Every month, Combat Press will provide MMA rankings for each weight class from heavyweight to strawweight, as well as the pound-for-pound rankings (including all genders).
Note: the numbers in parentheses represent the fighter’s ranking from the previous month.
- Francis Ngannou (1)
- Stipe Miocic (2)
- Ciryl Gane (3)
- Derrick Lewis (4)
- Curtis Blaydes (5)
- Alexander Volkov (6)
- Jairzinho Rozenstruik (7)
- Alistair Overeem (8)
- Junior dos Santos (9)
- Augusto Sakai (10)/Ryan Bader (10)
The UFC 266 main card featured a collision between fifth-ranked Curtis Blaydes and seventh-ranked Jairzinho Rozenstruik. Blaydes put on a strong performance to claim the decision and maintains his top-five spot with the victory.
- Jan Błachowicz (2)
- Jiří Procházka (3)
- Glover Teixeira (4)
- Vadim Nemkov (5)
- Corey Anderson (6)
- Aleksandar Rakić (7)
- Dominick Reyes (8)
- Thiago Santos (9)
- Anthony Smith (10)
- Volkan Oezdemir (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Jon Jones (1)
The biggest shakeup in the light heavyweight ranks comes from the inactivity of former champion Jon Jones. With more than 18 months since his last Octagon appearance and recent legal troubles, Jones is no longer ranked.
As for action in the cage, UFC Fight Night: Smith vs. Spann was a showcase for the former title challenger Anthony Smith. He easily submitted Ryan Spann in the first round to stay inside the top 10.
- Israel Adesanya (1)
- Robert Whittaker (2)
- Paulo Costa (3)
- Yoel Romero (4)
- Jared Cannonier (5)
- Marvin Vettori (6)
- Jack Hermansson (8)
- Derek Brunson (10)
- Gegard Mousasi (9)
- Darren Till (7)
Derek Brunson continues to play spoiler in the UFC middleweight division. In the main event of UFC Fight Night: Brunson vs. Till, he cruised past England’s Darren Till and earned a third-round finish. Brunson climbs to eighth in victory, while Till falls to 10th in defeat.
- Kamaru Usman (1)
- Gilbert Burns (2)
- Colby Covington (3)
- Leon Edwards (4)
- Stephen Thompson (5)
- Vicente Luque (6)
- Michael Chiesa (7)
- Yaroslav Amosov (8)
- Jorge Masvidal (9)/Belal Muhammad (9)
- Douglas Lima (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the past month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Charles Oliveira (1)
- Dustin Poirier (2)
- Justin Gaethje (3)
- Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (4)
- Michael Chandler (5)
- Beneil Dariush (6)
- Conor McGregor (7)
- Dan Hooker (8)
- Rafael dos Anjos (9)
- Tony Ferguson (10)
UFC 266 featured eighth-ranked Dan Hooker opposite Nasrat Haqparast. The Kiwi put on a show, dominating Haqparast throughout to keep himself firmly planted inside the rankings.
- Alex Volkanovski (1)
- Max Holloway (2)
- Brian Ortega (3)
- A.J. McKee (4)
- Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (5)
- Chan Sung Jung (6)
- Yair Rodriguez (7)
- Bibiano Fernandes (8)
- Giga Chikadze (9)
- Edson Barboza (10)
If there were any doubts about Alexander Volkanovski’s reign over the featherweight division, they should have been erased after UFC 266. The Australian put on a masterful performance against a very tough Brian Ortega to hold onto his belt.
- Petr Yan (1)
- Aljamain Sterling (2)
- T.J. Dillashaw (3)
- Cory Sandhagen (4)
- José Aldo (5)
- Adriano Moraes (6)
- Demetrious Johnson (7)
- Frankie Edgar (8)
- Kyoji Horiguchi (9)
- Pedro Munhoz (10)
No fighters in the top 10 were in action during the past month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Brandon Moreno (1)
- Deiveson Figueiredo (2)
- Askar Askarov (3)
- Alexandre Pantoja (4)
- Joseph Benavidez (5)
- Alex Perez (6)
- Jussier “Formiga” da Silva (7)
- Brandon Royval (8)
- Kai Kara-France (9)
- Joshua Pacio (10)
ONE Championship: Revolution featured a strawweight (125 pounds in ONE) title defense for Joshua Pacio. He smoked Yosuke Saruta in the first round to retain his belt.
- Namiki Kawahara (1)
- Haruo Ochi (2)
- Gexi Sanlang (3)
- Ryosuke Noda (4)
- Toshiya Takashima (5)
- Yuta Miyazawa (6)
- Ryo Hatta (7)
- Keito Yamakita (8)
- Tatsuki Ozaki (9)
- Billy Pasulatan (10)
Second-ranked Haruo Ochi defeated Kazuki Shibuya at DEEP 103 and maintains his spot in the rankings.
- Amanda Nunes (1)
- Valentina Shevchenko (4)
- Kamaru Usman (3)
- Jan Błachowicz (5)
- Israel Adesanya (6)
- Alexander Volkanovski (7)
- Francis Ngannou (8)
- Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (9)
- Rose Namajunas (10)
- Brandon Moreno (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Jon Jones (2)
Formerly top-ranked pound-for-pound king Jon Jones exits the rankings after his period of inactivity. At UFC 266, the promotion’s flyweight queen, Valentina Shevchenko, continued her dominance with a fourth-round finish of Lauren Murphy. Shevchenko climbs to the No. 2 spot with yet another showcase of her skills. With Jones’s exit, current flyweight champion Brandon Moreno enters the rankings for the first time.
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 twice in their new division. Fighters who announce their retirement will remain ranked for a period of six months following their final bout.