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)
At UFC Vegas 84 on Jan. 13, No. 6 Magomed Ankalaev faced Johnny Walker in the evening’s headliner. After Rd. 1, it looked like Walker might be able to pull of a victory. But, near the midpoint of Rd. 2, with his striking on point, Ankalaev knocked out the Brazilian with punches, keeping his spot in the rankings.
- 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)
On Jan. 20, at UFC 297, all eyes were on the middleweight division as No, 1 Sean Strickland looked to defend his middleweight title for the first time against No. 3 Dricus du Plessis. IT was a back-and-forth, five-round battle with both men having dominant moments. Strickland suffered a cut earlier in the fight, but that was due to an accidental headbutt, yet some people thought du Plessis did the damage. It ended up in the hands of the judges, who gave a split decision win to du Plessis, and a new king was crowned. Du Plessis jumps to No. 1, Strickland falls to No. 2, and former longtime champ Israel Adesanya moves to No. 3.
- Leon Edwards (1)
- Kamaru Usman (2)
- Shavkat Rakhmonov (3)
- Colby Covington (4)
- Belal Muhammad (5)
- Gilbert Burns (6)
- Sean Brady (7)
- Stephen Thompson (8)
- Geoff Neal (9)
- Jason Jackson (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Islam Makhachev (1)
- Charles Oliveira (2)
- Justin Gaethje (3)
- Dustin Poirier (4)
- Arman Tsarukyan (5)
- Michael Chandler (6)
- Mateusz Gamrot (7)
- Beneil Dariush (8)
- Rafael Fiziev (9)
- Usman Nurmagomedov (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Alex Volkanovski (1)
- Yair Rodriguez (2)
- Max Holloway (3)
- Brian Ortega (4)
- Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (5)
- Ilia Topuria (6)
- A.J. McKee (7)
- Movsar Evloev (-)
- Chan Sung Jung (9)
- Josh Emmett (10)
Dropped from the rankings: Arnold Allen (8)
To kick off the main card at UFC 297, No. 8 Arnold Allen took on Movsar Evloev. It was a three-round fight, and while Allen appeared to have his moments, Evloev ultimately won the unanimous decision.
- 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)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- 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)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so 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.