Donald Cerrone may not have liked the way he did it, but his dominant decision win over Myles Jury in the co-main event at UFC 182 impressed the rankings voting panel.
Cerrone was voted up one spot to No. 3 at 155 pounds, passing former No. 1 contender Gilbert Melendez. “Cowboy” now sits just one spot behind No. 2 Khabib Nurmagomedov, who has been lobbying for a title shot for months.
With the news over the weekend that the champion Anthony Pettis will face No. 1-ranked Rafael dos Anjos for the championship at UFC 185 in Dallas, Tx., that could set up a No. 1 contender fight between Cerrone and Nurmagomedov.
That’s if Cerrone is willing to wait for the injured Russian, which doesn’t sound like Cowboy.
In other movement, Kyoji Horiguchi makes the biggest jump of the week, moving three spots up to No. 8 in the flyweight division. He drops Chris Cariaso, Zach Makovsky and Timothy Elliott all down one spot.
Hector Lombard’s decision win against Josh Burkman was good enough to earn him a one-spot jump to No. 5 at 170 pounds, passing Matt Brown.
Daniel Cormier maintained his No. 2 spot in the light heavyweight division after losing to Jon Jones, but fell off the pound-for-pound list, making room for Alexander Gustafsson, who assumes the No. 15 spot.