Miocic makes debut, Werdum plummets in new ranks

Fabricio Werdum’s world was turned on its head Saturday at UFC 198 when he was knocked out in the first round by Stipe Miocic.

And the hits keep on coming.

The official UFC rankings were released Monday and Werdum fell 11 spots in the pound-for-pound list from No. 4 all the way down to 15. The new champ, Miocic, makes his debut on the pound-for-pound index at No. 13. Werdum’s drop wasn’t as drastic within his division, as he remains the No. 1 contender. But now begins the debate of who deserves the next shot against Miocic.

Former champ Cain Velasquez was scheduled to fight for the belt in February before injury forced him out.

Velasquez is booked against Travis Browne at UFC 200 in July. At No. 3 is Alistair Overeem, who just earned his fourth straight victory two weeks ago when he knocked out Andrei Arlovski.

Elsewhere in the new rankings, welterweight Demian Maia’s sixth consecutive win on Saturday earned him a bump. Maia leaped Carlos Condit and Johny Hendricks for the fourth spot and is deservedly in the title conversation at 170 pounds.

Thiago Santos makes his debut on the 185-pound list at No. 14 after knocking out Nate Marquardt. Santos called out fellow-ranked 185-ers Michael Bisping (No. 4), Robert Whittaker (No. 6) and Derek Brunson (No. 11).

With Werdum’s fall, Dominick Cruz takes over the fourth spot on the pound-for-pound list.

Right around the corner is UFC 199, which now features the third and fourth-ranked fighters on the pound-for-pound list.

Jon Gagnon is a digital producer and writer for UFC.com. Follow him on Twitter at @jgagnonUFC