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)
It didn’t impact the rankings, but No. 4-ranked Travis Browne rebounded from his loss to Fabricio Werdum, stopping Brendan Schaub by first-round TKO at UFC 181 to reinforce his spot in the rankings.
- 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.
- Robbie Lawler (2)
- Johny Hendricks (1)
- 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)
There’s a new king at 170 pounds and that man is Robert Glenn Lawler. After falling short against Johny Hendricks at UFC 171 in March, Lawler finally got his hands on UFC gold at UFC 181. Lawler’s storybook career turnaround is complete, as the former Strikeforce and EliteXC fighter is now the No. 1-ranked welterweight on the planet. Hendricks, meanwhile, falls to the No. 2 spot with his split decision defeat.
- Anthony Pettis (1)
- Gilbert Melendez (2)
- Khabib Nurmagomedov (3)
- Rafael dos Anjos (4)
- Benson Henderson (5)
- Donald Cerrone (6)
- Eddie Alvarez (7)
- Will Brooks (8)
- Edson Barboza (9)
- Myles Jury (10)
If there were any doubts about the reign of Anthony Pettis, they were emphatically erased on Saturday night. In his first title defense, Pettis survived a tough first round against former Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez before becoming the first man to submit Melendez with a second-round guillotine.
- Jose Aldo (1)
- Chad Mendes (2)
- Frankie Edgar (3)
- Cub Swanson (4)
- Ricardo Lamas (5)
- Dennis Bermudez (6)
- Conor McGregor (7)
- Dustin Poirier (8)
- Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (9)
- Pat Curran (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- 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)
Former title challenger Urijah Faber’s UFC 181 fight against Francisco Rivera ended in controversy after an inadvertent eye poke led to the finish, but Faber’s ranking was not impacted by the questionable win. As long as his teammate, T.J. Dillashaw, holds the belt, Faber will continue to serve as the division’s gatekeeper.
- Demetrious Johnson (1)
- Joseph Benavidez (2)
- John Dodson (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)
- T.J. Dillashaw (9)
- Robbie Lawler (-)
- Anderson Silva (10)
Dropped out of the rankings: Johny Hendricks (8)
The win by Lawler and the loss by Hendricks shuffled the pound-for-pound rankings, as Hendricks falls out of the top 10 and Lawler claims the No. 9 spot. Even with his impressive win, No. 7-ranked Anthony Pettis remains in the same spot.