Johnny Eblen (Shamrock FC)

Combat Press MMA Rankings: July 2022

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.

Heavyweight
  1. Francis Ngannou (1)
  2. Ciryl Gane (2)
  3. Stipe Miocic (3)
  4. Tai Tuivasa (4)
  5. Curtis Blaydes (5)
  6. Derrick Lewis (6)
  7. Tom Aspinall (7)
  8. Alexander Volkov (8)
  9. Ryan Bader (10)
  10. Jairzinho Rozenstruik (9)

Alexander Volkov posted a statement victory in early June. “Drago” needed just over two minutes to finish fellow ranked heavyweight Jairzinho Rozenstruik in the headliner of UFC Fight Night: Volkov vs. Rozenstruik. The Russian holds steady at eighth, one spot behind the last man to defeat him, Tom Aspinall. Meanwhile, Rozenstruik falls a spot in our poll.


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Light Heavyweight
  1. Jiří Procházka (3)
  2. Glover Teixeira (1)
  3. Jan Błachowicz (2)
  4. Corey Anderson (4)
  5. Vadim Nemkov (5)
  6. Aleksandar Rakić (6)
  7. Magomed Ankalaev (7)
  8. Thiago Santos (8)
  9. Anthony Smith (9)
  10. Dominick Reyes (10)

Once again, the UFC has a new light-heavyweight champion. Jiří Procházka made the most of his title challenge at UFC 275. The Czech star finished Glover Teixeira in the fifth round with a rear-naked choke submission. Procházka leapfrogs over Teixeira and Jan Błachowicz to take over the top spot in our 205-pound rankings. Teixeira slides to second.

Middleweight
  1. Israel Adesanya (1)
  2. Robert Whittaker (2)
  3. Marvin Vettori (3)
  4. Jared Cannonier (4)
  5. Paulo Costa (5)
  6. Derek Brunson (6)
  7. Sean Strickland (7)
  8. Johnny Eblen (-)
  9. Jack Hermansson (9)
  10. Darren Till (10)

Dropped from the rankings: Gegard Mousasi (8)

A longtime staple of the rankings became a stepping stone for an undefeated up-and-comer in June. Johnny Eblen, nicknamed “The Human Cheat Code,” earned a unanimous nod over former UFC and Bellator champion Gegard Mousasi at Bellator 282. Eblen’s victory allows him to take over the eighth spot in our poll, while Mousasi departs the top 10 with the loss.

Welterweight
  1. Kamaru Usman (1)
  2. Colby Covington (2)
  3. Khamzat Chimaev (3)
  4. Gilbert Burns (4)
  5. Leon Edwards (5)
  6. Belal Muhammad (6)
  7. Vicente Luque (7)
  8. Stephen Thompson (8)
  9. Sean Brady (9)
  10. Shavkat Rakhmonov (-)

Dropped from the rankings: Yaroslav Amosov (10)

UFC Fight Night: Tsarukyan vs. Gamrot provided a stage for welterweight standout Shavkat Rakhmonov to score his most notable win yet. Rakhmonov locked in a guillotine choke in the second round of a rather one-sided affair with proven veteran Neil Magny. The submission victory gives the undefeated prospect stoppages in all four of his Octagon appearances. Now with 16 wins under his belt, Rakhmonov enters the rankings and bumps Yaroslav Amosov out of the No. 10 spot.

Lightweight
  1. Charles Oliveira (1)
  2. Dustin Poirier (2)
  3. Justin Gaethje (3)
  4. Islam Makhachev (4)
  5. Michael Chandler (5)
  6. Beneil Dariush (6)
  7. Rafael dos Anjos (7)
  8. Conor McGregor (8)
  9. Rafael Fiziev (9)
  10. Mateusz Gamrot (-)

Dropped from the rankings: Arman Tsarukyan (10)

In the titular battle of UFC Fight Night: Tsarukyan vs. Gamrot, Poland’s Mateusz Gamrot narrowly outworked Armenia’s Arman Tsarukyan for a unanimous-decision victory. In doing so, Gamrot unseats Tsarukyan as the No. 10-ranked fighter in our lightweight poll.

Featherweight
  1. Alex Volkanovski (1)
  2. Max Holloway (2)
  3. Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (3)
  4. Brian Ortega (5)
  5. Yair Rodriguez (6)
  6. A.J. McKee (4)
  7. Josh Emmett (-)
  8. Calvin Kattar (7)
  9. Chan Sung Jung (8)
  10. Giga Chikadze (10)

Dropped from the rankings: Arnold Allen (9)

Josh Emmett surges into the featherweight rankings at No. 7 following his split nod over Calvin Kattar in the headlining bout of UFC Fight Night: Kattar vs. Emmett. Kattar slides down one spot with the loss, while Emmett’s emergence bumps Arnold Allen outside of the top 10.

Bantamweight
  1. Aljamain Sterling (1)
  2. Petr Yan (2)
  3. T.J. Dillashaw (3)
  4. Cory Sandhagen (4)
  5. Adriano Moraes (5)
  6. José Aldo (6)
  7. Demetrious Johnson (7)
  8. Dominick Cruz (8)
  9. Marlon Vera (9)
  10. Sergio Pettis (10)

There were no fighters in action during the month, so the rankings remain unchanged.

Flyweight
  1. Deiveson Figueiredo (1)
  2. Brandon Moreno (2)
  3. Kai Kara-France (3)
  4. Askar Askarov (4)
  5. Alexandre Pantoja (5)
  6. Alex Perez (6)
  7. Brandon Royval (7)
  8. Matheus Nicolau (8)
  9. Rogério Bontorin (9)
  10. Joshua Pacio (10)

There were no fighters in action during the month, so the rankings remain unchanged.

Strawweight
  1. Daichi Kitakata (1)
  2. Gexi Sanlang (2)
  3. Keito Yamakita (3)
  4. Ryosuke Noda (4)
  5. Toshiya Takashima (5)
  6. Yuta Miyazawa (6)
  7. Ryo Hatta (7)
  8. Junji Ito (8)
  9. Jo Arai (9)
  10. Tatsuki Ozaki (10)

There were no fighters in action during the month, so the rankings remain unchanged.

Pound-For-Pound
  1. Kamaru Usman (1)
  2. Alexander Volkanovski (3)
  3. Valentina Shevchenko (2)
  4. Charles Oliveira (5)
  5. Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (7)
  6. Francis Ngannou (4)
  7. Deiveson Figueiredo (6)
  8. Israel Adesanya (8)
  9. Dustin Poirier (9)
  10. Brandon Moreno (-)

Dropped from the rankings: Glover Teixeira (10)

With his loss to Jiří Procházka in the UFC 275 headliner, Glover Teixeira falls from the pound-for-pound top 10. However, it isn’t Procházka that takes his place. Instead, that honor goes to former UFC flyweight champion Brandon Moreno. The co-headliner of the same show also had an impact on our pound-for-pound poll. UFC women’s flyweight titleholder Valentina Shevchenko escaped the event with the belt still around her waist, but challenger Taila Santos did manage to make it a close one. One judge even awarded the Brazilian the victory on the scorecards. Shevchenko’s failure to dominate leads to a small downtick in her ranking and a shuffling of the fighters in the spots between second and seventh.


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.


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