Rankings: Masvidal vaults into top 5; Ngannou rises

Jorge Masvidal picked up the signature win of his career in Denver when he finished Donald Cerrone by TKO in the second round of their co-main event welterweight scrap.

In this week’s official UFC rankings release, Masvidal was rewarded for his performance with a seven-spot jump to No. 5 at 170 pounds. “Gamebred” is now positioned to get top-level fights in the division that he’s been seeking.

UFC president Dana White said on Tuesday’s episode of the UFC Unfiltered podcast that if Nick Diaz isn’t interested in a matchup with No. 3-ranked welterweight Demian Maia, Masvidal will get the fight.

Fight Night Denver Backstage interviews: Valentina Shevchenko | Jorge Masvidal | Francis Ngannou | Dana White

Cerrone dropped three spots down to No. 8, stunting his charge up the rankings that was surging before the fight on the strength of a four-fight win streak.

In the heavyweight rankings, Francis Ngannou moves up four spots to No. 6 after knocking out Andrei Arlovski, who falls three spots to No. 10. Ngannou has won all five of his UFC fights and has finished his opponent in each.

Bantamweight Raphael Assuncao defeated Aljamain Sterling by split decision and earned a one-spot increase to No. 3 at 135 pounds, behind only champion Cody Garbrandt and former champs Dominick Cruz and TJ Dillashaw.

Middleweight Sam Alvey and flyweight Alexandre Pantoja make their debut in the rankings at No. 15 in their respective divisions.

To see all the changes to the rankings, click here to visit the official UFC rankings page.

Matt Parrino is a digital producer and writer for UFC.com. Follow him on Twitter at @MattParrinoUFC