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)
- Tom Aspinall (4)
- Sergei Pavlovich (5)
- Curtis Blaydes (6)
- Alexander Volkov (7)
- Jailton Almeida (8)
- Ryan Bader (9)
- Tai Tuivasa (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Alex Pereira (1)
- Jiří Procházka (2)
- Jamahal Hill (3)
- Glover Teixeira (4)
- Vadim Nemkov (5)
- Magomed Ankalaev (6)
- Jan Błachowicz (7)
- Aleksandar Rakić (8)
- Corey Anderson (9)
- Phil Davis (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Sean Strickland (1)
- Israel Adesanya (2)
- Dricus du Plessis (3)
- Robert Whittaker (4)
- Jared Cannonier (5)
- Marvin Vettori (6)
- Khamzat Chimaev (7)
- Paulo Costa (8)
- Johnny Eblen (9)
- Derek Brunson (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Leon Edwards (1)
- Kamaru Usman (2)
- Shavkat Rakhmonov (7)
- Colby Covington (3)
- Belal Muhammad (4)
- Gilbert Burns (5)
- Sean Brady (10)
- Stephen Thompson (6)
- Geoff Neal (8)
- Jason Jackson (9)
Welterweight was the most active division in December for the top-10-ranked fighters. To kick off the month, No. 10 Sean Brady scored a submission win over Kelvin Gastelum at UFC Austin. Then, on the main card of UFC 296, two weeks later, No. 7 Shavkat Rakhmonov extended his undefeated record to 18-0 when he picked up a second-round submission of No. 6 Stephen Thompson. In the main event, Leon Edwards successfully defended his welterweight title for the second time, when he dominated Colby Covington en route to a unanimous decision victory.
Edwards keeps his top spot, and Rakhmonov jumps to No. 3, pushing down Covington, Belal Muhammad and Gilbert Burns. With Brady jumping to No. 7, and Thompson falling to No. 8, Geoff NEal and Jason Jackson both fall one spot to No. 9 and No. 10, respectively.
- Islam Makhachev (1)
- Charles Oliveira (2)
- Justin Gaethje (3)
- Dustin Poirier (4)
- Arman Tsarukyan (10)
- Michael Chandler (6)
- Mateusz Gamrot (7)
- Beneil Dariush (5)
- Rafael Fiziev (8)
- Usman Nurmagomedov (9)
The lightweight rankings saw a bit of a shake-up in December after No. 10 Arman Tsarukyan destroyed No. 5 Beneil Dariush in only 64 seconds of their headline affair at UFC Austin. Tsarukyan jumps to No. 5, and Dariush falls to No. 8, pushing down Rafael Fiziev and Usman Nurmagomedov.
- 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 296, it took the hard-hitting Josh Emmett just under two minutes to put short-notice replacement Bryce Mitchell to sleep with a thunderous punch to keep his No. 10 spot in the rankings.
- Sean O’Malley (1)
- Demetrious Johnson (2)
- Aljamain Sterling (3)
- Merab Dvalishvili (4)
- Cory Sandhagen (5)
- T.J. Dillashaw (6)
- Petr Yan (7)
- Marlon Vera (8)
- Patchy Mix (9)
- Adriano Moraes (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Alexandre Pantoja (1)
- Brandon Moreno (2)
- Deiveson Figueiredo (3)
- Amir Albazi (4)
- Askar Askarov (5)
- Kai Kara-France (6)
- Brandon Royval (7)
- Alex Perez (8)
- Matheus Nicolau (9)
- Rogério Bontorin (10)
UFC flyweight king and top-ranked Alexandre Pantoja was successful in his first title defense at UFC 296, when he dominated No. 7 Brandon Royval over five rounds. Both men keep their respective spots in the rankings.
- Islam Makhachev (1)
- Alexander Volkanovski (2)
- Jon Jones (3)
- Francis Ngannou (4)
- Charles Oliveira (5)
- Demetrious Johnson (6)
- Justin Gaethje (7)
- Leon Edwards (8)
- Dustin Poirier (9)
- Amanda Nunes (10)
The only top-10 pound-for-pound fighter in action in December was Leon Edwards, who dominated Colby Covington in his second title defense to remain the UFC welterweight champ. He keeps his No. 8 spot in the 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.