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.
- Jon Jones (1)
- Ciryl Gane (2)
- Tom Aspinall (3)
- Sergei Pavlovich (4)
- Curtis Blaydes (5)
- Alexander Volkov (6)
- Jailton Almeida (7)
- Marcin Tybura (10)
- Jairzinho Rozenstruik (9)
- Tai Tuivasa (8)
March was a busy month for the UFC heavyweights. On Mar. 2, No. 9 Jairzinho Rozenstruik scored a TKO victory over Shamil Gaziev at UFC Vegas 87. A week later, at UFC 299, No. 5 Curtis Blaydes pounded the living daylights out of No. 7 Jailton Almeida 32 seconds into the second round. The following weekend, tenth-ranked Marcin Tybura choked out No. 8 Tai Tuivasa at UFC Vegas 88. Tybura and Tuivasa swap spots in the rankings.
- Alex Pereira (1)
- Jiří Procházka (2)
- Jamahal Hill (3)
- Glover Teixeira (4)
- Magomed Ankalaev (5)
- Jan Błachowicz (6)
- Aleksandar Rakić (7)
- Corey Anderson (8)
- Phil Davis (9)
- Johnny Walker (10)
The only light heavyweight in action was No. 8 Corey Anderson, who won a unanimous decision over Karl Moore at the Bellator Champions Series 1 on Mar. 22.
- 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 (3)
- Colby Covington (4)
- Belal Muhammad (5)
- Jack Della Maddalena (-)
- Gilbert Burns (6)
- Sean Brady (7)
- Jason Jackson (8)
- Ian Garry (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Stephen Thompson (10)
The welterweight division saw one big showdown in March, and that resulted in a new face in the rankings. At UFC 299, on Mar. 9, Jack Della Maddalena made big waves when he scored a third-round knockout of Gilbert Burns. With that, JDM moves into the No. 6 spot, and everyone else moves down, leaving Stephen Thompson the odd man out.
- 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)
- A.J. McKee (10)
Dropped from the rankings: Usman Nurmagomedov (10)
Two ranked lightweights were in action at UFC 299 on Mar. 9. Earlier in the evening, Mateusz Gamrot picked up a unanimous decision over former champ Rafael dos Anjos. In the co-main event, former interim champ Dustin Poirier landed a right hook in the second round of his battle with Benoit Saint-Denis that sent the Frenchman into the shadow realm. The rankings remain unchanged.
- Ilia Topuria (1)
- Brian Ortega (2)
- Alex Volkanovski (3)
- Max Holloway (4)
- Yair Rodriguez (5)
- Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (6)
- Movsar Evloev (7)
- Chan Sung Jung (8)
- Josh Emmett (9)
- Calvin Kattar (10)
The only ranked featherweight in action this month was Patricio “Pitbull” Freire. At Bellator Champions Series 1, he scored a third-round TKO of Jeremy Kennedy to retain his Bellator featherweight title and keep his No. 6 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)
- Henry Cejudo (8)
- Marlon Vera (9)
- Patchy Mix (10)
UFC 299 saw two ranked bantamweights in action. To open up the main card, No. 7 Petr Yan took two of three rounds against Song Yadong to earn a decision victory. The main card saw divisional king Sean O’Malley score a lopsided unanimous decision victory over No. 9 Marlon “Chito” Vera. Both men keep their spots in the rankings.
- Alexandre Pantoja (1)
- Brandon Royval (7)
- Brandon Moreno (2)
- Deiveson Figueiredo (3)
- Amir Albazi (4)
- Askar Askarov (5)
- Kai Kara-France (6)
- Muhammad Mokaev (-)
- Alex Perez (8)
- Matheus Nicolau (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Rogério Bontorin (10)
At UFC Vegas 87, Muhammad Mokaev continued his March toward the top of the flyweight heap, when he picked up a unanimous decision win over No. 8 Alex Perez. He enters the rankings at No. 8, pushing down Perez and Matheus Nicolau, which causes Rogerio Bontorin to fall off the top-10 rankings.
- Islam Makhachev (1)
- Jon Jones (2)
- Charles Oliveira (3)
- Justin Gaethje (4)
- Demetrious Johnson (5)
- Leon Edwards (6)
- Dustin Poirier (7)
- Ilia Topuria (8)
- Amanda Nunes (9)
- Alexandre Pantoja (10)
The only top-10 pound-for-pound fighter in action this month was No. 9 Dustin Poirier, who knocked out Benoit Saint-Denis at UFC 299 to keep his 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.