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.
- Fabricio Werdum (1)
- Cain Velasquez (2)
- Junior dos Santos (3)
- Josh Barnett (4)
- Stipe Miocic (5)
- Andrei Arlovski (6)
- Travis Browne (7)
- Ben Rothwell (8)
- Mark Hunt (9)
- Alistair Overeem (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Jon Jones (1)
- Daniel Cormier (2)
- Anthony “Rumble” Johnson (3)
- Alexander Gustafsson (4)
- Ryan Bader (5)
- Phil Davis (6)
- Glover Teixeira (7)
- Ovince Saint Preux (8)
- Liam McGeary (9)
- Jimi Manuwa (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Chris Weidman (1)
- Anderson Silva (2)
- Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (3)
- Luke Rockhold (4)
- Yoel Romero (5)
- Vitor Belfort (6)
- Lyoto Machida (7)
- Tim Kennedy (8)
- Gegard Mousasi (9)
- Michael Bisping (10)
The UFC Fight Night 72 main event between No. 10 Michael Bisping and Brazilian Thales Leites went down to the wire, but Bisping’s split decision win ensured he remained in the rankings. The loss kept Leites on the outside looking in.
- Robbie Lawler (1)
- Johny Hendricks (2)
- Ben Askren (3)
- Rory MacDonald (4)
- Matt Brown (5)
- Hector Lombard (6)
- Tyron Woodley (7)
- Carlos Condit (8)
- Rousimar Palhares (9)
- Dong Hyun Kim (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Rafael dos Anjos (1)
- Anthony Pettis (2)
- Khabib Nurmagomedov (3)
- Donald Cerrone (4)
- Benson Henderson (5)
- Eddie Alvarez (6)
- Gilbert Melendez (7)
- Will Brooks (8)
- Myles Jury (9)
- Tony Ferguson (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Michael Johnson (10)
The most impressive performance of the week came from lightweight Tony Ferguson in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 71. The Ultimate Fighter season 13 winner took on former Strikeforce champion Josh Thomson and battered the veteran from bell-to-bell. The showing was enough for Ferguson to overtake Michael Johnson for the 10th slot in our rankings.
- Jose Aldo (1)
- Frankie Edgar (2)
- Conor McGregor (3)
- Chad Mendes (4)
- Ricardo Lamas (5)
- Max Holloway (6)
- Cub Swanson (7)
- Urijah Faber (8)
- Charles Oliveira (9)
- Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (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)
- Marlon Moraes (8)
- Marcos Galvao (9)
- Eduardo Dantas (10)
It was one of the most under-the-radar fights of the week, but ONE Championship titleholder Bibiano Fernandes retained his belt with a third-round knockout of Finland’s Toni Tauru. The Brazilian Fernandes has still yet to taste defeat under the ONE banner, and his knockout of the Cage Warriors champion Tauru may have been his most impressive outing to date.
- Demetrious Johnson (1)
- Joseph Benavidez (2)
- John Dodson (3)
- John Lineker (4)
- Ian McCall (5)
- Jussier “Formiga” da Silva (6)
- Zach Makovsky (7)
- Henry Cejudo (8)
- Kyoji Horiguchi (9)
- John Moraga (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)
- Chris Weidman (5)
- T.J. Dillashaw (6)
- Robbie Lawler (7)
- Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino (8)
- Daniel Cormier (9)
- Fabricio Werdum (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.