Lyoto Machida (Dave Mandel/Sherdog)

Combat Press Men’s MMA Rankings: Dec. 22, 2014

As MMA continues to grow its presence with the UFC, Bellator MMA, WSOF and ONE FC, fighters are constantly jockeying for position in the eyes (and rankings) of the media.

Every week, Combat Press will rank each weight class from heavyweight to flyweight, as well as the pound-for-pound rankings.

Note: the numbers in parentheses represent the fighter’s ranking from last week


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Heavyweight
  1. Cain Velasquez (1)
  2. Fabricio Werdum (2)
  3. Junior dos Santos (3)
  4. Travis Browne (4)
  5. Josh Barnett (5)
  6. Stipe Miocic (6)
  7. Mark Hunt (7)
  8. Ben Rothwell (8)
  9. Andrei Arlovski (9)
  10. Roy Nelson (10)

No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.

Light Heavyweight
  1. Jon Jones (1)
  2. Alexander Gustafsson (2)
  3. Daniel Cormier (3)
  4. Anthony “Rumble” Johnson (4)
  5. Rashad Evans (5)
  6. Phil Davis (6)
  7. Glover Teixeira (7)
  8. Vitor Belfort (8)
  9. Ryan Bader (9)
  10. Ovince Saint Preux (10)

No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.

Middleweight
  1. Chris Weidman (1)
  2. Vitor Belfort (2)
  3. Anderson Silva (3)
  4. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (4)
  5. Lyoto Machida (6)
  6. Luke Rockhold (5)
  7. Yoel Romero (7)
  8. Tim Kennedy (8)
  9. Michael Bisping (9)
  10. Gegard Mousasi (10)

Former light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida easily rebounded from his title defeat to Chris Weidman, demolishing C.B. Dollaway in just 62 seconds at UFC Fight Night 58. The victory saw Machida climb one spot into the No. 5 slot. Following the win, match-ups with former Strikeforce title holders Luke Rockhold and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza were both discussed, which could determine the next No. 1 contender at 185 pounds.

Welterweight
  1. Robbie Lawler (1)
  2. Johny Hendricks (2)
  3. Georges St-Pierre (3)
  4. Ben Askren (4)
  5. Rory MacDonald (5)
  6. Matt Brown (6)
  7. Hector Lombard (7)
  8. Tyron Woodley (8)
  9. Carlos Condit (9)
  10. Dong Hyun Kim (10)

No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.

Lightweight
  1. Anthony Pettis (1)
  2. Gilbert Melendez (2)
  3. Khabib Nurmagomedov (3)
  4. Rafael dos Anjos (4)
  5. Benson Henderson (5)
  6. Donald Cerrone (6)
  7. Eddie Alvarez (7)
  8. Will Brooks (8)
  9. Edson Barboza (9)
  10. Myles Jury (10)

No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged..

Featherweight
  1. Jose Aldo (1)
  2. Chad Mendes (2)
  3. Frankie Edgar (3)
  4. Cub Swanson (4)
  5. Ricardo Lamas (5)
  6. Dennis Bermudez (6)
  7. Conor McGregor (7)
  8. Dustin Poirier (8)
  9. Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (9)
  10. Pat Curran (10)

No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.

Bantamweight
  1. T.J. Dillashaw (1)
  2. Renan Barão (2)
  3. Dominick Cruz (3)
  4. Urijah Faber (4)
  5. Bibiano Fernandes (5)
  6. Raphael Assuncao (6)
  7. Michael McDonald (7)
  8. Iuri Alcantara (8)
  9. Marlon Moraes (9)
  10. Joe Warren (10)

Former champion Renan Barão started slow but finished strong, submitting Canada’s Mitch Gagnon with an arm-triangle at UFC Fight Night 58. Barão immediately began politicking for another crack at champion T.J. Dillashaw, but the Brazilian will likely have to get in line behind Dominick Cruz.

Flyweight
  1. Demetrious Johnson (1)
  2. Joseph Benavidez (2)
  3. John Dodson (3)
  4. Ian McCall (4)
  5. Jussier “Formiga” da Silva (5)
  6. Zach Makovsky (6)
  7. John Lineker (7)
  8. John Moraga (8)
  9. Ali Bagautinov (9)
  10. Kyoji Horiguchi (10)

Former title challenger John Moraga crept up one spot in the rankings with this third-round finish of Willie Gates at UFC on Fox 13. Moraga faced adversity in the opening round, but showed resiliency to earn the submission win.

Pound-For-Pound
  1. Jose Aldo (1)
  2. Jon Jones (2)
  3. Demetrious Johnson (3)
  4. Ronda Rousey (4)
  5. Cain Velasquez (5)
  6. Chris Weidman (6)
  7. Anthony Pettis (7)
  8. T.J. Dillashaw (8)
  9. Robbie Lawler (9)
  10. Anderson Silva (10)

No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.


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