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)
- Mark Hunt (8)
- Ben Rothwell (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.
- Luke Rockhold (4)
- Chris Weidman (1)
- Yoel Romero (5)
- Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (3)
- Anderson Silva (2)
- Vitor Belfort (6)
- Lyoto Machida (7)
- Tim Kennedy (8)
- Michael Bisping (9)
- David Branch (10)
The middleweight division was one of the busiest of the week with the entire top of the division in action. It all culminated with former Strikeforce titleholder Luke Rockhold completing his ascension up the ranks with a fourth-round finish of Chris Weidman at UFC 194. But they weren’t the only top-ranked 185ers in action at the event, as Cuba’s Yoel Romero took a questionable split decision win over Brazil’s Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza. Romero slides into the No. 3 spot in the rankings, while Jacare drops to fourth.
- Robbie Lawler (1)
- Johny Hendricks (2)
- Ben Askren (3)
- Rory MacDonald (4)
- Matt Brown (5)
- Hector Lombard (6)
- Tyron Woodley (7)
- Carlos Condit (8)
- Demian Maia (10)
- Rousimar Palhares (9)
Only one fighter in the top 10 of the welterweight ranks was in action this week, but Brazil’s Demian Maia put together one of the most dominant performances of his career. He completely destroyed Iceland’s Gunnar Nelson at UFC 194, showcasing the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu skills that earned him multiple world championships. As a result, Maia climbs to the No. 9 spot in our rankings.
- Rafael dos Anjos (1)
- Anthony Pettis (2)
- Khabib Nurmagomedov (3)
- Donald Cerrone (4)
- Eddie Alvarez (5)
- Gilbert Melendez (6)
- Will Brooks (7)
- Tony Ferguson (9)
- Myles Jury (8)
- Michael Johnson (10)
Surprisingly, despite so many fights this past week, only one top-10 lightweight fighter was in action. That fighter was Tony Ferguson, who moved into the No. 8 spot in our rankings with his submission finish of Brazil’s Edson Barboza at The Ultimate Fighter 22 Finale.
- Conor McGregor (3)
- José Aldo (1)
- Frankie Edgar (2)
- Chad Mendes (4)
- Max Holloway (5)
- Ricardo Lamas (6)
- Cub Swanson (7)
- Charles Oliveira (9)
- Daniel Straus (10)
- Patricio Freire (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Urijah Faber (8)
Wow. That’s the only statement necessary to describe the outcome of this week’s action in the featherweight division. Ireland’s Conor McGregor needed only 13 seconds to dethrone champion and former pound-for-pound king José Aldo at UFC 194. McGregor now claims the top spot in the rankings, while Aldo falls to No. 2. But that wasn’t the only impressive performance of the weekend. Former lightweight kingpin Frankie Edgar stated his case for another title shot by knocking out former title challenger Chad Mendes at the TUF 22 Finale. Also in action, Hawaii’s Max Holloway continued to cement his place in the ranks by topping Jeremy Stephens at UFC 194 and maintaining the No. 5 slot in our rankings. Finally, previously ranked Urijah Faber returned to the bantamweight division and has been dropped from the 145-pound rankings.
- T.J. Dillashaw (1)
- Dominick Cruz (2)
- Renan Barão (3)
- Urijah Faber (4)
- Bibiano Fernandes (5)
- Raphael Assuncao (6)
- Marlon Moraes (7)
- Marcos Galvao (8)
- Thomas Almeida (10)
- Aljamain Sterling (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Eduardo Dantas (9)
Former WEC champion and UFC title challenger Urijah Faber returned to 135 pounds and put on an exciting battle with Frankie Saenz. Faber hangs on to the No. 4 ranking with the decision win. Also in action, fast-rising prospect Aljamain Sterling remained unbeaten with a second-round finish of Johnny Eduardo and moves into the top 10 for the first time.
- Demetrious Johnson (1)
- Joseph Benavidez (2)
- John Dodson (3)
- Ian McCall (4)
- Henry Cejudo (5)
- Jussier “Formiga” da Silva (6)
- Zach Makovsky (7)
- Kyoji Horiguchi (8)
- John Moraga (9)
- Ray Borg (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action this week, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Demetrious Johnson (2)
- Jon Jones (3)
- T.J. Dillashaw (5)
- Robbie Lawler (6)
- Daniel Cormier (7)
- Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino (8)
- Fabricio Werdum (9)
- Conor McGregor (-)
- Luke Rockhold (-)
- José Aldo (1)
Dropped from the rankings: Chris Weidman (4), Frankie Edgar (10)
With two UFC titles changing hands, the pound-for-pound rankings have been shuffled. José Aldo’s devastating knockout loss dropped him from No. 1 all the way down to No. 10. Former middleweight champion Chris Weidman suffered an even bigger fall, dropping out of the top 10 altogether. New champions Conor McGregor and Luke Rockhold enter the rankings at No. 8 and No. 9, respectively.
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.