Former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz, who once outranked Jon Jones on the promotionās pound-for-pound chart, has been abruptly pulled from the latest rankings in this weekās official update. Probably because the 39 year-old āDominatorā (24-4) has not competed in over two years and has yet to book a return fight.
Thatās not all.
Rose Namajunas is now 2-2 since jumping to flyweight.
Her most recent loss, a five-round unanimous decision at the hands of 125-pound contender Erin Blanchfield atop the UFC Edmonton fight card last weekend in Canada, cost her some valuable real estate in this weekās official update.
In two categories.
āThugā (13-7) dropped two places to No. 8 on the pound-for-pound ladder, and one spot to No. 6 in the flyweight division. As for Blanchfield (13-2), she jumped to No. 6 on the pound-for-pound leaderboard but held her position at No. 3 at 125 pounds.
Rankings are generated by a voting panel made up of media members. The media members were asked to vote for who they feel are the top fighters in the UFC by weight-class and pound-for-pound. A fighter is only eligible to be voted on if they are in active status in the UFC. A fighter can appear in more than one weight division at a time. The champion and interim champion are considered to be in the top positions of their respective divisions and therefore are not eligible for voting by weight-class. However, the champions can be voted on for the pound-for-pound rankings.
Take a look at what the latest rankings field looks like courtesy of UFC.com. Note: (+/- = movement in rankings, T = tie, *NR = Not previously ranked).
MENāS POUND-FOR-POUND
- Islam Makhachev
- Alex Pereira
- Jon Jones
- Ilia Topuria
- Belal Muhammad
- Dricus Du Plessis
- Merab Dvalishvili
- Tom Aspinall
- Leon Edwards
- Alexander Volkanovski
- Alexandre Pantoja
- Max Holloway
- Sean OāMalley
- Sean Strickland
- Israel Adesanya
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Alexandre Pantoja
SEE OP for more ^
Anybody who hasnāt fought in one year should automatically drop out of the ratings. If they get a fight scheduled, they could be allowed back in based on past performances. All my opinion, of course.
Dominick Cruz is looking for one last dance before hanging the gloves up on a long and illustrious career.
Cruz has been fighting professionally since January 2005, which means his 20th anniversary in combat sports is right around the corner. And what better way to celebrate that marker than with a final fight? In a new interview with TMZ Sports, āThe Dominatorā shared his thoughts on how heād like to wrap things up.
āI think I got a last dance, I got one last dance in me, just to go out there and go have fun,ā Cruz said. āAnd when I say āfunā I mean āfight to the bitter death and see what I have in me.ā The fun comes months after that, thatās where it gets to set in and okay, that was fun.ā
āBut Iām ready to walk into the fire again and see what life and death really looks like. And one more go at that would be a pleasure. So Iām building myself up, Iām at altitude, Iām out here in Mexico City [at the UFC Performance Institute]. Some of the best training Iāve ever had in my whole career.ā