Following his UFC 229 defeat to Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor has taken a significant drop down the pound-for-pound rankings.
While little stock ought to be paid to the official UFC rankings due to the lack of credibility of some of the voters, McGregor will undoubtedly be disappointed to see his name fall out of the top five.
‘The Notorious’ and Nurmagomedov have now switched places in the rankings, with McGregor dropping six places to No. 8 and the still-undefeated Russian moving up to No. 2.
The update, which took place two days after McGregor tapped out to a fourth-round neck crank in the biggest UFC fight of all time, means that the top two spots are now occupied by fighters from the American Kickboxing Academy as Nurmagomedov sits just below light heavyweight and heavyweight champion, Daniel Cormier.
‘The Eagle’ maintained one of the most impressive professional records in combat sports by mauling McGregor to improve to 27-0 as a pro on Saturday night.
McGregor has also dropped to No. 2 in the 155lbs rankings and has been replaced at No. 1 by former interim champion Tony Ferguson, who claimed a stunning victory over Anthony Pettis in the co-main event of UFC 229.
‘El Cucuy’ proclaimed himself the true lightweight champion after forcing Pettis’ corner to pull him out of the fight before the third round and slammed the two men involved in the card’s headliner for the post-fight melee which has since dominated headlines.
“I’m the fucking champ. You guys realise that, right? I’ve been the champ. I am the champ,” Ferguson said.
“You have these two knuckleheads over there making this sport look bad. … I don’t have a belt up here, I don’t need to have a belt up here to be the champ. So if you guys want to feed that, go ahead, put that in your pocket and take it with you.
“But what I’m doing here is cleaning up the sport. This is an Olympic-level type of sport and it needs to be cleaned up. I’ve been training like an Olympian. I’ve took so many different things out of my life that I didn’t need anymore and I just felt lifted. So awesome. Such a great feeling.”
