UFC pound-for-pound rankings updated after Khabib’s retirement

Jon Jones is once again ranked as the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC men’s rankings after Khabib Nurmagomedov’s retirement.

While Khabib actually retired at UFC 254, the UFC still held out hope that he’d return. Now that it’s become clear that won’t happen, he’s been formally removed from the rankings.

Jones at the top of the mountain

There are two main stories coming from the men’s P4P update. The first, unsurprisingly, is the return of ‘Bones’ to the summit.

The second is one that fans will probably find a bit more intriguing – and it involves Conor McGregor.

After his defeat to Dustin Poirier at UFC 257, the Irishman was removed from the top 15 of the P4P rankings. Now, he’s up to 15th, with everyone else moving up one spot aside from Petr Yan who remains in 12th and Robert Whittaker who has jumped up from 13th to 11th.

Some fans will see that as favouritism from the UFC but others won’t care. In the end, it really does come down to how much stock you put in the rankings.

It’s the kind of debate that’ll rage on forever with some even feeling like Jones doesn’t deserve to be in first place. A big reason for that, of course, is because of how close his last fight against Dominick Reyes was.

He’s set to return to action in the near future to fight the UFC heavyweight champion – whether that’s Stipe Miocic or Francis Ngannou. Given that Miocic sits in third place and Kamaru Usman is in second with a fight against Jorge Masvidal on the horizon, there’s a chance we could see some big movements in the top three over the next few weeks.

But for now, Jon Jones is back on top.

Featured image credit: Getty