Times MMA rankings: Stipe Miocic leaps to the head of the class

Todd Martin’s MMA rankings for May:

Heavyweight

1. Stipe Miocic
2. Alistair Overeem
3. Fabricio Werdum
4. Cain Velasquez
5. Junior Dos Santos
6. Ben Rothwell
7. Andrei Arlovski
8. Travis Browne
9. Vitaly Minakov
10. Mark Hunt

Stipe Miocic captured the UFC heavyweight crown from Fabricio Werdum via first round knockout in the main event of UFC 198 in Werdum’s home country of Brazil. Werdum chased after Miocic recklessly and Miocic made him pay for it. Next up for Miocic is likely Alistair Overeem, who won his fourth fight in a row by knocking out Andrei Arlovski. Cain Velasquez could also play spoiler for Overeem if he looks particularly impressive in a fight against Travis Browne at UFC 200.

Light Heavyweight

1. Jon Jones
2. Daniel Cormier
3. Anthony Johnson
4. Alexander Gustafsson
5. Glover Teixeira
6. Phil Davis
7. Ryan Bader
8. Liam McGeary
9. Ovince St. Preux
10. Rashad Evans

Jon Jones returned to action at UFC 197, defeating Ovince St. Preux via unanimous decision in a fight that felt more like a sparring session. Now, Jones will take on Daniel Cormier for the second time in the main event of UFC 200 to definitively prove the best light heavyweight in the world. In other action, Phil Davis eked out a decision win over King Mo Lawal in Bellator to earn a shot at Bellator champion Liam McGeary.

Middleweight

1. Luke Rockhold
2. Chris Weidman
3. Yoel Romero
4. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza
5. Michael Bisping
6. Lyoto Machida
7. Anderson Silva
8. Gegard Mousasi
9. Robert Whittaker
10. Vitor Belfort

Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza was impressive at UFC 198, scoring a TKO win in the first round over Vitor Belfort. Now Jacare will have to hope he’s selected for a middleweight title shot. There are some excellent contenders for that next shot between Jacare, Yoel Romero and Michael Bisping. Also in the past month, Robert Whittaker won his fifth straight fight to enter the top ten. He defeated Rafael Natal via unanimous decision to end Natal’s four fight winning streak.

Welterweight

1. Robbie Lawler
2. Carlos Condit
3. Rory MacDonald
4. Demian Maia
5. Stephen Thompson
6. Tyron Woodley
7. Ben Askren
8. Johny Hendricks
9. Dong Hyun Kim
10. Neil Magny

Demian Maia won his fifth straight, submitting Matt Brown in the third round after dominating him on the ground for most of the fight. The welterweight division is now loaded with contenders, with Condit, MacDonald, Maia, Thompson and Askren all deserving shots at champion Robbie Lawler. In other action, Gunnar Nelson rebounded from a loss to Maia to submit Albert Tumenov impressively and Andrey Koreshkov spoiled Benson Henderson’s Bellator debut with a one sided decision win.

Lightweight

1. Rafael Dos Anjos
2. Khabib Nurmagomedov
3. Tony Ferguson
4. Eddie Alvarez
5. Gilbert Melendez
6. Edson Barboza
7. Will Brooks
8. Nate Diaz
9. Anthony Pettis
10. Justin Gaethje

Edson Barboza scored the biggest win of his career, dominating former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis in a unanimous decision victory. It was a devastating setback for Pettis, who has now lost three straight and fallen mightily from his once lofty status. Will Brooks was released from his Bellator contract and is now a free agent. It’s likely he’ll end up joining the deep and talented UFC lightweight division.

Featherweight

1. Conor McGregor
2. Jose Aldo
3. Frankie Edgar
4. Max Holloway
5. Chad Mendes
6. Ricardo Lamas
7. Cub Swanson
8. Daniel Straus
9. Patricio “Pitbull” Freire
10. Charles Oliveira

Patricio Freire returned to action in Bellator, submitting Henry Corrales in the second round. He has fought Bellator champion Daniel Straus three times already, so he may have to wait for another title shot. Renan Barao will make his UFC featherweight debut on May 29, taking on Jeremy Stephens in a test of how well Barao will do at a higher weight.

Bantamweight

1. Dominick Cruz
2. T.J. Dillashaw
3. Renan Barao
4. Urijah Faber
5. Raphael Assuncao
6. Bibiano Fernandes
7. Michael McDonald
8. Marlon Moraes
9. Thomas Almeida
10. Aljamain Sterling

Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber will fight for a third time at UFC 199 in June. It’s a big rivalry fight, but Cruz is an overwhelming favorite with the perception being that Faber isn’t the fighter he once was. Another intriguing upcoming bantamweight bout is the May 29 showdown between undefeated fighters on the rise Thomas Almeida and Cody Garbrandt.

Women’s Bantamweight

1. Miesha Tate
2. Holly Holm
3. Ronda Rousey
4. Cat Zingano
5. Amanda Nunes
6. Alexis Davis
7. Sara McMann
8. Julianna Pena
9. Jessica Eye
10. Valentina Shevchenko

In addition to Miesha Tate’s title defense against Amanda Nunes, UFC announced that Holly Holm will fight Valentina Shevchenko on a Fox card. It’s a risky pair of fights for UFC, with Tate and Holm taking on much less well-known opponents.

Flyweight

1. Demetrious Johnson
2. Joseph Benavidez
3. Henry Cejudo
4. Jussier Formiga
5. Kyoji Horiguchi

Women’s Strawweight

1. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
2. Claudia Gadelha
3. Jessica Aguilar
4. Carla Esparza
5. Rose Namajunas