Khamzat Chimaev (Instagram.com/khamzat_chimaev)

Combat Press MMA Rankings: November 2023

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.

Heavyweight
  1. Francis Ngannou (1)
  2. Jon Jones (2)
  3. Ciryl Gane (3)
  4. Sergei Pavlovich (4)
  5. Curtis Blaydes (5)
  6. Tom Aspinall (6)
  7. Alexander Volkov (7)
  8. Jailton Almeida (8)
  9. Ryan Bader (9)
  10. Tai Tuivasa (10)

No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.


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Light Heavyweight
  1. Jiří Procházka (1)
  2. Jamahal Hill (2)
  3. Glover Teixeira (3)
  4. Alex Pereira (4)
  5. Vadim Nemkov (5)
  6. Magomed Ankalaev (6)
  7. Jan Błachowicz (7)
  8. Aleksandar Rakić (8)
  9. Corey Anderson (9)
  10. Phil Davis (10)

No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.

Middleweight
  1. Sean Strickland (1)
  2. Israel Adesanya (2)
  3. Dricus du Plessis (3)
  4. Robert Whittaker (4)
  5. Jared Cannonier (5)
  6. Marvin Vettori (6)
  7. Khamzat Chimaev (-)
  8. Paulo Costa (7)
  9. Johnny Eblen (8)
  10. Derek Brunson (9)

Dropped from the rankings: Roman Dolidze (10)

Previous No. 4 welterweight Khamzat Chimaev has made a permanent jump to middleweight, and he was supposed to face No. 7 Paulo Costa at UFC 294 on Oct. 21. But, only 10 days out, Costa dropped out due to a surgery, and former welterweight champ Kamaru Usman stepped in on short notice for the middleweight title eliminator bout. The fight went all three rounds and Chimaev picked up the majority decision. He enters the middleweight rankings at No. 7, pushing down Costa, Johnny Eblen and Derek Brunson. Roman Dolidze falls out of the top 10.

Welterweight
  1. Leon Edwards (1)
  2. Kamaru Usman (2)
  3. Colby Covington (3)
  4. Belal Muhammad (5)
  5. Gilbert Burns (6)
  6. Yaroslav Amosov (7)
  7. Stephen Thompson (8)
  8. Shavkat Rakhmonov (10)
  9. Geoff Neal (-)
  10. Sean Brady (9)

Dropped from the rankings: Khamzat Chimaev (4)

No top-10 fighters were in welterweight action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged. However, with No. 4 Khamzat Chimaev permanently moving up to middleweight, he exits the welterweight rankings, shifting those below him up. This made way for Geoff Neal to enter at No. 9, but previous No. 9 Sean Brady dropped a spot.

Lightweight
  1. Islam Makhachev (1)
  2. Charles Oliveira (2)
  3. Justin Gaethje (3)
  4. Dustin Poirier (4)
  5. Beneil Dariush (5)
  6. Michael Chandler (6)
  7. Mateusz Gamrot (7)
  8. Rafael Fiziev (8)
  9. Usman Nurmagomedov (9)
  10. Arman Tsarukyan (10)

At UFC 294 on Oct. 21, lightweight champion Islam Makhachev was supposed to have his second title defense in a rematch against Charles Oliveira. However, less than two weeks out, the Brazilian former champion had to pull out due to injury, so Makhachev had a rematch from his first title defense against featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski. While their first fight went the distance, Makhachev put this one on ice with a knockout only three minutes into Round 1. The rankings remain unchanged.

Featherweight
  1. Alex Volkanovski (1)
  2. Yair Rodriguez (2)
  3. Max Holloway (3)
  4. Brian Ortega (4)
  5. Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (5)
  6. Ilia Topuria (6)
  7. A.J. McKee (7)
  8. Arnold Allen (8)
  9. Chan Sung Jung (9)
  10. Josh Emmett (10)

No top-10 fighters were in featherweight action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.

Bantamweight
  1. Sean O’Malley (1)
  2. Demetrious Johnson (2)
  3. Aljamain Sterling (3)
  4. Merab Dvalishvili (4)
  5. Cory Sandhagen (5)
  6. T.J. Dillashaw (6)
  7. Petr Yan (7)
  8. Marlon Vera (8)
  9. Adriano Moraes (9)
  10. Patchy Mix (10)

No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.

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

No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.

Pound-For-Pound
  1. Islam Makhachev (1)
  2. Alexander Volkanovski (2)
  3. Jon Jones (3)
  4. Francis Ngannou (4)
  5. Charles Oliveira (5)
  6. Demetrious Johnson (6)
  7. Justin Gaethje (7)
  8. Leon Edwards (8)
  9. Dustin Poirier (9)
  10. Amanda Nunes (10)

The only top-10, pound-for-pound fighters in action were No. 1 Islam Makhachev and No. 2 Alexander Volkanovski. With Makhachev stopping Volkanovski in their lightweight-title rematch. The rankings remain unchanged.


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.