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)
- Ciryl Gane (2)
- Stipe Miocic (3)
- Sergei Pavlovich (4)
- Curtis Blaydes (5)
- Tom Aspinall (6)
- Alexander Volkov (7)
- Ryan Bader (8)
- Tai Tuivasa (10)
- Jairzinho Rozenstruik (9)
There were no fighters in action during the month, but the rankings had a slight change at the No. 9 and No. 10 positions due to a shake-up in the Combat Press rankings panel.
- Jiří Procházka (1)
- Jamahal Hill (8)
- Glover Teixeira (2)
- Jan Błachowicz (3)
- Vadim Nemkov (5)
- Magomed Ankalaev (4)
- Aleksandar Rakić (6)
- Corey Anderson (7)
- Thiago Santos (9)
- Anthony Smith (10)
The light-heavyweight division saw some big movements in January, after Jamahal Hill dominated Glover Teixeira at UFC 283 to pick up the light heavyweight title. While it was not enough to push Hill ahead of former champ Jiří Procházka, it does bump him up to the No. 2 spot. There were also some other slight moves due to changes in the Combat Press rankings panel.
- Alex Pereira (1)
- Israel Adesanya (2)
- Robert Whittaker (3)
- Marvin Vettori (4)
- Jared Cannonier (5)
- Paulo Costa (6)
- Derek Brunson (7)
- Sean Strickland (8)
- Johnny Eblen (10)
- Roman Dolidze (9)
In January, Sean Strickland beat Nassourdine Imavov to hold onto his No. 8 spot. Also, the rankings had a slight change at the No. 9 and No. 10 positions due to a shake-up in the Combat Press rankings panel.
- Leon Edwards (1)
- Kamaru Usman (2)
- Colby Covington (3)
- Khamzat Chimaev (4)
- Gilbert Burns (5)
- Belal Muhammad (6)
- Yaroslav Amosov (7)
- Stephen Thompson (8)
- Shavkat Rakhmonov (10)
- Geoff Neal (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Sean Brady (9)
Multiple-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion Gilbert Burns picked up his ninth career MMA submission victory over Neil Magny at UFC 283 to hold onto his No. 5 spot in the rankings. Also, the rankings had a slight change at the No. 7 through No. 10 positions due to a shake-up in the Combat Press rankings panel. Sean Brady dropped out of the rankings from No. 9, and Geoff Neal was added at the No. 10 spot.
- Islam Makhachev (1)
- Charles Oliveira (2)
- Dustin Poirier (3)
- Justin Gaethje (4)
- Beneil Dariush (5)
- Michael Chandler (6)
- Rafael Fiziev (7)
- Rafael dos Anjos (-)
- Mateusz Gamrot (10)
- Conor McGregor (8)
Dropped from the rankings: Dan Hooker (9)
There were no fighters in action during the month, but the rankings had a slight change at the No. 8 through No. 10 positions due to a shake-up in the Combat Press rankings panel. Rafael dos Anjos entered the rankings at No. 8, Dan Hooker fell to No. 10, and Conor McGregor was removed due to inactivity. Although, McGregor is set to fight Michael Chandler later in the year, giving him an opportunity to jump back in.
- Alex Volkanovski (1)
- Max Holloway (2)
- Yair Rodriguez (4)
- Brian Ortega (5)
- Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (3)
- A.J. McKee (6)
- Josh Emmett (7)
- Arnold Allen (8)
- Chan Sung Jung (9)
- Calvin Kattar (10)
There were no fighters in action during the month, but the rankings had a slight change due to a shake-up in the Combat Press rankings panel. Patricio “Pitbull” Freire fell from No. 3 to No. 5, making way for Yair Rodriguez and Brian Ortega to move into the No. 3 and No. 4 spots, respectively.
- Aljamain Sterling (1)
- Demetrious Johnson (2)
- Sean O’Malley (3)
- Petr Yan (4)
- T.J. Dillashaw (5)
- Cory Sandhagen (6)
- Merab Dvalishvili (7)
- Marlon Vera (9)
- Adriano Moraes (8)
- José Aldo (10)
There were no fighters in action during the month, but the rankings had a slight change at the No. 8 and No. 9 positions due to a shake-up in the Combat Press rankings panel. Adriano Moraes and Marlon “Chito” Vera swapped spots.
- Deiveson Figueiredo (1)
- Brandon Moreno (2)
- Kai Kara-France (3)
- Alexandre Pantoja (4)
- Askar Askarov (5)
- Alex Perez (7)
- Brandon Royval (6)
- Matheus Nicolau (8)
- Rogério Bontorin (10)
- Jarred Brooks (9)
UFC 283 saw the flyweight title change hands once again. Coming into their fourth bout, Brandon Moreno and Deiveson Figueiredo were both 1-1-1 after their trilogy fight with Figueiredo previously holding the undisputed belt and Moreno holding the interim strap. After three rounds of action, the doctor brought and end to the fight, and Moreno became the undisputed champ. This bumps the Mexican champion into the top spot.
The bottom half of the flyweight rankings also saw some slight movements, due to a shake-up in the Combat Press rankings panel.
Due to the lack of action in the men’s 115-pound division, and many fighters moving up to 125 pounds to find bouts, Combat Press will no longer be publishing men’s strawweight rankings.
- Alexander Volkanovski (1)
- Valentina Shevchenko (2)
- Francis Ngannou (3)
- Islam Makhachev (5)
- Charles Oliveira (8)
- Kamaru Usman (9)
- Dustin Poirier (7)
- Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (4)
- Amanda Nunes (-)
- Alex Pereira (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Deiveson Figueiredo (6) and Brandon Moreno (10)
Deiveson Figueiredo’s loss to Brandon Moreno lost him a spot in the pound-for-pound rankings. However, due to the shake-up in the Combat Press rankings panel, Moreno was unable to hold onto his spot as well, making way for Amanda Nunes and Alex Pereira to jump in at the No. 9 and No. 10 positions, respectively.
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.