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)
There were no changes in the rankings following this week’s action, but the No. 2-ranked Fabricio Werdum cemented himself as the rightful challenger to Cain Velasquez’s belt with a second-round finish of Mark Hunt at UFC 180. Hunt remained at No. 7 after largely dominating the fight for the first round and a half, but ultimately the Kiwi got beat at his own game by the Brazilian Werdum.
- Jon Jones (1)
- Alexander Gustafsson (2)
- Daniel Cormier (3)
- Anthony “Rumble” Johnson (4)
- Rashad Evans (5)
- Phil Davis (6)
- Glover Teixeira (7)
- Vitor Belfort (8)
- Ryan Bader (9)
- Ovince Saint Preux (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)
- Luke Rockhold (5)
- Lyoto Machida (6)
- Yoel Romero (7)
- Tim Kennedy (8)
- Michael Bisping (9)
- Gegard Mousasi (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- 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 (5)
- Donald Cerrone (6)
- Eddie Alvarez (7)
- T.J. Grant (8)
- Will Brooks (9)
- Bobby Green (10)
If there were any doubts about the legitimacy of the ranking of Bellator’s Will Brooks, they were emphatically erased on Saturday night at Bellator 131. In a highly anticipated rematch with Michael Chandler, Brooks made sure the scorecards weren’t necessary, scoring a fourth-round TKO and claiming Bellator gold.
- Jose Aldo (1)
- Chad Mendes (2)
- Cub Swanson (3)
- Frankie Edgar (4)
- Ricardo Lamas (5)
- Dennis Bermudez (6)
- Conor McGregor (7)
- Chan Sung Jung (8)
- Dustin Poirier (9)
- Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (10)
Another weight class with a pivotal match-up between top-10 ranked fighters, and another weight class with no changes. No. 5-ranked Ricardo Lamas quickly reminded everyone at 145 pounds that he’s still a title threat by snapping the seven-fight winning streak of No. 6-ranked Dennis Bermudez. Lamas capitalized on the aggressiveness of Bermudez and was able to submit him with a guillotine choke at UFC 180.
- T.J. Dillashaw (1)
- Renan Barão (2)
- Dominick Cruz (3)
- Urijah Faber (4)
- Bibiano Fernandes (5)
- Raphael Assuncao (6)
- Michael McDonald (7)
- Iuri Alcantara (8)
- Marlon Moraes (9)
- Joe Warren (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- 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)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- 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)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.