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.
Note: the numbers in parentheses represent the fighter’s ranking from last week
- Cain Velasquez (1)
- Fabricio Werdum (2)
- Junior dos Santos (3)
- Travis Browne (4)
- Josh Barnett (5)
- Stipe Miocic (6)
- Mark Hunt (7)
- Ben Rothwell (8)
- Andrei Arlovski (9)
- Roy Nelson (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Jon Jones (1)
- Alexander Gustafsson (2)
- Daniel Cormier (3)
- Anthony “Rumble” Johnson (4)
- Rashad Evans (5)
- Glover Teixeira (6)
- Phil Davis (7)
- Vitor Belfort (8)
- Ryan Bader (9)
- Jimi Manuwa (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Chris Weidman (1)
- Vitor Belfort (2)
- Anderson Silva (3)
- Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (4)
- Lyoto Machida (5)
- Luke Rockhold (6)
- Yoel Romero (-)
- Tim Kennedy (7)
- Michael Bisping (8)
- Gegard Mousasi (9)
Dropped out of the rankings: Yushin Okami (10)
Although the fight was mired with controversy, Yoel Romero’s TKO win over Tim Kennedy earns the Cuban the No. 7 spot in our rankings, one spot ahead of Kennedy. With Romero’s move into the top 10, Yushin Okami slides to the No. 11 spot.
- Johny Hendricks (1)
- Robbie Lawler (2)
- Georges St-Pierre (3)
- Ben Askren (4)
- Rory MacDonald (5)
- Matt Brown (6)
- Hector Lombard (7)
- Tyron Woodley (8)
- Carlos Condit (9)
- Dong Hyun Kim (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Anthony Pettis (1)
- Gilbert Melendez (2)
- Khabib Nurmagomedov (3)
- Rafael dos Anjos (4)
- Benson Henderson (6)
- Donald Cerrone (8)
- Eddie Alvarez (5)
- T.J. Grant (7)
- Will Brooks (9)
- Bobby Green (10)
It was a rude welcome to the UFC for former Bellator MMA lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, who could not overcome the Muay Thai attack of Donald Cerrone. Alvarez’s loss drops him to No. 7, while Cerrone’s fifth straight win catapults him into the No. 6 spot.
- Jose Aldo (1)
- Chad Mendes (2)
- Cub Swanson (3)
- Frankie Edgar (4)
- Ricardo Lamas (5)
- Dennis Bermudez (7)
- Conor McGregor (-)
- Chan Sung Jung (8)
- Dustin Poirier (6)
- Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (9)
Dropped out of the rankings: Clay Guida (10)
The story of the week has been Ireland’s Conor McGregor. The confident fighter backed up his trash talk at UFC 178, stopping Dustin Poirier in round one. The win vaulted McGregor into the No. 7 spot in our rankings, and he’s now being talked about as a title threat. The loss saw Poirier fall to the No. 9 spot.
- T.J. Dillashaw (1)
- Renan Barão (2)
- Dominick Cruz (-)
- Urijah Faber (3)
- Bibiano Fernandes (4)
- Michael McDonald (5)
- Raphael Assuncao (6)
- Iuri Alcantara (7)
- Marlon Moraes (9)
- Eduardo Dantas (10)
Dropped out of the rankings: Takeya Mizugaki (8)
UFC 178 was the culmination of nearly three years of pent-up frustration for former champion Dominick Cruz. Unfortunately for Japan’s Takeya Mizugaki, he was on the receiving end of Cruz’s blitzkrieg. The first-round destruction not only earned Cruz the No. 3 spot in our rankings, but a shot at current titleholder T.J. Dillashaw. The loss sent Mizugaki to the No. 11 spot and out of our top 10.
- Demetrious Johnson (1)
- John Dodson (2)
- Joseph Benavidez (3)
- Ian McCall (4)
- Jussier “Formiga” da Silva (5)
- Zach Makovsky (6)
- John Lineker (7)
- Ali Bagautinov (8)
- John Moraga (9)
- Kyoji Horiguchi (10)
The top 10 remains unchanged, but not due to inactivity. Champion Demetrious Johnson earned his fifth title defense with a second-round submission of challenger Chris Cariaso in the main event of UFC 178.
- Jose Aldo (1)
- Jon Jones (2)
- Demetrious Johnson (3)
- Ronda Rousey (4)
- Cain Velasquez (5)
- Chris Weidman (6)
- Anthony Pettis (7)
- Johny Hendricks (8)
- T.J. Dillashaw (9)
- Anderson Silva (10)
Johnson’s flawless win didn’t help “Mighty Mouse” overcome Jose Aldo or Jon Jones in our rankings, but Johnson has cemented himself in the conversation as the most dominant fighter on the planet.