Max Holloway (Dave Mandel/Sherdog)

Combat Press MMA Rankings: Dec. 12, 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. Josh Barnett (8)
  9. Mark Hunt (9)
  10. Travis Browne (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. Jimi Manuwa (8)
  9. Ovince Saint Preux (9)
  10. Liam McGeary (10)

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

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

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

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

Donald Cerrone continued his run of success at 170 pounds, earning a violent, third-round knockout of Matt Brown at UFC 206. With the win, Cerrone climbs to the No. 8 spot in the division. Also in action was Kelvin Gastelum, but his bout occurred in the middleweight division after he couldn’t make weight at UFC 205.

Lightweight
  1. Conor McGregor (1)
  2. Khabib Nurmagomedov (2)
  3. Tony Ferguson (3)
  4. Eddie Alvarez (4)
  5. Rafael dos Anjos (5)
  6. Edson Barboza (6)
  7. Nate Diaz (7)
  8. Justin Gaethje (8)
  9. Will Brooks (9)
  10. Michael Chandler (10)

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

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

Hawaii’s Max Holloway captured interim gold at UFC 206, stopping former lightweight titleholder Anthony Pettis in the third round. Holloway will be the next to challenge Jose Aldo in a title unification bout, while Pettis is likely headed back to the lightweight division after missing weight for the title affair. The card also featured Cub Swanson, who moved up to sixth in the rankings with his “Fight of the Year” contender with Doo Ho Choi.

Bantamweight
  1. Dominick Cruz (1)
  2. T.J. Dillashaw (2)
  3. Bibiano Fernandes (3)
  4. Cody Garbrandt (4)
  5. John Lineker (5)
  6. Marlon Moraes (6)
  7. Jimmie Rivera (7)
  8. Urijah Faber (8)
  9. Raphael Assuncao (9)
  10. Eduardo Dantas (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. Kyoji Horiguchi (4)
  5. Jussier “Formiga” da Silva (5)
  6. Wilson Reis (7)
  7. Dustin Ortiz (9)
  8. Zach Makovsky (6)
  9. Tim Elliott (8)
  10. Matheus Nicolau (10)

Dustin Ortiz continues to be the bane of top-10 flyweights, edging out a split decision win over Zach Makovsky at UFC 206. The win moves Ortiz up to seventh, while Makovsky slides to eighth.

Pound-For-Pound
  1. Demetrious Johnson (1)
  2. Jon Jones (2)
  3. Daniel Cormier (3)
  4. Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino (4)
  5. Conor McGregor (5)
  6. Dominick Cruz (6)
  7. Joanna Jędrzejczyk (7)
  8. Stipe Miocic (8)
  9. José Aldo (9)
  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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