Michael Johnson (Dave Mandel/Sherdog)

Combat Press Men’s MMA Rankings: Feb. 23, 2015

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


Advertisement

Heavyweight
  1. Cain Velasquez (1)
  2. Fabricio Werdum (2)
  3. Junior dos Santos (3)
  4. Travis Browne (4)
  5. Josh Barnett (5)
  6. Stipe Miocic (6)
  7. Mark Hunt (7)
  8. Ben Rothwell (8)
  9. Andrei Arlovski (9)
  10. Roy Nelson (10)

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

Light Heavyweight
  1. Jon Jones (1)
  2. Anthony “Rumble” Johnson (2)
  3. Alexander Gustafsson (3)
  4. Daniel Cormier (4)
  5. Rashad Evans (5)
  6. Ryan Bader (6)
  7. Phil Davis (7)
  8. Glover Teixeira (8)
  9. Vitor Belfort (9)
  10. Ovince Saint Preux (10)

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

Middleweight
  1. Chris Weidman (1)
  2. Vitor Belfort (2)
  3. Anderson Silva (3)
  4. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (4)
  5. Lyoto Machida (5)
  6. Luke Rockhold (6)
  7. Yoel Romero (7)
  8. Tim Kennedy (8)
  9. Gegard Mousasi (9)
  10. Michael Bisping (10)

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

Welterweight
  1. Robbie Lawler (1)
  2. Johny Hendricks (2)
  3. Georges St-Pierre (3)
  4. Ben Askren (4)
  5. Rory MacDonald (5)
  6. Hector Lombard (6)
  7. Matt Brown (7)
  8. Tyron Woodley (8)
  9. Carlos Condit (9)
  10. Rousimar Palhares (10)

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

Lightweight
  1. Anthony Pettis (1)
  2. Gilbert Melendez (2)
  3. Khabib Nurmagomedov (3)
  4. Rafael dos Anjos (4)
  5. Donald Cerrone (5)
  6. Benson Henderson (6)
  7. Eddie Alvarez (7)
  8. Will Brooks (8)
  9. Myles Jury (10)
  10. Michael Johnson (-)

Dropped out of the rankings: Edson Barboza (9)

In what was easily the best performance of his career, The Ultimate Fighter alum Michael Johnson pushed the pace and outworked Edson Barboza at UFC Fight Night 61. The win vaulted Johnson into the top 10 and dropped Barboza from the rankings.

Featherweight
  1. Jose Aldo (1)
  2. Chad Mendes (2)
  3. Frankie Edgar (3)
  4. Cub Swanson (4)
  5. Conor McGregor (5)
  6. Ricardo Lamas (6)
  7. Dennis Bermudez (7)
  8. Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (8)
  9. Dustin Poirier (9)
  10. Max Holloway (10)

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

Bantamweight
  1. T.J. Dillashaw (1)
  2. Renan Barão (2)
  3. Dominick Cruz (3)
  4. Urijah Faber (4)
  5. Bibiano Fernandes (5)
  6. Raphael Assuncao (6)
  7. Michael McDonald (7)
  8. Marlon Moraes (9)
  9. Joe Warren (10)
  10. Eduardo Dantas (-)

Dropped out of the rankings: Iuri Alcantara (8)

Despite being the biggest favorite on the card, Brazilian Iuri Alcantara fell flat on his home soil at UFC Fight Night 61. Alcantara was outworked by Frankie Saenz and relinquished his spot in the rankings. The loss opened the door for another Brazilian, Eduardo Dantas, to climb back into the top 10 for the first time since losing his Bellator belt to Joe Warren.

Flyweight
  1. Demetrious Johnson (1)
  2. Joseph Benavidez (2)
  3. John Dodson (3)
  4. John Lineker (4)
  5. Ian McCall (5)
  6. Jussier “Formiga” da Silva (6)
  7. Zach Makovsky (7)
  8. Kyoji Horiguchi (8)
  9. John Moraga (9)
  10. Ali Bagautinov (10)

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

Pound-For-Pound
  1. Jose Aldo (1)
  2. Jon Jones (2)
  3. Demetrious Johnson (3)
  4. Ronda Rousey (4)
  5. Cain Velasquez (5)
  6. Chris Weidman (6)
  7. Anthony Pettis (7)
  8. T.J. Dillashaw (8)
  9. Anderson Silva (9)
  10. Robbie Lawler (10)

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


Advertisement