Josh Barnett (Dave Mandel/Sherdog)

Combat Press Men’s MMA Rankings: Sept. 5, 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. Stipe Miocic (1)
  2. Fabricio Werdum (2)
  3. Cain Velasquez (3)
  4. Alistair Overeem (4)
  5. Junior dos Santos (5)
  6. Brock Lesnar (6)
  7. Ben Rothwell (7)
  8. Travis Browne (8)
  9. Josh Barnett (-)
  10. Mark Hunt (10)

Dropped from the rankings: Andrei Arlovski (9)

In a battle of former UFC champions, Josh Barnett got the best of Andrei Arlovkski at UFC Fight Night 93 in Hamburg, Germany. The submission win for Barnett allowed him rejoin the top 10, while bumping Arlovski from the rankings.

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)

Two of the top 10 light heavyweights were in the cage this past week. Sweden’s Alexander Gustafsson was impressive in a dominant decision win over Poland’s Jan Blachowicz. Gustafsson remains the fourth-ranked 205-pound fighter on the planet. Meanwhile, Ryan Bader had the most impressive finish of the weekend, stopping Ilir Latifi with a vicious knee at UFC Fight Night 93. The former The Ultimate Fighter winner held onto his No. 7 ranking with the violent win.

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

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

Welterweight
  1. Tyron Woodley (1)
  2. Robbie Lawler (2)
  3. Demian Maia (3)
  4. Carlos Condit (4)
  5. Ben Askren (5)
  6. Stephen Thompson (6)
  7. Rory MacDonald (7)
  8. Kelvin Gastelum (8)
  9. Jake Ellenberger (9)
  10. Donald Cerrone (10)/Dong Hyun Kim (10)

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

Lightweight
  1. Eddie Alvarez (1)
  2. Khabib Nurmagomedov (2)
  3. Rafael dos Anjos (3)
  4. Donald Cerrone (4)
  5. Will Brooks (5)
  6. Tony Ferguson (6)
  7. Edson Barboza (7)
  8. Nate Diaz (8)
  9. Dustin Poirier (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. Max Holloway (4)
  5. Chad Mendes (5)
  6. Anthony Pettis (6)
  7. Ricardo Lamas (7)
  8. Cub Swanson (8)
  9. Charles Oliveira (9)
  10. Daniel Straus (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. Cody Garbrandt (6)
  7. Marlon Moraes (7)
  8. Raphael Assuncao (8)
  9. Eduardo Dantas (9)
  10. John Lineker (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. Henry Cejudo (3)
  4. Jussier “Formiga” da Silva (4)
  5. Zach Makovsky (5)
  6. Kyoji Horiguchi (6)
  7. Wilson Reis (7)
  8. Dustin Ortiz (8)
  9. Matheus Nicolau (9)
  10. Louis Smolka (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. Daniel Cormier (3)
  4. Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino (4)
  5. Dominick Cruz (5)
  6. Stipe Miocic (6)
  7. Conor McGregor (7)
  8. José Aldo (8)
  9. Joanna Jędrzejczyk (9)
  10. Eddie Alvarez (10)/Anthony “Rumble” Johnson (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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