MMA Rankings: Calm before a potential storm in the heavyweight division

Brazil's Fabricio Werdum lands a punch to United States' Cain Velasquez during a heavyweight mixed martial arts title bout at UFC 188 in Mexico City, Saturday, June 13, 2015. Werdum won the fight by submission. (AP Photo/Christian Palma)

UFC fighter Demetrious Johnson poses during weigh ins ahead of his UFC 197 flyweight fight against Henry Cejudo at the MGM Grand hotel-casino in Las Vegas on Friday, April 22, 2016. Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal Follow @csstevensphoto

The next few weeks will see a whole lot of the top fighters in the world competing and potentially some big changes near the top of several weight classes.

That’s not the case in this installment of the CoveringTheCage.com rankings.

With no major events last week, all of the rankings remained static.

Heavyweight could see a huge shakeup over the next few weeks. Top 10 contenders Alistair Overeem and Andrei Arlovski will meet in Rotterdam, Netherlands, on Sunday.

Champion Fabricio Werdum will put the title on the line against Stipe Miocic next week in Brazil. Those bouts could go a long way in reshaping the rankings in the division.

A key debate continues at the top of the pound-for-pound list as the groundswell continues to grow for Demetrious Johnson to pass Jon Jones for the No. 1 position.

Jones has a firm grip on the spot here, however.

There has also been some feedback on Ronda Rousey sitting atop the women’s bantamweight rankings despite Miesha Tate holding the belt. The simple answer is that Rousey has two wins over Tate already and would be a significant favorite in the potential rematch and Rousey’s body of work is unquestionably better than any of her rivals.

Feel free to share any disagreements and stay tuned each week for the latest updates and keep in mind, while the ranked weight classes are those used by the UFC, fighters competing outside the organization are eligible.

MEN

Heavyweight

Fabricio Werdum

Cain Velasquez

Stipe Miocic

Alistair Overeem

Travis Browne

Mark Hunt

Junior dos Santos

Andrei Arlovski

Ben Rothwell

Josh Barnett

Light Heavyweight

Jon Jones

Daniel Cormier

Anthony Johnson

Alexander Gustafsson

Glover Teixeira

Ryan Bader

Phil Davis

Liam McGeary

Ovince St. Preux

Corey Anderson

Middleweight

Luke Rockhold

Chris Weidman

Yoel Romero

Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza

Vitor Belfort

Lyoto Machida

Michael Bisping

Anderson Silva

Gegard Mousasi

Tim Kennedy

Welterweight

Robbie Lawler

Rory MacDonald

Ben Askren

Carlos Condit

Tyron Woodley

Stephen Thompson

Johny Hendricks

Neil Magny

Matt Brown

Demian Maia

Lightweight

Rafael dos Anjos

Khabib Nurmagomedov

Eddie Alvarez

Tony Ferguson

Donald Cerrone

Nate Diaz

Edson Barboza

Anthony Pettis

Will Brooks

Justin Gaethje

Featherweight

Conor McGregor

Jose Aldo

Frankie Edgar

Max Holloway

Chad Mendes

Ricardo Lamas

Daniel Straus

Cub Swanson

Charles Oliveira

Patricio Freire

Bantamweight

Dominick Cruz

TJ Dillashaw

Renan Barao

Urijah Faber

Raphael Assuncao

Aljamain Sterling

John Dodson

Bibiano Fernandes

Marlon Moraes

Thomas Almeida

Flyweight

Demetrious Johnson

Joseph Benavidez

Henry Cejudo

Ali Bagautinov

Jussier Formiga

Kyoji Horiguchi

Justin Scoggins

John Moraga

Ian McCall

Wilson Reis

WOMEN

Bantamweight

Ronda Rousey

Miesha Tate

Holly Holm

Amanda Nunes

Alexis Davis

Julianna Pena

Cat Zingano

Jessica Eye

Sara McMann

Valentina Shevchenko

Strawweight

Joanna Jedrzejczyk

Claudia Gadelha

Rose Namajunas

Jessica Aguilar

Valerie Letourneau

Carla Esparza

Tecia Torres

Karolina Kowalkiewicz

Livia Renata Souza

Alexa Grasso

OVERALL

Pound for Pound