MMA Rankings: Featherweight Yair Rodriguez nearly breaks in with strong performance

Yair Rodriguez continued his impressive ascent in the UFC featherweight division with a split-decision win over Alex Caceres in the main event of the UFC’s first card in Utah.

It just wasn’t quite enough to supplant any of the top-10 featherweights in the newest CoveringTheCage.com rankings.

Rodriguez, one of the flashiest and most creative strikers in the entire organization will almost certainly break into that group in the near future should he continue to perform at such a high level.

At just 23 years old, he has plenty of time to make his move.

Cub Swanson looked very good in defeating Tatsuya Kawajiri on the same card, but also held steady in his spot this week.

Feel free to share any disagreements and stay tuned 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

1. Stipe Miocic

2. Fabricio Werdum

3. Cain Velasquez

4. Alistair Overeem

5. Junior dos Santos

6. Ben Rothwell

7. Mark Hunt

8. Andrei Arlovski

9. Travis Browne

10. Josh Barnett

Light Heavyweight

1. Jon Jones

2. Daniel Cormier

3. Anthony Johnson

4. Alexander Gustafsson

5. Glover Teixeira

6. Ryan Bader

7. Liam McGeary

8. Nikita Krylov

9. Phil Davis

10. Ovince St. Preux

Middleweight

1. Michael Bisping

2. Luke Rockhold

3. Chris Weidman

4. Yoel Romero

5. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza

6. Gegard Mousasi

7. Lyoto Machida

8. Vitor Belfort

9. Anderson Silva

10. Tim Kennedy

Welterweight

1. Tyron Woodley

2. Stephen Thompson

3. Robbie Lawler

4. Rory MacDonald

5. Ben Askren

6. Carlos Condit

7. Demian Maia

8. Neil Magny

9. Andrey Koreshkov

10. Kelvin Gastelum

Lightweight

1. Eddie Alvarez

2. Khabib Nurmagomedov

3. Rafael dos Anjos

4. Tony Ferguson

5. Edson Barboza

6. Nate Diaz

7. Anthony Pettis

8. Will Brooks

9. Justin Gaethje

10. Michael Chiesa

Featherweight

1. Conor McGregor

2. Jose Aldo

3. Frankie Edgar

4. Max Holloway

5. Daniel Straus

6. Cub Swanson

7. Charles Oliveira

8. Ricardo Lamas

9. Jeremy Stephens

10. Brian Ortega

Bantamweight

1. Dominick Cruz

2. TJ Dillashaw

3. Urijah Faber

4. John Dodson

5. Bryan Caraway

6. Cody Garbrandt

7. Raphael Assuncao

8. John Lineker

9. Bibiano Fernandes

10. Aljamain Sterling

Flyweight

1. Demetrious Johnson

2. Joseph Benavidez

3. Henry Cejudo

4. Ali Bagautinov

5. Jussier Formiga

6. Kyoji Horiguchi

7. Wilson Reis

8. Zach Makovsky

9. Louis Smolka

10. Ian McCall

WOMEN

Bantamweight

1. Ronda Rousey

2. Amanda Nunes

3. Valentina Shevchenko

4. Miesha Tate

5. Holly Holm

6. Julianna Pena

7. Alexis Davis

8. Cat Zingano

9. Sara McMann

10. Tonya Evinger

Strawweight

1. Joanna Jedrzejczyk

2. Claudia Gadelha

3. Karolina Kowalkiewicz

4. Rose Namajunas

5. Jessica Aguilar

6. Valerie Letourneau

7. Carla Esparza

8. Tecia Torres

9. Angela Hill

10. Jessica Andrade

OVERALL

Pound-for-Pound

1. Demetrious Johnson

2. Jon Jones

3. Daniel Cormier

4. Dominick Cruz

5. Conor McGregor

6. Joanna Jedrzejczyk

7. Stipe Miocic

8. Eddie Alvarez

9. Khabib Nurmagomedov

10. Tyron Woodley

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj

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