Daniel Cormier (Dave Mandel/Sherdog)

Combat Press Men’s MMA Rankings: Oct. 5, 2015

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.


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

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

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

It was as busy night in Houston for the 205-pound division at UFC 192. Current champion Daniel Cormier engaged Sweden’s Alexander Gustafsson in a five-round war that saw Cormier eke out a split decision to retain his belt. Also in action, fifth-ranked Ryan Bader put on the best performance of his career, outclassing former champion Rashad Evans to put himself in the title mix.

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

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

Welterweight
  1. Robbie Lawler (1)
  2. Johny Hendricks (2)
  3. Ben Askren (3)
  4. Rory MacDonald (4)
  5. Matt Brown (5)
  6. Hector Lombard (6)
  7. Tyron Woodley (7)
  8. Carlos Condit (8)
  9. Rousimar Palhares (9)
  10. Demian Maia (10)

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

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

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

Featherweight
  1. Jose Aldo (1)
  2. Frankie Edgar (2)
  3. Conor McGregor (3)
  4. Chad Mendes (4)
  5. Max Holloway (5)
  6. Ricardo Lamas (6)
  7. Cub Swanson (7)
  8. Urijah Faber (8)
  9. Charles Oliveira (9)
  10. Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (10)

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

Bantamweight
  1. T.J. Dillashaw (1)
  2. Dominick Cruz (2)
  3. Renan Barão (3)
  4. Urijah Faber (4)
  5. Bibiano Fernandes (5)
  6. Raphael Assuncao (6)
  7. Marlon Moraes (7)
  8. Marcos Galvao (8)
  9. Eduardo Dantas (9)
  10. Joe Warren (10)

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

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. Henry Cejudo (7)
  8. Kyoji Horiguchi (8)
  9. John Moraga (9)
  10. Ray Borg (10)

Perennial contender Joseph Benavidez cemented his No. 2 ranking at UFC 192. The Team Alpha Male fighter edged Ali Bagautinov on the scorecards to take the unanimous decision victory. The win was Benavidez’s fourth straight since his knockout loss as the hands of champion Demetrious Johnson.

Pound-For-Pound
  1. Jose Aldo (1)
  2. Ronda Rousey (2)
  3. Demetrious Johnson (3)
  4. Jon Jones (4)
  5. Chris Weidman (5)
  6. T.J. Dillashaw (6)
  7. Robbie Lawler (7)
  8. Daniel Cormier (9)
  9. Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino (8)
  10. Fabricio Werdum (10)

Cormier’s hard-fought win at UFC 192 was enough for him to move up to the eighth spot in our pound-for-pound rankings.


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.


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