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 (including both genders).
Note: the numbers in parentheses represent the fighter’s ranking from last week.
- Fabricio Werdum (1)
- Cain Velasquez (2)
- Junior dos Santos (3)
- Josh Barnett (4)
- Stipe Miocic (5)
- Andrei Arlovski (6)
- Travis Browne (7)
- Ben Rothwell (8)
- Mark Hunt (9)
- Alistair Overeem (10)
It wasn’t pretty, but former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski outworked Frank Mir at UFC 191 to claim a unanimous decision win. It was hardly the type of performance that will have fans screaming for Arlovski to challenge for the belt anytime soon, but his surprising career resurgence continues and he holds onto the No. 6 spot in our rankings.
- Jon Jones (1)
- Daniel Cormier (2)
- Anthony “Rumble” Johnson (3)
- Alexander Gustafsson (4)
- Ryan Bader (5)
- Phil Davis (6)
- Glover Teixeira (7)
- Ovince Saint Preux (8)
- Liam McGeary (9)
- Jimi Manuwa (10)
Recent title challenger Anthony “Rumble” Johnson bounced back from his title defeat to Daniel Cormier with an emphatic second-round knockout of 10th-ranked Jimi Manuwa at UFC 191. There’s no denying Johnson’s power, but he’ll need to string together a few more wins before there’s talk of a rematch with Cormier. Manuwa will need to right the ship after suffering losses in two of his last three. He remains ranked for now, but there are others waiting to overtake him.
- Chris Weidman (1)
- Anderson Silva (2)
- Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (3)
- Luke Rockhold (4)
- Yoel Romero (5)
- Vitor Belfort (6)
- Lyoto Machida (7)
- Tim Kennedy (8)
- Gegard Mousasi (9)
- Michael Bisping (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Robbie Lawler (1)
- Johny Hendricks (2)
- Ben Askren (3)
- Rory MacDonald (4)
- Matt Brown (5)
- Hector Lombard (6)
- Tyron Woodley (7)
- Carlos Condit (8)
- Rousimar Palhares (9)
- Demian Maia (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Rafael dos Anjos (1)
- Anthony Pettis (2)
- Khabib Nurmagomedov (3)
- Donald Cerrone (4)
- Benson Henderson (5)
- Eddie Alvarez (6)
- Gilbert Melendez (7)
- Will Brooks (8)
- Myles Jury (9)
- Tony Ferguson (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Jose Aldo (1)
- Frankie Edgar (2)
- Conor McGregor (3)
- Chad Mendes (4)
- Max Holloway (6)
- Ricardo Lamas (5)
- Cub Swanson (7)
- Urijah Faber (8)
- Charles Oliveira (9)
- Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- T.J. Dillashaw (1)
- Dominick Cruz (2)
- Renan Barão (3)
- Urijah Faber (4)
- Bibiano Fernandes (5)
- Raphael Assuncao (6)
- Marlon Moraes (7)
- Marcos Galvao (8)
- Eduardo Dantas (9)
- Joe Warren (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Demetrious Johnson (1)
- Joseph Benavidez (2)
- John Dodson (3)
- Ian McCall (5)
- Jussier “Formiga” da Silva (6)
- Zach Makovsky (7)
- Henry Cejudo (8)
- Kyoji Horiguchi (9)
- John Moraga (10)
- Ray Borg (-)
Dropped from the rankings: John Lineker (4)
If anyone doubted the outcome of the first meeting between UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson and challenger John Dodson, Johnson made sure the second meeting was indisputable. The king of the lightest weight class reigned supreme yet again, thoroughly dominating Dodson from bell-to-bell. Dodson keeps his third spot in the rankings, but unless Johnson moves up in weight, it’s unlikely he’ll get another crack at the belt. Also impacting the rankings this week was Brazilian John Lineker moving up to the bantamweight division. As a result, he relinquished the No. 4 spot in our rankings and Ray Borg entered the rankings for the first time.
- Jose Aldo (1)
- Ronda Rousey (2)
- Demetrious Johnson (3)
- Jon Jones (4)
- Chris Weidman (5)
- T.J. Dillashaw (6)
- Robbie Lawler (7)
- Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino (8)
- Daniel Cormier (9)
- Fabricio Werdum (10)
The top of the pound-for-pound rankings is a coin flip at this point. Our panel has ranked each of the fighters in the top four as their No. 1 fighter over the last 12 months and there’s a strong argument for each. Johnson’s performance at UFC 191 certainly didn’t hurt the case for “Mighty Mouse.”
Editor’s Note: Fighters are eligible to be ranked if they have competed in the last 18 months. Any fighter that chooses to switch weight classes will be ranked in their previous weight class until they have competed in their new division.