Donald Cerrone (Dave Mandel/Sherdog)

Combat Press Men’s MMA Rankings: Feb. 22, 2016

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. Stipe Miocic (3)
  4. Ben Rothwell (4)
  5. Alistair Overeem (5)
  6. Junior dos Santos (6)
  7. Andrei Arlovski (7)
  8. Travis Browne (8)
  9. Josh Barnett (9)
  10. Mark Hunt (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. Phil Davis (5)
  6. Glover Teixeira (6)
  7. Ryan Bader (7)
  8. Ovince Saint Preux (8)
  9. Liam McGeary (9)
  10. Jimi Manuwa (10)

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

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

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

Welterweight
  1. Robbie Lawler (1)
  2. Carlos Condit (2)
  3. Ben Askren (3)
  4. Rory MacDonald (4)
  5. Matt Brown (5)
  6. Stephen Thompson (6)
  7. Johny Hendricks (7)
  8. Hector Lombard (8)
  9. Tyron Woodley (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. Khabib Nurmagomedov (2)
  3. Donald Cerrone (3)
  4. Eddie Alvarez (4)
  5. Anthony Pettis (5)
  6. Gilbert Melendez (6)
  7. Will Brooks (7)
  8. Tony Ferguson (8)
  9. Nate Diaz (9)
  10. Justin Gaethje (10)

The lone, ranked fighter in action this week was third-ranked Donald Cerrone, but he competed at welterweight. The recent title challenger moved up in weight to headline UFC Fight Night 83, where he submitted Brazilian Alex Oliveira via triangle choke.

Featherweight
  1. Conor McGregor (1)
  2. José Aldo (2)
  3. Frankie Edgar (3)
  4. Chad Mendes (4)
  5. Max Holloway (5)
  6. Ricardo Lamas (6)
  7. Cub Swanson (7)
  8. Charles Oliveira (8)
  9. Daniel Straus (9)
  10. Patricio Freire (10)/Dennis Bermudez (-)

At UFC Fight Night 83, Dennis Bermudez outworked veteran Tatsuya Kawajiri to earn his way back into the top 10. Bermudez had dropped two straight, but fought smart and earned a decision win.

Bantamweight
  1. Dominick Cruz (1)
  2. T.J. Dillashaw (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. Thomas Almeida (9)
  10. Aljamain Sterling (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. Henry Cejudo (5)
  6. Jussier “Formiga” da Silva (6)
  7. Zach Makovsky (7)
  8. Kyoji Horiguchi (8)
  9. John Moraga (9)
  10. Wilson Reis (10)

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

Pound-For-Pound
  1. Demetrious Johnson (1)
  2. Jon Jones (2)
  3. Robbie Lawler (3)
  4. Daniel Cormier (4)
  5. Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino (5)
  6. Fabricio Werdum (6)
  7. Conor McGregor (7)
  8. Luke Rockhold (8)
  9. José Aldo (9)
  10. Dominick Cruz (10)/Rafael dos Anjos (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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