Cody Garbrandt (Dave Mandel/Sherdog)

Combat Press Men’s MMA Rankings: Aug. 22, 2016

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. Stipe Miocic (1)
  2. Fabricio Werdum (2)
  3. Cain Velasquez (3)
  4. Alistair Overeem (4)
  5. Junior dos Santos (5)
  6. Brock Lesnar (6)
  7. Ben Rothwell (7)
  8. Travis Browne (8)
  9. Andrei Arlovski (9)
  10. Mark Hunt (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. Phil Davis (5)
  6. Glover Teixeira (6)
  7. Ryan Bader (7)
  8. Ovince Saint Preux (8)
  9. Liam McGeary (9)
  10. Jimi Manuwa (10)

Anthony “Rumble” Johnson added to his highlight reel at UFC 202, needing just 13 seconds to knock out sixth-ranked Glover Teixeira with a right hand. The win likely sets up a rematch with champion Daniel Cormier, who defeated Johnson in 2015.

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

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

Welterweight
  1. Tyron Woodley (1)
  2. Robbie Lawler (2)
  3. Carlos Condit (3)
  4. Ben Askren (4)
  5. Stephen Thompson (5)
  6. Demian Maia (6)
  7. Rory MacDonald (7)
  8. Kelvin Gastelum (9)
  9. Jake Ellenberger (10)
  10. Donald Cerrone (-)/Dong Hyun Kim (-)

Dropped from the rankings: Neil Magny (8)

The bottom half of the welterweight division continues to be an enigma after UFC 202. Previously ranked Neil Magny was put away by Lornez Larkin in less than round, sending Magny tumbling from the rankings. Former lightweight title challenger Donald Cerrone earned his third straight win at 170 pounds by stopping Rick Story. This allowed Cerrone to crack the top 10, but the Colorado native expressed interest in returning to lightweight in his post-fight interview.

Lightweight
  1. Eddie Alvarez (1)
  2. Khabib Nurmagomedov (2)
  3. Rafael dos Anjos (3)
  4. Donald Cerrone (4)
  5. Will Brooks (5)
  6. Tony Ferguson (6)
  7. Edson Barboza (7)
  8. Nate Diaz (8)
  9. Anthony Pettis (9)
  10. Dustin Poirier (10)

There were no fights at lightweight involving fighters in the top 10 this past week, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t top-10 fighters in action. As mentioned above, fourth-ranked Donald Cerrone was in action at UFC 202, as was Nate Diaz, who headlined the event. Diaz fought featherweight champion Conor McGregor for the second time this year, but after five hard-fought rounds, it was McGregor that left with a majority decision win. Since the fight took place at welterweight, it has no impact on the lightweight rankings.

Featherweight
  1. Conor McGregor (1)
  2. José Aldo (2)
  3. Frankie Edgar (3)
  4. Max Holloway (4)
  5. Chad Mendes (5)
  6. Ricardo Lamas (6)
  7. Cub Swanson (7)
  8. Charles Oliveira (8)
  9. Daniel Straus (9)
  10. Patricio Freire (10)/Dennis Bermudez (10)

The only fighter in the top 10 to fight this past week was champion Conor McGregor. However, the Irishman continued to hold the 145-pound division hostage while he took his second straight fight at 170 pounds against Nate Diaz. McGregor would get revenge, albeit on the scorecards, but gave no indication that he’d be defending his title anytime soon.

Bantamweight
  1. Dominick Cruz (1)
  2. T.J. Dillashaw (2)
  3. Renan Barão (3)
  4. Urijah Faber (4)
  5. Bibiano Fernandes (5)
  6. Cody Garbrandt (8)
  7. Marlon Moraes (6)
  8. Raphael Assuncao (7)
  9. Eduardo Dantas (9)
  10. John Lineker (10)

In arguably the week’s best performance, Team Alpha Male’s Cody Garbrandt remained unbeaten with a first-round destruction of veteran Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 202. The win helped Garbrandt move up to No. 6 in our rankings. A clash with champion Dominick Cruz may be in his future.

Flyweight
  1. Demetrious Johnson (1)
  2. Joseph Benavidez (2)
  3. Henry Cejudo (3)
  4. Jussier “Formiga” da Silva (4)
  5. Zach Makovsky (5)
  6. Kyoji Horiguchi (6)
  7. Wilson Reis (7)
  8. Dustin Ortiz (8)
  9. Matheus Nicolau (9)
  10. Louis Smolka (10)

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

Pound-For-Pound
  1. Demetrious Johnson (1)
  2. Jon Jones (2)
  3. Daniel Cormier (3)
  4. Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino (4)
  5. Dominick Cruz (5)
  6. Stipe Miocic (6)
  7. Conor McGregor (7)
  8. José Aldo (8)
  9. Joanna Jędrzejczyk (9)
  10. Eddie Alvarez (10)/Anthony “Rumble” Johnson (-)

Anthony Johnson’s demolition of Glover Teixeira at UFC 202 helped him move into a tie for the 10th spot in our pound-for-pound rankings. The former welterweight and heavyweight has found a home at 205 pounds and will once again look to secure UFC gold.


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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