What’s the story?
Cody “No Love” Garbrandt overcame all odds to score a victory over Dominick Cruz and became the UFC Bantamweight champion. He became only the second man to ever defeat Cruz. He was also the first man to defeat “The Dominator” inside the octagon.
His exceptional performance against former longtime UFC Bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz has helped him in securing the fifth position in the UFC pound-for-pound rankings.
He is only ranked behind the featherweight champion Jose Aldo, Light Heavyweight champion Daniel ‘DC’ Cormier, Lightweight champion “The Notorious” Conor McGregor and the Flyweight champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson.
Cruz only dropped one spot in the Bantamweight rankings from champion to top contender. He previously sat at third in the pound-for-pound rankings and has now dropped down to eighth after his first loss in almost a decade.
He is the highest ranked non-champion on the list and is ranked ahead of title-holders Tyron Woodley, Michael Bisping and Amanda Nunes.
In the women’s pound-for-pound rankings, former women’s Bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey fell to fourth place. Rousey was once the queen of women’s pound-for-pound rankings but her previous two losses have seen her slip down to the fourth position.
In case you didn’t know...
Pound-for-pound is a term used in combat sports such as boxing or MMA to reflect an assessment as to who the better fighters are regardless of size and weight classes.
The current overall UFC pound-for-pound rankings are as follows:
(1) Demetrious Johnson(2) Conor McGregor(3) Daniel Cormier(4) Jose Aldo(5) Cody Garbrandt(6) Stipe Miocic(7) Joanna Jedrzejczyk(8) Dominick Cruz(9) Tyron Woodley(10) Michael Bisping
The heart of the matter
One year ago, Cruz recaptured the UFC 135-pound title, earning a split decision over TJ Dillashaw in one of the year’s finest fights.
However, after not losing an MMA fight for nearly 10 years, his reign would not last until 2017, as a former Dillashaw stablemate at Team Alpha Male, Garbrandt, turned in a stupendous performance at UFC 207 to take the UFC title and bantamweight supremacy.
He also overtook Cruz in the pound-for-pound rankings.
Ronda Rousey too has lost her position at the top of the mountain in women’s pound-for-pound rankings after her loss to Amanda Nunes.
What next?
At UFC 207, Garbrandt didn’t just take the Bantamweight title he also proved that he is one of the best fighters on the UFC roster. While “Mighty Mouse” still remains the pound-for-pound king, Cody has made a huge statement by entering in the top five pound-for-pound fighters list.
It has to be seen if Rousey and Cruz can take back their respective titles and their lost ranks in the pound-for-pound rankings.
Sportskeeda’s Take
Pound-for-pound rankings can give a fair assessment of who are the better fighters irrespective of their weight classes. However, since these fighters do not compete directly against each other thus these rankings may vary and judging the best pound-for-pound fighter is also subjective.
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