Rory MacDonald (Dave Mandel/Sherdog)

Combat Press MMA Rankings: May 22, 2017

As MMA continues to grow its presence with the UFC, Bellator MMA, WSOF and ONE Championship, 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 all genders).

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


Advertisement

Heavyweight
  1. Stipe Miocic (1)
  2. Fabricio Werdum (2)
  3. Cain Velasquez (3)
  4. Alistair Overeem (4)
  5. Junior dos Santos (5)
  6. Ben Rothwell (6)
  7. Josh Barnett (7)
  8. Mark Hunt (8)
  9. Derrick Lewis (9)
  10. Francis Ngannou (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. Jimi Manuwa (5)
  6. Phil Davis (6)
  7. Glover Teixeira (7)
  8. Ryan Bader (8)
  9. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (10)
  10. Misha Cirkunov (-)

Dropped from the rankings: Liam McGeary (9)

Former Bellator light heavyweight champion Liam McGeary has now lost two out of his last three fights. The Brit was in action at Bellator 179 against Linton Vassell. Vassell caught McGeary in an arm-triangle choke in the third round. With the loss, McGeary drops out of the top 10, making room for Misha Cirkunov to grab the No. 10 spot while Mauricio “Shogun” Rua inches up to ninth.

Middleweight
  1. Michael Bisping (1)
  2. Yoel Romero (2)
  3. Robert Whittaker (3)
  4. Luke Rockhold (4)
  5. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (5)
  6. Gegard Mousasi (6)
  7. Chris Weidman (7)
  8. Anderson Silva (8)
  9. Kelvin Gastelum (9)
  10. Mamed Khalidov (10)

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

Welterweight
  1. Tyron Woodley (1)
  2. Stephen Thompson (2)
  3. Robbie Lawler (3)
  4. Demian Maia (4)
  5. Carlos Condit (5)
  6. Ben Askren (6)
  7. Rory MacDonald (7)
  8. Jorge Masvidal (8)
  9. Gunnar Nelson (9)
  10. Donald Cerrone (10)

Former UFC title challenger Rory MacDonald made a successful debut inside the Bellator MMA cage, submitting Paul Daley at Bellator 179 in London. The Canadian maintains his No. 7 spot in the rankings.

Lightweight
  1. Conor McGregor (1)
  2. Khabib Nurmagomedov (2)
  3. Tony Ferguson (3)
  4. Eddie Alvarez (4)
  5. Rafael dos Anjos (5)
  6. Edson Barboza (6)
  7. Nate Diaz (7)
  8. Justin Gaethje (8)
  9. Michael Chandler (9)
  10. Michael Johnson (10)

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

Featherweight
  1. José Aldo (1)
  2. Frankie Edgar (2)
  3. Max Holloway (3)
  4. Chad Mendes (4)
  5. Ricardo Lamas (5)
  6. Cub Swanson (6)
  7. Anthony Pettis (7)
  8. Charles Oliveira (8)
  9. Chan Sung Jung (9)
  10. Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (10)

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

Bantamweight
  1. Cody Garbrandt (1)
  2. Dominick Cruz (2)
  3. T.J. Dillashaw (3)
  4. Marlon Moraes (4)
  5. Bibiano Fernandes (5)
  6. John Lineker (6)
  7. Jimmie Rivera (7)
  8. Urijah Faber (8)
  9. Raphael Assuncao (9)
  10. Eduardo Dantas (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. Kyoji Horiguchi (4)
  5. Tim Elliott (5)
  6. Wilson Reis (6)
  7. Ray Borg (7)
  8. Jussier “Formiga” da Silva (8)
  9. Brandon Moreno (9)
  10. Dustin Ortiz (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. Conor McGregor (5)
  6. Joanna Jędrzejczyk (6)
  7. Stipe Miocic (7)
  8. José Aldo (8)
  9. Amanda Nunes (9)
  10. Cody Garbrandt (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.


Advertisement