Liam McGeary (Dave Mandel/Sherdog)

Combat Press Men’s MMA Rankings: Sept. 21, 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. Fabricio Werdum (1)
  2. Cain Velasquez (2)
  3. Junior dos Santos (3)
  4. Josh Barnett (4)
  5. Stipe Miocic (5)
  6. Andrei Arlovski (6)
  7. Travis Browne (7)
  8. Ben Rothwell (8)
  9. Mark Hunt (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. Daniel Cormier (2)
  3. Anthony “Rumble” Johnson (3)
  4. Alexander Gustafsson (4)
  5. Ryan Bader (5)
  6. Phil Davis (6)
  7. Glover Teixeira (7)
  8. Ovince Saint Preux (8)
  9. Liam McGeary (9)
  10. Jimi Manuwa (10)

Bellator MMA’s Dynamite event may not have lived up to the hype, but its two most promising light heavyweight fighters did their part. Champion Liam McGeary weathered an early storm against former UFC titleholder Tito Ortiz to submit the veteran with an inverted triangle choke from the bottom and retain his title. Promotional newcomer Phil Davis quickly put his stamp on the division, submitting former champion Emanuel Newton in the one-night tournament semifinal before knocking out fellow former UFC combatant Francis Carmont in the final. Davis’s impressive showing keeps him firmly in the No. 6 spot, while McGeary stays in the ninth slot. The pair are expected to meet early in 2016 in the Bellator cage.

Middleweight
  1. Chris Weidman (1)
  2. Anderson Silva (2)
  3. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (3)
  4. Luke Rockhold (4)
  5. Yoel Romero (5)
  6. Vitor Belfort (6)
  7. Lyoto Machida (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. Matt Brown (5)
  6. Hector Lombard (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. Donald Cerrone (4)
  5. Benson Henderson (5)
  6. Eddie Alvarez (6)
  7. Gilbert Melendez (7)
  8. Will Brooks (8)
  9. Myles Jury (9)
  10. Tony Ferguson (10)

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

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

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

Bantamweight
  1. T.J. Dillashaw (1)
  2. Dominick Cruz (2)
  3. Renan Barão (3)
  4. Urijah Faber (4)
  5. Bibiano Fernandes (5)
  6. Raphael Assuncao (6)
  7. Marlon Moraes (7)
  8. Marcos Galvao (8)
  9. Eduardo Dantas (9)
  10. Joe Warren (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. Ian McCall (4)
  5. Jussier “Formiga” da Silva (5)
  6. Zach Makovsky (6)
  7. Henry Cejudo (7)
  8. Kyoji Horiguchi (8)
  9. John Moraga (9)
  10. Ray Borg (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. Ronda Rousey (2)
  3. Demetrious Johnson (3)
  4. Jon Jones (4)
  5. Chris Weidman (5)
  6. T.J. Dillashaw (6)
  7. Robbie Lawler (7)
  8. Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino (8)
  9. Daniel Cormier (9)
  10. 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.


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