MMA Rankings: Diaz bumps Johnson from lightweight list

December 19, 2015; Orlando, FL, USA; Nate Diaz against Michael Johnson during UFC Fight Night at Amway Center. (Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports)

Conor McGregor remains the most talked about man in the sport, but Nate Diaz jumped into that conversation with a huge Saturday night on national television.

Not only did Diaz put on a show with his best performance in years during a unanimous decision over Michael Johnson at UFC on Fox 17 in Orlando, Fla., but he delivered an expletive-filled tirade that frightened censors and had fans scrambling to social media to find out what had been dumped from the broadcast.

He followed it up with a brilliant news conference that brought him right into the conversation to fight the top contenders in the lightweight division. It also moved him into the CoveringTheCage.com rankings and bumped Johnson from the division’s top ten with his second straight loss.

Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Valentina Shevchenko both moved into the top 10 of their respective weight classes with impressive UFC debuts in Orlando.

Kowalkiewicz cracked the women’s strawweight rankings with a unanimous decision victory over Randa Markos and Shevchenko took out Sarah Kaufman.

Lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos also made a jump into the top 10 pound-for-pound rankings by extending his winning streak to five by making quick work of Donald Cerrone.

Stay tuned each Monday 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

Andrei Arlovski

Ben Rothwell

Alistair Overeem

Travis Browne

Junior dos Santos

Josh Barnett

Mark Hunt

Light Heavyweight

Jon Jones

Daniel Cormier

Anthony Johnson

Ryan Bader

Alexander Gustafsson

Phil Davis

Glover Teixeira

Liam McGeary

Rashad Evans

Ovince St. Preux

Middleweight

Luke Rockhold

Chris Weidman

Yoel Romero

Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza

Vitor Belfort

Lyoto Machida

Tim Kennedy

Michael Bisping

Gegard Mousasi

Robert Whittaker

Welterweights

Robbie Lawler

Rory MacDonald

Carlos Condit

Johny Hendricks

Ben Askren

Tyron Woodley

Hector Lombard

Matt Brown

Demian Maia

Stephen Thompson

Lightweights

Rafael dos Anjos

Anthony Pettis

Khabib Nurmagomedov

Benson Henderson

Tony Ferguson

Donald Cerrone

Nate Diaz

Eddie Alvarez

Gilbert Melendez

Will Brooks

Featherweight

Conor McGregor

Jose Aldo

Frankie Edgar

Max Holloway

Chad Mendes

Ricardo Lamas

Daniel Straus

Cub Swanson

Charles Oliveira

Patricio Freire

Bantamweights

TJ Dillashaw

Dominick Cruz

Renan Barao

Urijah Faber

Raphael Assuncao

Aljamain Sterling

Bibiano Fernandes

Marlon Moraes

Marcos Galvao

John Lineker

Flyweights

Demetrious Johnson

Joseph Benavidez

John Dodson

Henry Cejudo

Ali Bagautinov

Jussier Formiga

Kyoji Horiguchi

John Moraga

Dustin Ortiz

Zach Makovsky

WOMEN

Bantamweight

Holly Holm

Ronda Rousey

Miesha Tate

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

Tecia Torres

Carla Esparza

Paige VanZant

Jessica Penne

Karolina Kowalkiewicz

OVERALL

Pound for Pound