UFC rankings 02/03/14: Renan Barao breaks into pound-for-pound Top 5

With the completion of another event comes another change in the pound-for-pound rankings.

Last week, following his controversial FOX UFC Saturday win over Josh Thomson, former lightweight champion “Smooth” Benson Henderson was the one on the move, dropping two spots in the rankings set that—in theory—delineates the best of the best in the UFC if considerations like size and weight well eliminated.

In the latest edition of the UFC Fighter Rankings, released Monday afternoon, bantamweight champion Renan Barao is the fighter in motion, climbing two spots in the pound-for-pound list following his victory over Urijah Faber Saturday night at UFC 169, leapfrogging flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson and middleweight titleholder Chris Weidman to land at No. 4 in the rankings.

Though referee Herb Dean’s decision to stop the fight when he did was called into question, there is no way to challenge Barao’s place as one of the very best fighters in the sport today.

The Nova Uniao product is unbeaten in an astonishing 33 consecutive fights dating back to his professional debut, and extended his winning streak to 22 with his second career win over “The California Kid” this past weekend.

Other changes stemming from the UFC’s annual Super Bowl Saturday event including flyweight contender Ali Bagautoniv climbing two positions to No. 5 following his win over John Lineker, who slips to No. 6 in the 125-pound ranks, and featherweight title challenger Ricardo Lamas dropping to No. 3 in the division after his unanimous decision loss to Jose Aldo in the co-main event.

Additionally, Alistair Overeem’s return to the win column resulted in “The Reem” moving up two places in the heavyweight rankings, hurdling Stipe Miocic and Mark Hunt to come in at No. 7, while his opponent, two-time former champion Frank Mir, drops one position and out of the Top 10 with the loss.

Check out the complete UFC Fighter Rankings below, and stay tuned to FOXSports.com for all your UFC news, information, and analysis.

UFC FIGHTER RANKINGS (February 3, 2014)

Pound-for-Pound
1 Jon Jones
2 Jose Aldo
3 Cain Velasquez
4 Renan Barao (+2)
5 Demetrious Johnson (-1)
6 Chris Weidman (-1)
7 Anderson Silva
8 Anthony Pettis
9 Ronda Rousey
10 Johny Hendricks
11 Vitor Belfort
12 Benson Henderson
13 Urijah Faber
14 Gilbert Melendez
15 Alexander Gustafsson *NR

Flyweight
Champion: Demetrious Johnson
1 John Dodson
2 Joseph Benavidez
3 Ian McCall
4 John Moraga
5 Ali Bagautinov (+2)
6 John Lineker (-1)
7 Jussier Formiga (-1)
8 Timothy Elliott
9 Chris Cariaso
10 Zach Makovsky
11 Louis Gaudinot
12 Dustin Ortiz (+1)
13 Scott Jorgensen (-1)
14 Darrell Montague
15 Darren Uyenoyama

Bantamweight
Champion: Renan Barao
1 Urijah Faber
2 Michael McDonald
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 Eddie Wineland
5 TJ Dillashaw
6 Brad Pickett
7 Takeya Mizugaki
8 Mike Easton
9 Dominick Cruz (+1)
10 Iuri Alcantara (-1)
11 Francisco Rivera
12 Erik Perez
13 Alex Caceres (+2)
14 Bryan Caraway (-1)
15 Ivan Menjivar (-1)

Featherweight
Champion: Jose Aldo
1 Chad Mendes
2 Frankie Edgar
3 Ricardo Lamas (-1)
4 Cub Swanson
5 Chan Sung Jung
6 Dustin Poirier
7 Dennis Siver
8 Nik Lentz
9 Clay Guida
10 Jeremy Stephens
11 Darren Elkins
12 Erik Koch
13 Conor McGregor
14 Dennis Bermudez
15 Tatsuya Kawajiri

Lightweight
Champion: Anthony Pettis
1 Benson Henderson
2 Gilbert Melendez
3 TJ Grant
4 Josh Thomson
5 Nate Diaz
6 Rafael dos Anjos
7 Khabib Nurmagomedov
8 Donald Cerrone
9 Jim Miller
10 Gray Maynard
11 Edson Barboza
12 Bobby Green
13 Michael Johnson
14 Rustam Khabilov (+1)
15 Diego Sanchez (-1)

Welterweight
Champion:
1 Johny Hendricks
2 Carlos Condit
3 Robbie Lawler
4 Rory MacDonald
5 Jake Ellenberger
6 Demian Maia
7 Jake Shields
8 Matt Brown
9 Tarec Saffiedine
10 Tyron Woodley
11 Dong Hyun Kim
12 Hector Lombard
13 Josh Koscheck (+1)
14 Rick Story (-1)
15 Mike Pyle

Middleweight
Champion: Chris Weidman
1 Anderson Silva
2 Vitor Belfort
3 Ronaldo Souza
4 Lyoto Machida
5 Michael Bisping
6 Luke Rockhold
7 Mark Munoz
8 Francis Carmont
9 Tim Kennedy
10 Costa Philippou
11 Tim Boetsch
12 Alan Belcher
13 Brad Tavares
14 Yoel Romero
15 Thales Leites *NR

Light Heavyweight
Champion: Jon Jones
1 Alexander Gustafsson
2 Glover Teixeira
3 Rashad Evans
4 Phil Davis
5 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
6 Dan Henderson (+1)
7 Mauricio Rua (-1)
8 Chael Sonnen
9 Gegard Mousasi
10 Ryan Bader
11 Jimi Manuwa
12 Thiago Silva
13 Vitor Belfort
14 Lyoto Machida
15 James Te-Huna

Heavyweight
Champion: Cain Velasquez
1 Junior Dos Santos
2 Fabricio Werdum
3 Travis Browne
4 Daniel Cormier
5 Antonio Silva (+1)
6 Josh Barnett (-1)
7 Alistair Overeem (+2)
8 Stipe Miocic (-1)
9 Mark Hunt (-1)
10 Roy Nelson (+1)
11 Frank Mir (-1)
12 Gabriel Gonzaga
13 Minotauro Nogueira
14 Stefan Struve
15 Brendan Schaub

Women's Bantamweight
Champion: Ronda Rousey
1 Cat Zingano
2 Miesha Tate
3 Alexis Davis
4 Sara McMann
5 Sarah Kaufman (+1)
6 Jessica Eye (-1)
7 Liz Carmouche
8 Amanda Nunes
9 Jessica Andrade
10 Julianna Pena
11 Germaine de Randamie
12 Bethe Correia
13 Raquel Pennington
14 Jessamyn Duke
15 Jessica Rakoczy