Chad Mendes (Dave Mandel/Sherdog)

Combat Press Men’s MMA Rankings: April 6, 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 (including both genders).

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


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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. Alistair Overeem (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. Ben Askren (3)
  4. Rory MacDonald (4)
  5. Hector Lombard (5)
  6. Matt Brown (6)
  7. Tyron Woodley (7)
  8. Carlos Condit (8)
  9. Rousimar Palhares (9)
  10. Demian Maia (10)

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

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

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

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. Max Holloway (10)
  10. Charles Oliveira (-)

Dropped from the rankings: Dustin Poirier (9)

The biggest statement this week came from No. 2-ranked Chad Mendes, who obliterated Ricardo Lamas in under three minutes at UFC Fight Night 63. Mendes, who has already lost twice to champion Jose Aldo, did something that Aldo couldn’t do in 25 minutes, knock out Lamas. Mendes may not get another crack at Aldo anytime soon, but he’s leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of the division. Also, Dustin Poirier moved up to the lightweight division, relinquishing his No. 9 ranking.

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 (8)
  9. Marcos Galvao (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. 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. Henry Cejudo (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. Ronda Rousey (3)
  4. Demetrious Johnson (4)
  5. Cain Velasquez (5)
  6. Chris Weidman (6)
  7. T.J. Dillashaw (7)
  8. Robbie Lawler (8)
  9. Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino (9)
  10. Johny Hendricks (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.


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