The last time Cain Velasquez was ranked No. 7 in the heavyweight division?

November 2009.

A decade later and the former UFC heavyweight champion is once again out of the top five, but unlike the first occasion, he’s on his way down instead of his way up. Whether or not we blame those brittle knees — or Francis Ngannou’s fists — is a matter of debate.

“The Predator” jumps to No. 2 on the 265-pound ladder, ahead of Derrick Lewis, despite falling to the “Black Beast” last July. I guess beating Velasquez holds more weight than winning a staring contest at UFC 226.

Elsewhere on the UFC on ESPN 1 fight card, held last weekend in Phoenix, Arizona, Aljamain Sterling improved his position at 135 pounds by outclassing Jimmie Rivera. In addition, James Vick tumbled four spots after getting knocked around by the lung-less Paul Felder, who (finally) arrives at No. 10.

Here’s how the rankings work, courtesy of UFC.com:

Rankings were generated by a voting panel made up of media members. The media members were asked to vote for who they feel are the top fighters in the UFC by weight-class and pound-for-pound. A fighter is only eligible to be voted on if they are in active status in the UFC. A fighter can appear in more than one weight division at a time. The champion and interim champion are considered to be in the top positions of their respective divisions and therefore are not eligible for voting by weight-class. However, the champions can be voted on for the pound-for-pound rankings.

Take a look at what the latest rankings field looks like courtesy of UFC.com. Note: (+/- = movement in rankings, *NR = Not previously ranked).

POUND-FOR-POUND

1 Daniel Cormier

2 Jon Jones

3 Khabib Nurmagomedov

4 Max Holloway

5 Henry Cejudo

6 Tyron Woodley

7 Amanda Nunes

8 Georges St-Pierre

9 TJ Dillashaw

10 Conor McGregor

11 Stipe Miocic

12 Robert Whittaker

13 Tony Ferguson

14 Rose Namajunas

15 Cris Cyborg

FLYWEIGHT

Champion: Henry Cejudo

1 Jussier Formiga

2 Joseph Benavidez

3 Ray Borg

4 Deiveson Figueiredo

5 Wilson Reis

6 Alexandre Pantoja

7 Alex Perez

8 Tim Elliott

9 Rogerio Bontorin

10 Magomed Bibulatov

11 Eric Shelton

12 Ryan Benoit

13 TJ Dillashaw

14 Kai Kara-France

15 Matt Schnell

BANTAMWEIGHT

Champion: TJ Dillashaw

1 Marlon Moraes

2 Cody Garbrandt

3 Raphael Assuncao +1

4 Dominick Cruz -1

5 Aljamain Sterling +2

6 Jimmie Rivera -1

7 John Lineker -1

8 Pedro Munhoz

9 John Dodson

10 Rob Font

11 Cody Stamann

12 Alejandro Perez

13 Thomas Almeida

14 Petr Yan +1

15 Ricky Simon -1

FEATHERWEIGHT

Champion: Max Holloway

1 Jose Aldo

2 Brian Ortega

3 Frankie Edgar

4 Alexander Volkanovski

5 Renato Moicano

6 Jeremy Stephens

7 Cub Swanson

8 Mirsad Bektic

9 Josh Emmett

10 Ricardo Lamas

11 Yair Rodriguez

12 Chan Sung Jung

13 Zabit Magomedsharipov

14 Darren Elkins

15 Calvin Kattar

LIGHTWEIGHT

Champion: Khabib Nurmagomedov

1 Tony Ferguson

2 Conor McGregor

3 Dustin Poirier

4 Al Iaquinta

5 Kevin Lee

6 Edson Barboza

7 Justin Gaethje

8 Anthony Pettis

9 Donald Cerrone

10 Paul Felder *NR

11 Gregor Gillespie

12 Alexander Hernandez +1

13 Nate Diaz -1

14 James Vick -4

15 Charles Oliveira -1

WELTERWEIGHT

Champion: Tyron Woodley

1 Colby Covington

2 Kamaru Usman

3 Darren Till

4 Stephen Thompson

5 Rafael Dos Anjos

6 Robbie Lawler

7 Santiago Ponzinibbio

8 Demian Maia

9 Leon Edwards

10 Jorge Masvidal

11 Neil Magny

12 Gunnar Nelson

13 Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos

14 Vicente Luque *NR

15 Geoff Neal -1

MIDDLEWEIGHT

Champion: Robert Whittaker

1 Yoel Romero

2 Luke Rockhold

3 Jacare Souza

4 Kelvin Gastelum

5 Israel Adesanya

6 Chris Weidman

7 Paulo Costa

8 Derek Brunson

9 Jared Cannonier

10 Brad Tavares

11 David Branch

12 Antonio Carlos Junior

13 Uriah Hall

14 Elias Theodorou

15 Anderson Silva

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT

Champion: Jon Jones

1 Daniel Cormier

2 Alexander Gustafsson

3 Anthony Smith

4 Jan Blachowicz

5 Volkan Oezdemir

6 Corey Anderson

6 Thiago Santos

8 Dominick Reyes

9 Ilir Latifi

10 Jimi Manuwa

11 Glover Teixeira

12 Ovince Saint Preux

13 Mauricio Rua

14 Misha Cirkunov

15 Johnny Walker

HEAVYWEIGHT

Champion: Daniel Cormier

1 Stipe Miocic

2 Francis Ngannou +1

3 Derrick Lewis -1

4 Curtis Blaydes

5 Alexander Volkov

6 Alistair Overeem

7 Cain Velasquez *NR

8 Junior Dos Santos -1

9 Aleksei Oleinik -1

10 Marcin Tybura -1

11 Justin Willis -1

12 Tai Tuivasa -1

13 Shamil Abdurakhimov -1

14 Walt Harris -1

15 Andrei Arlovski -1

WOMEN'S STRAWWEIGHT

Champion: Rose Namajunas

1 Jessica Andrade

2 Joanna Jedrzejczyk

3 Tatiana Suarez

3 Nina Ansaroff

5 Claudia Gadelha

6 Karolina Kowalkiewicz

7 Tecia Torres

8 Michelle Waterson

9 Carla Esparza

10 Cynthia Calvillo +2

11 Felice Herrig -1

12 Alexa Grasso +1

13 Cortney Casey -2

14 Randa Markos

15 Mackenzie Dern

WOMEN'S FLYWEIGHT

Champion: Valentina Shevchenko

1 Jessica Eye

2 Sijara Eubanks

3 Katlyn Chookagian

4 Joanna Jedrzejczyk

5 Alexis Davis

6 Liz Carmouche

7 Joanne Calderwood

8 Roxanne Modafferi

9 Lauren Murphy

10 Andrea Lee +4

10 Jessica-Rose Clark

12 Montana De La Rosa -1

13 Mara Romero Borella

14 Paige VanZant +1

15 Antonina Shevchenko *NR

WOMEN'S BANTAMWEIGHT

Champion: Amanda Nunes

1 Germaine de Randamie

2 Holly Holm

3 Ketlen Vieira

4 Raquel Pennington

5 Cat Zingano

6 Marion Reneau

7 Aspen Ladd

8 Sara McMann

9 Yana Kunitskaya

10 Irene Aldana

11 Tonya Evinger

12 Bethe Correia

13 Lina Lansberg

14 Lucie Pudilova

15 Talita Bernardo

There you have it.

You can expect these standings to change around this time next week, particularly in the light heavyweight division, as the promotion is set to uncork the UFC Fight Night 145: “Blachowicz vs. Santos” event via ESPN+ on Sat., Feb. 23, 2019 inside O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic (more on that fight card here).

For even more upcoming UFC events click here.