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 (8)
- Jairzinho Rozenstruik (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)
- Magomed Ankalaev (5)
- Jan Błachowicz (6)
- Aleksandar Rakić (7)
- Corey Anderson (8)
- Phil Davis (9)
- Johnny Walker (10)
On Apr. 13, UFC 300 showcased a couple huge fights in the light heavyweight division. The feature fight on the preliminary card saw second-ranked and former champ Jiří Procházka get back to his winning ways with a bonus-winning second-round TKO of No.7 Aleksandar Rakić. Then, in the main event, divisional king Alex Pereira won his first title defense against former titleholder Jamahal Hill with a first-round knockout. Both men keep their spots 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)
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 (6)
- Gilbert Burns (7)
- Sean Brady (8)
- Jason Jackson (9)
- Ian Garry (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Islam Makhachev (1)
- Arman Tsarukyan (5)
- Charles Oliveira (2)
- Justin Gaethje (3)
- Dustin Poirier (4)
- Michael Chandler (6)
- Mateusz Gamrot (7)
- Beneil Dariush (8)
- Rafael Fiziev (9)
- A.J. McKee (10)
UFC 300 was stacked with lightweight battles, including one of the best knockouts in MMA history. In a battle for the symbolic “BMF” belt, titleholder and third-ranked lightweight Justin Gaethje took on former featherweight champion, and fourth-ranked featherweight, Max Holloway in a five-round war. With 10 seconds left in the fight, Holloway pointed at the center of the cage, the two started throwing haymakers, and, with one second left, Holloway landed a right hook, flatlining Gaethje for the knockout victory.
Earlier in the evening, fifth-ranked Arman Tsarukyan had a bout with former lightweight champion and second-ranked Charles Oliveira that had actual title implications. After three rounds in a title-eliminator fight, Tsarukyan picked up the split decision victory.
The Holloway-Gaethje fight did not really affect the rankings, as it was more of a symbolic fight, and Holloway hasn’t said he plans to permanently move to 155 pounds. However, Tsarukyan jumps to the No. 2 spot, pushing everyone who was previously above him down.
- 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)
- Aljamain Sterling (3 BW)
Dropped from the rankings: Calvin Kattar (10)
At UFC 300 on Apr. 13, former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling made his first appearance as a UFC featherweight, in what he said is a permanent move. This makes sense considering his teammate Merab Dvalishvili is at the top of the bantamweight rankings and next in line for a shot at Sean O’Malley’s title. Sterling won a unanimous decision over tenth-ranked Calvin Kattar, and he is replacing him Kattar in the rankings.
- Sean O’Malley (1)
- Demetrious Johnson (2)
- Merab Dvalishvili (4)
- Cory Sandhagen (5)
- T.J. Dillashaw (6)
- Petr Yan (7)
- Henry Cejudo (8)
- Marlon Vera (9)
- Patchy Mix (10)
- Adriano Moraes (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Aljamain Sterling (3)
As previously mentioned, No. 3 bantamweight Aljamain Sterling made his move up to featherweight at UFC 300, winning a unanimous decision over Calvin Kattar. He has been removed from the bantamweight rankings, making room for ONE Championship’s Adriano Moraes, the former ONE 135-pound champ, to enter at No. 10.
- Alexandre Pantoja (1)
- Brandon Royval (2)
- Brandon Moreno (3)
- Deiveson Figueiredo (4)
- Amir Albazi (5)
- Askar Askarov (6)
- Kai Kara-France (7)
- Muhammad Mokaev (8)
- Alex Perez (9)
- Matheus Nicolau (10)
Two UFC flyweights faced off in the headliner of UFC Vegas 87 on Apr. 27. No. 9 Alex Perez and No. 10 Matheus Nicolau went to war from the opening bell, but, just before the midpoint of Round 2, Perez landed a punch that put Nicolau down, and he the knockout victory. The rankings remain unchanged.
- Islam Makhachev (1)
- Jon Jones (2)
- Max Holloway (-)
- Demetrious Johnson (5)
- Alex Pereira (-)
- Dustin Poirier (7)
- Leon Edwards (6)
- Amanda Nunes (9)
- Justin Gaethje (4)
- Ilia Topuria (8)
Dropped from the rankings: Charles Oliveira (3), Alexandre Pantoja (10)
UFC 300 had some serious ramifications on the pound-for-pound rankings. With Max Holloway and Alex Pereira scoring knockout wins over Jamahal Hill and Justin Gaethje, respectively, Holloway enters the rankings at No. 3 and Pereira at No. 5. And, after Charles Oliveira lost a split decision to Arman Tsarukyan, the Brazilian lost his spot in the rankings, and UFC flyweight champion and tenth-ranked Alexandre Pantoja loses his No. 10 spot. Gaethje dropped to No. 9.
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.