Mark Hunt (Taro Irei/Sherdog)

Combat Press Men’s MMA Rankings: March 21, 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)

The king of the walkoff was at it again in Brisbane, Australia, as 10th-ranked Mark Hunt knocked out former champion Frank Mir in the UFC Fight Night 85 main event. Hunt connected with a right hand behind Mir’s ear midway through the opening round and simply walked away without doing any further damage.

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. Vitor Belfort (5)
  6. Lyoto Machida (6)
  7. Tim Kennedy (8)
  8. Michael Bisping (8)
  9. Anderson Silva (9)
  10. Derek Brunson (10)/Robert Whittaker (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. Tyron Woodley (9)
  9. Demian Maia (10)
  10. Neil Magny (-)

Dropped from the rankings: Hector Lombard (8)

After surviving a lopsided opening round, Neil Magny turned the tide on previously ranked Hector Lombard at UFC Fight Night 85, earning a third-round stoppage. Magny climbs into the No. 10 spot in our rankings, while Lombard drops out of the top 10.

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)

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

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 (10)

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

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. Luke Rockhold (7)
  8. Dominick Cruz (8)
  9. Rafael dos Anjos (9)
  10. Conor McGregor (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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