MMA Rankings: Michael Bisping’s shocking win shaking up middleweight division

By ADAM HILL LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

9 years ago

Michael Bisping celebrates his knockout win against Luke Rockhold in the first round of the UFC 199 middleweight title bout at The Forum on Saturday, June 4, 2016, in Inglewood, Calif. (Erik Verduzco/Las Vegas Review-Journal) Follow @Erik_Verduzco

Michael Bisping would almost certainly be an underdog to any of the other fighters in the top five of the UFC’s middleweight division.

But it’s impossible to ignore the fact he took Luke Rockhold’s belt by knocking the No. 3 pound-for-pound fighter in the CoveringTheCage.com rankings.

Bisping shoots all the way to the top of the middleweight division in the latest installment.

It may be a short-lived stay. No matter who Bisping gets matched up with next, he faces an uphill battle in defending the belt.

Don’t tell him that, though. Nobody thought he had a chance against Rockhold, either.

Bisping isn’t the only big mover this week. Jessica Andrade’s impressive strawweight debut was enough to propel her into the rankings, while bantamweights Cody Garbrandt and Bryan Caraway have silenced all remaining doubters to take their rightful place in the top 10.

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

Stipe Miocic

Fabricio Werdum

Cain Velasquez

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

Liam McGeary

Phil Davis

Ovince St. Preux

Nikita Krylov

Middleweight

Michael Bisping

Luke Rockhold

Chris Weidman

Yoel Romero

Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza

Lyoto Machida

Vitor Belfort

Anderson Silva

Gegard Mousasi

Tim Kennedy

Welterweight

Robbie Lawler

Rory MacDonald

Ben Askren

Carlos Condit

Tyron Woodley

Stephen Thompson

Johny Hendricks

Demian Maia

Neil Magny

Andrey Koreshkov

Lightweight

Rafael dos Anjos

Khabib Nurmagomedov

Eddie Alvarez

Tony Ferguson

Nate Diaz

Edson Barboza

Anthony Pettis

Will Brooks

Justin Gaethje

Michael Chiesa

Featherweight

Conor McGregor

Jose Aldo

Frankie Edgar

Max Holloway

Chad Mendes

Daniel Straus

Cub Swanson

Charles Oliveira

Ricardo Lamas

Jeremy Stephens

Brian Ortega

Bantamweight

Dominick Cruz

TJ Dillashaw

Urijah Faber

Raphael Assuncao

John Dodson

Bryan Caraway

Cody Garbrandt

Aljamain Sterling

Bibiano Fernandes

Thomas Almeida

Flyweight

Demetrious Johnson

Joseph Benavidez

Henry Cejudo

Ali Bagautinov

Jussier Formiga

Kyoji Horiguchi

Justin Scoggins

John Moraga

Wilson Reis

Louis Smolka

WOMEN

Bantamweight

Ronda Rousey

Miesha Tate

Holly Holm

Amanda Nunes

Alexis Davis

Julianna Pena

Cat Zingano

Sara McMann

Tonya Evinger

Jessica Eye

Strawweight

Joanna Jedrzejczyk

Claudia Gadelha

Rose Namajunas

Jessica Aguilar

Valerie Letourneau

Carla Esparza

Tecia Torres

Karolina Kowalkiewicz

Angela Hill

Jessica Andrade

OVERALL

Pound-for-Pound