not a lot going on in the featherweight division right now, with everyone waiting to see how Conor McGregor does fighting at lightweight. All the featherweights want the McGregor fight, but he could move up in weight permanently and leave the top featherweights to fight among themselves.

Bantamweight

1. Dominick Cruz
2. T.J. Dillashaw
3. Renan Barao
4. Urijah Faber
5. Raphael Assuncao
6. Bibiano Fernandes
7. Michael McDonald
8. Marlon Moraes
9. Thomas Almeida
10. Aljamain Sterling

Marlon Moraes was impressive again for WSOF, picking up a TKO win with a leg kick over Joseph Barajas in the first round. Moraes has won 11 straight and is building his case for being one of the best fighters in the world not under UFC contract.

Women’s Bantamweight

1. Holly Holm
2. Ronda Rousey
3. Miesha Tate
4. Cat Zingano
5. Alexis Davis
6. Amanda Nunes
7. Sara McMann
8. Julianna Pena
9. Jessica Eye
10. Valentina Shevchenko

The stakes will be extremely high at UFC 196 on March 5 when Holly Holm and Miesha Tate meet for the UFC women’s bantamweight crown. The winner is likely to get a massive money fight with Ronda Rousey towards the end of the year and it’s a big difference for the UFC as well given a Rousey-Holm rematch could be the biggest box office fight in the history of the sport.

Flyweight

1. Demetrious Johnson
2. Joseph Benavidez
3. John Dodson
4. Henry Cejudo
5. Jussier Formiga

Women’s Strawweight

1. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
2. Claudia Gadelha
3. Jessica Aguilar
4. Carla Esparza
5. Karolina Kowalkiewicz