Every month, Combat Press will provide MMA rankings for each weight class from heavyweight to flyweight, 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)
- Jon Jones (2)
- Ciryl Gane (3)
- Sergei Pavlovich (4)
- Curtis Blaydes (5)
- Tom Aspinall (6)
- Alexander Volkov (7)
- Jailton Almeida (8)
- Ryan Bader (9)
- Tai Tuivasa (10)
At UFC London on Jul. 22., No. 6 Tom Aspinall faced unranked Marcin Tybura. In only 73 seconds, Aspinall scored a TKO to bring his UFC record to 6-1. The rankings remain unchanged.
- Jiří Procházka (1)
- Jamahal Hill (2)
- Glover Teixeira (3)
- Alex Pereira (-)
- Vadim Nemkov (5)
- Magomed Ankalaev (6)
- Jan Błachowicz (4)
- Aleksandar Rakić (7)
- Corey Anderson (8)
- Phil Davis (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Johnny Walker (10)
Alex Pereira finally made his 205-pound debut at UFC 291, when he scored a split decision victory over former champ Jan Błachowicz. The Brazilian enters the rankings at No. 4, and the Polish fighter drops to No. 7. No. 10 Johnny Walker was the odd man out, as he is dropped from the rankings.
- Israel Adesanya (1)
- Dricus du Plessis (7)
- Robert Whittaker (3)
- Jared Cannonier (4)
- Marvin Vettori (5)
- Sean Strickland (9)
- Paulo Costa (6)
- Derek Brunson (8)
- Johnny Eblen (10)
- Roman Doldize (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Alex Pereira (2)
The middleweight division saw some major moves in July. First, with his permanent move up to light heavyweight, Alex Pereira was dropped from the middleweight rankings. Then, on Jul. 1, Sean Strickland scored a TKO victory over Abus Magomedov in their UFC Vegas 76 headliner. A week later, Dricus du Plessis put on a great performance when he upset Robert Whittaker with a second-round TKO at UFC 290. Du Plessis jumps to No. 2, Strickland moves up to No. 6, and Roman Dolidze enters the rankings at No. 10.
- Leon Edwards (1)
- Kamaru Usman (2)
- Colby Covington (3)
- Khamzat Chimaev (4)
- Belal Muhammad (5)
- Gilbert Burns (6)
- Yaroslav Amosov (7)
- Stephen Thompson (9)
- Sean Brady (10)
- Shavkat Rakhmonov (8)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, but, due to a shake-up in the rankings panel, the bottom three fighters shifted.
- Islam Makhachev (1)
- Charles Oliveira (2)
- Justin Gaethje (4)
- Dustin Poirier (3)
- Beneil Dariush (5)
- Michael Chandler (6)
- Rafael Fiziev (7)
- Mateusz Gamrot (8)
- Usman Nurmagomedov (9)
- Arman Tsarukyan (10)
In the UFC 291 headliner, No. 3 lightweight Dustin Poirier and No. 4 Justin Gaethje had a rematch of their 2018 meeting, only this time for the symbolic “BMF” title. One minute into the second round, Gaethje landed a devastating head kick to put Poirier out, and the two have swapped positions in the rankings.
- Alex Volkanovski (1)
- Yair Rodriguez (2)
- Max Holloway (3)
- Brian Ortega (4)
- Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (5)
- Ilia Topuria (6)
- A.J. McKee (7)
- Arnold Allen (8)
- Chan Sung Jung (9)
- Josh Emmett (10)
At UFC 290, champion Alexander Volkanovski returned to the featherweight division for the first time in a year, after moving up to challenge for the lightweight title in February. In the headlining event, he faced interim champ Yair Rodriguez, and the Aussie punched his ticket back to undisputed, unified champion when he scored a third-round TKO. Both men retain their respective No. 1 and No. 2 positions.
Also in action was No. 5 featherweight Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, as he faced Chihiro Suzuki at Bellator vs. RIZIN 2. Suzuki made quick work of the Bellator featherweight champ, scoring a knockout at the midpoint of Round 1, but the fight took place at 154 pounds and does not affect the featherweight rankings.
- Aljamain Sterling (1)
- Demetrious Johnson (2)
- Merab Dvalishvili (3)
- Sean O’Malley (4)
- Cory Sandhagen (5)
- Petr Yan (6)
- T.J. Dillashaw (7)
- Marlon Vera (8)
- Adriano Moraes (9)
- José Aldo (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Alexandre Pantoja (4)
- Brandon Moreno (1)
- Deiveson Figueiredo (2)
- Amir Albazi (3)
- Askar Askarov (5)
- Kai Kara-France (6)
- Brandon Royval (7)
- Alex Perez (8)
- Matheus Nicolau (9)
- Rogério Bontorin (10)
July saw a changing of the guard in the flyweight division after Alexandre Pantoja upset Brandon Moreno in the UFC 290 co-main event for the flyweight strap. The split decision moves Pantoja from No. 4 to No. 1, and shifts down each of the three fighters who were ahead of him.
- Islam Makhachev (1)
- Alexander Volkanovski (2)
- Jon Jones (3)
- Francis Ngannou (4)
- Charles Oliveira (5)
- Demetrious Johnson (7)
- Justin Gaethje (-)
- Leon Edwards (8)
- Dustin Poirier (6)
- Amanda Nunes (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Sergio Pettis (10)
The fallout from Justin Gaaethje’s knockout of Dustin Poirier sent a ripple through the pound-for-pound rankings. Gaethje enters at No. 7, moving Demetrious Johnson up to No. 6. Poirier drops to No. 9, shifting Amanda Nunes down to the tenth spot, which left Sergio Pettis as the odd man out.
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.