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)
- Tai Tuivasa (-)
- Derrick Lewis (4)
- Curtis Blaydes (5)
- Alexander Volkov (6)
- Jairzinho Rozenstruik (7)
- Tom Aspinall (8)
- Ryan Bader (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Chris Daukaus (10)
Fill those sneakers with beer! Tai Tuivasa continued his epic beer-chugging rise through the heavyweight ranks with a stunning second-round destruction of Derrick Lewis at UFC 271. The upset win launches Tuivasa into the No. 4 spot in our poll, with Lewis sliding to fifth. Tuivasa’s emergence also bumps Chris Daukaus back outside 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)
- Sean Strickland (9)
- Gegard Mousasi (8)
- Jack Hermansson (7)
- Darren Till (10)
In the UFC 271 headliner, Israel Adesanya further cemented his place at the top of the middleweight rankings with a unanimous-decision victory over rival and second-ranked fighter Robert Whittaker. Meanwhile, Jared Cannonier blasted Derek Brunson with elbows for a second-round stoppage in their UFC 271 encounter. Both men hold steady in their respective positions in the top 10. Sean Strickland was the month’s biggest mover at middleweight following his split verdict over Jack Hermansson. Strickland and Hermansson swap places in the poll, with Strickland taking over the No. 7 spot. Strickland leapfrogged past Gegard Mousasi, who was also in action in February with a successful Bellator middleweight title defense against Austin Vanderford at Bellator 275. Despite the win, Mousasi stays put at eighth.
- 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)
- Islam Makhachev (5)
- Michael Chandler (4)
- Beneil Dariush (6)
- Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (7)
- Rafael dos Anjos (8)
- Dan Hooker (9)
- Conor McGregor (10)
Khabib Nurmagomedov’s protege is quickly approaching title contention. Islam Makhachev added another impressive victory to his resume against Bobby Green in the main event of UFC Fight Night: Makhachev vs. Green. Green had stepped up as a late replacement just weeks removed from his last outing. The contest took place at a catchweight of 160 pounds, but it also moved Makhachev to a 22-1 mark and swayed our rankings panel to lift him past Michael Chandler in the lightweight top 10.
- Alex Volkanovski (1)
- Max Holloway (2)
- A.J. McKee (3)
- Yair Rodriguez (4)
- Brian Ortega (5)
- Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (6)
- Calvin Kattar (7)
- Chan Sung Jung (8)
- Giga Chikadze (9)
- Josh Emmett (10)
There were no ranked fighters in action during the month, so the top 10 remains unchanged.
- 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 (1)
- Brandon Moreno (2)
- 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)
There were no ranked fighters in action during the month, so the top 10 remains unchanged.
- Daichi Kitakata (1)
- Keito Yamakita (3)
- Ryosuke Noda (5)
- Gexi Sanlang (4)
- Toshiya Takashima (6)
- Yuta Miyazawa (7)
- Ryo Hatta (8)
- Tatsuki Ozaki (9)
- Billy Pasulatan (10)
- Shuto Aki (-)
Dropped from rankings: Namiki Kawahara (2)
There were no ranked fighters in action during the month, but Namiki Kawahara is now more than 18 months removed from his last fight at 115 pounds. As a result, he departs the strawweight poll. Shuto Aki enters at No. 10 with Kawahara’s removal.
- Kamaru Usman (1)
- Valentina Shevchenko (2)
- Alexander Volkanovski (3)
- Rose Namajunas (4)
- Francis Ngannou (5)
- Charles Oliveira (6)
- Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (7)
- Deiveson Figueiredo (8)
- Israel Adesanya (9)
- Glover Teixeira (10)
Israel Adesanya’s victory over Robert Whittaker in the pair’s rematch at UFC 271 allows the UFC middleweight kingpin to hold steady at ninth in the pound-for-pound rankings.
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.