Michael Johnson (Dave Mandel/Sherdog)

Combat Press Men’s MMA Rankings: Sept. 19, 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. Josh Barnett (8)
  9. Mark Hunt (9)
  10. Travis Browne (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)

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

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. Derek Brunson (9 tie)
  9. Anderson Silva (8)
  10. Robert Whittaker (9 tie)

Dropped from the rankings: David Branch (10)

Derek Brunson earned his fourth straight stoppage win at UFC Fight Night 94, breaking his tie with Robert Whittaker for ninth in our rankings. The finish of Uriah Hall pushes Brunson into the No. 8 spot in our rankings, which bumps World Series of Fighting champion David Branch back outside the top 10 for the time being.

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

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

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. Justin Gaethje (10)
  10. Michael Johnson (-)

Dropped from the rankings: Dustin Poirier (9)

With a dominant knockout win at UFC Fight Night 94, Michael Johnson re-enters our rankings. His first-round finish of Dustin Poirier sent Poirier crashing out of the top 10.

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

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

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

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


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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