Rankings Focus: Sorting out the UFC's bantamweight elite
Opinions on Dominick Cruz and the UFC's official bantamweight rankings run the gamut.
Most people who are out as long as Cruz has been (see: T.J. Grant, Nick and Nate Diaz), have been removed from eligibility altogether. Cruz has not, but some people are not voting for him anyway.
Others, meanwhile, are putting him in the top two or three and why shouldn't they? If he's out there to be ranked, Cruz should be ranked according to his résumé, not bumped down because he has not fought in three years. I have Cruz at No. 2, right below former champion Renan Barao. Lest we not forget, Cruz has won nine in a row and was never beaten for the title.
But officially, Cruz is No. 10 -- two spots up from last week's No. 12.
Why did Cruz get moved up when he hasn't fought since 2011? Probably because some voters realized he's fighting this weekend against Takeya Mizugaki. With some, it's like out of sight, out of mind. Now that Cruz is back on the radar, it gives them some kind of faux license to rank him higher or put him back on the list. Weird, right?
Can't forget Urijah Faber when it comes to the bantamweight hierarchy.
The other strange thing about the bantamweight rankings is how they are reflected on the pound-for-pound list. T.J. Dillashaw is the champion. He dominated Barao back in May at UFC 173. Yet, Barao is still one spot ahead of Dillashaw in the pound-for-pound rankings at No. 10. Cruz isn't ranked pound-for-pound at all, though before his multiple injuries he probably should have been somewhere in the top five.
Now that Cruz gets back, it makes things really interesting in the bantamweight division. If "The Dominator" can beat Mizugaki on Saturday, he should vault up the rankings and be right below Barao. Maybe even ahead of him. Barao had to pull out of his rematch with Dillashaw last month at UFC 177 one day before the bout due to an injury sustained during weight cutting. He's been lambasted by the UFC and the effects were seen when he dropped a spot in the pound-for-pound rankings a few weeks ago.
Regardless of how you feel about who is ranked where, Cruz's return allows for all kinds of fun matchups -- Dillashaw vs. Cruz, Barao vs. Cruz and even Cruz vs. Urijah Faber III. Cruz being back makes 135 pounds one of the most interesting weight classes at the top.
That's not even mentioning top prospects like Aljamain Sterling and Chris Holdsworth and the emergence of Masanori Kanehara, who should have debuted in the rankings this week after beating then-No. 10 Alex Caceres. Caceres moved down four spots to No. 14, but Kanehara is nowhere to be found.
If Cruz beats Mizugaki, expect a massive -- and positive -- upheaval.
Inexplicable move of the week: Mike Easton
Mike Easton was always fun to have around, but now he's been cut from the UFC.
Sticking with the bantamweights, here's an odd one. Easton moved up one spot to No. 14, ahead of Joe Soto, on Monday. One day later, FOX Sports confirmed with UFC officials that Easton had been cut by the organization. Easton has lost four in a row and his best win in the UFC was over Ivan Menjivar. Why he was still ranked in the first place was strange.
But as far as cut fighters being ranked, there is precedent. Francis Carmont was released by the UFC last week and remains No. 15 among middleweights. It's probably about time the UFC cleans up its rankings database. As of this past weekend, Roxanne Modafferi and Peggy Morgan, long ago cut by the UFC, were eligible to be ranked as women's bantamweights.
Rankings riffs
-- Mark Hunt moved up one spot in the heavyweight rankings to No. 5, ahead of Josh Barnett. Ironically, Barnett is the man Hunt wants to fight next, which doesn't make a ton of sense for him from a rankings perspective. Also on the heavyweight list, Roy Nelson moved down a spot to No. 9 after being knocked out by Hunt on Saturday in Japan. Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva is up a notch to No. 8.
-- Jorge Masvidal moved up one spot to No. 12 ahead of Rustam Khabilov. Here's another case of a fighter competing soon, so he's in the voters' minds. For some reason, that means he should be ranked higher to some. Masvidal is a fantastic lightweight, but Khabilov dominated him when they fought. A loss to Benson Henderson doesn't mean Khabilov should be under Masvidal.
-- Dan Henderson is back over Ryan Bader at No. 7 on the light heavyweight list. This is like a weekly thing with both men jockeying back and forth. Bader is clearly more relevant at this point than Henderson is. I have Bader at No. 6, above Phil Davis following a dominant win over Ovince Saint Preux last month.
