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)
- Tom Aspinall (8)
- Ryan Bader (-)
- Chris Daukaus (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Valentin Moldavsky (10)
UFC heavyweight kingpin Francis Ngannou fended off the challenge of former teammate Ciryl Gane in the UFC 270 headliner. The champ utilized his wrestling skills to edge the challenger in a unanimous verdict on the scorecards. The two fighters retain their respective spots in the rankings. Meanwhile, Ryan Bader is back at heavyweight. The Bellator titleholder had not seen action in the division since 2019, but he made a triumphant return with a unanimous nod over Valentin Moldavsky at Bellator 273. Bader’s victory launches him into the No. 9 spot in our heavyweight poll and knocks Moldavsky outside of the top 10.
- Glover Teixeira (1)
- Jan Błachowicz (2)
- Jiří Procházka (3)
- Corey Anderson (4)
- Vadim Nemkov (5)
- Aleksandar Rakić (6)
- Dominick Reyes (7)
- Thiago Santos (8)
- Anthony Smith (9)
- Magomed Ankalaev (10)
There were no ranked fighters in action during the month, so the top 10 remains unchanged.
- Israel Adesanya (1)
- Robert Whittaker (2)
- Marvin Vettori (3)
- Jared Cannonier (4)
- Paulo Costa (5)
- Derek Brunson (6)
- Jack Hermansson (7)
- Gegard Mousasi (8)
- Sean Strickland (9)
- Darren Till (10)
There were no ranked fighters in action during the month, so the top 10 remains unchanged.
- Kamaru Usman (1)
- Colby Covington (2)
- Gilbert Burns (3)
- Leon Edwards (4)
- Vicente Luque (5)
- Belal Muhammad (6)
- Sean Brady (7)
- Stephen Thompson (8)
- Yaroslav Amosov (9)
- Jorge Masvidal (10)
There were no ranked fighters in action during the month, so the top 10 remains unchanged.
- Charles Oliveira (1)
- Dustin Poirier (2)
- Justin Gaethje (3)
- Michael Chandler (4)
- Islam Makhachev (5)
- Beneil Dariush (6)
- Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (7)
- Rafael dos Anjos (8)
- Dan Hooker (9)
- Conor McGregor (10)
There were no ranked fighters in action during the month, so the top 10 remains unchanged.
- Alex Volkanovski (1)
- Max Holloway (2)
- A.J. McKee (3)
- Yair Rodriguez (4)
- Brian Ortega (5)
- Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (6)
- Calvin Kattar (9)
- Chan Sung Jung (8)
- Giga Chikadze (7)
- Josh Emmett (10)
The UFC’s 2022 campaign opened with UFC Fight Night: Kattar vs. Chikadze, and the titular fight provides our only change within the featherweight top 10. Calvin Kattar outworked Giga Chikadze through five rounds to take the unanimous-decision victory. The two athletes swap places in our poll, with Kattar in seventh and Chikadze down to ninth.
- Petr Yan (1)
- Aljamain Sterling (2)
- T.J. Dillashaw (3)
- Cory Sandhagen (4)
- Adriano Moraes (5)
- José Aldo (6)
- Demetrious Johnson (7)
- Dominick Cruz (8)
- Rob Font (9)
- Sergio Pettis (10)
There were no ranked fighters in action during the month, so the top 10 remains unchanged.
- Deiveson Figueiredo (2)
- Brandon Moreno (1)
- Askar Askarov (3)
- Alexandre Pantoja (4)
- Alex Perez (5)
- Brandon Royval (6)
- Kai Kara-France (7)
- Matheus Nicolau (8)
- Rogério Bontorin (9)
- David Dvořák (10)
The rivalry at the top of the flyweight rankings continued with another chapter in the co-headliner of UFC 270, where Deiveson Figueiredo reclaimed his throne with a unanimous nod over Brandon Moreno. The two men have now met three times; the results have included a majority draw, a submission win for Moreno, and now Figueiredo’s decision victory. The latest outcome puts the Brazilian back at No. 1 in our poll, while his Mexican counterpart slides back to second. In other relevant action, Brandon Royval squeaked by Rogério Bontorin with a split decision at UFC Fight Night: Kattar vs. Chikadze. The two men retain their respective places in the rankings.
- Daichi Kitakata (1)
- Namiki Kawahara (2)
- Keito Yamakita (3)
- Gexi Sanlang (4)
- Ryosuke Noda (5)
- Toshiya Takashima (6)
- Yuta Miyazawa (7)
- Ryo Hatta (8)
- Tatsuki Ozaki (9)
- Billy Pasulatan (10)
There were no ranked fighters in action during the month, so the top 10 remains unchanged.
- Kamaru Usman (1)
- Valentina Shevchenko (2)
- Alexander Volkanovski (3)
- Rose Namajunas (4)
- Francis Ngannou (5)
- Charles Oliveira (6)
- Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (7)
- Deiveson Figueiredo (-)
- Israel Adesanya (9)
- Glover Teixeira (10)
Dropped from the rankings: Brandon Moreno (8)
Francis Ngannou, our fifth-ranked pound-for-pound fighter, holds steady following his successful UFC heavyweight title defense against Ciryl Gane at UFC 270. Meanwhile, newly crowned UFC flyweight champ Deiveson Figueiredo hops into the No. 8 spot in the pound-for-pound poll and unseats Brandon Moreno. The former champion now resides just outside of the top 10.
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.