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)
- Francis Ngannou (-)
- Ciryl Gane (2)
- Tom Aspinall (3)
- Alexander Volkov (4)
- Curtis Blaydes (5)
- Sergei Pavlovich (6)
- Jailton Almeida (7)
- Serghei Spivac (8)
- Jairzinho Rozenstruik (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Marcin Tybura (10)
After two years and nine months removed from MMA action, the former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou resurfaced at his new home in the Professional Fighters League to headline PFL Super Fights: Battle of the Giants on Oct. 19. And, he, apparently, has not lost a step, as it took him only three minutes and 32 seconds to knock out Renan Ferreira for the inaugural PFL Super Fights heavyweight championship. Ngannou reenters the rankings at No. 2, pushing everyone below him down, which leaves Marcin Tybura as the odd man out.
- Alex Pereira (1)
- Jiří Procházka (2)
- Jamahal Hill (3)
- Magomed Ankalaev (4)
- Jan Błachowicz (5)
- Aleksandar Rakić (6)
- Corey Anderson (7)
- Phil Davis (8)
- Volkan Oezdemir (9)
- Bogdan Guskov (10)
A handful of ranked light heavyweights were in action in October. First, at UFC 307, UFC champ Alex Pereira knocked out Khalil Rountree in the fourth round of their headliner. Three weeks later, No. 4 Magomed Ankalaev won a unanimous decision over No. 6 Aleksandar Rakić at UFC 308. The rankings remain unchanged.
- Dricus du Plessis (1)
- Sean Strickland (2)
- Israel Adesanya (3)
- Khamzat Chimaev (7)
- Robert Whittaker (4)
- Nassourdine Imavov (5)
- Marvin Vettori (6)
- Paulo Costa (8)
- Caio Borralho (9)
- Johnny Eblen (10)
At PFL Super Fights: Battle of the Giants, Bellator middleweight titleholder Johnny Eblen won a unanimous decision over Fabian Edwards. A week later, in one of the more anticipated fights of the year, rising challenger, and seventh-ranked, Khamzat Chimaev finished fourth-ranked former UFC champ Robert Whittaker with a nasty face crank at UFC 308, which broke Whittaker’s jaw. Chimaev moves to No. 4, pushing a few below him down.
- Belal Muhammad (1)
- Leon Edwards (2)
- Kamaru Usman (3)
- Shavkat Rakhmonov (4)
- Colby Covington (5)
- Jack Della Maddalena (6)
- Sean Brady (7)
- Gilbert Burns (8)
- Ian Garry (9)
- Ramazan Kuramagomedov (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Islam Makhachev (1)
- Arman Tsarukyan (2)
- Charles Oliveira (3)
- Justin Gaethje (4)
- Dustin Poirier (5)
- Michael Chandler (6)
- Dan Hooker (7)
- Mateusz Gamrot (8)
- Beneil Dariush (8)
- Rafael Fiziev (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Ilia Topuria (1)
- Alex Volkanovski (2)
- Max Holloway (3)
- Diego Lopes (4)
- Brian Ortega (5)
- Yair Rodriguez (6)
- Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (7)
- Movsar Evloev (8)
- Chan Sung Jung (9)
- Josh Emmett (10)
At UFC 308 on Oct. 26, Ilia Topuria defended his title with a third-round knockout of Max Holloway. The rankings remain unchanged.
- Merab Dvalishvili (4)
- Sean O’Malley (1)
- Demetrious Johnson (2)
- Umar Nurmagomedov (3)
- Cory Sandhagen (5)
- Petr Yan (6)
- Deiveson Figueiredo (7)
- Henry Cejudo (8)
- Patchy Mix (9)
- Marlon Vera (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- 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)
- Tatsuro Taira (9)
- Alex Perez (10)
At UFC Vegas 98 on Oct. 12, No. 2 flyweight Brandon Royval defeated No. 9 Tatsuro Taira by split decision. The rankings remain unchanged.
- Islam Makhachev (1)
- Jon Jones (2)
- Ilia Topuria (9)
- Alex Pereira (5)
- Max Holloway (3)
- Demetrious Johnson (4)
- Dustin Poirier (7)
- Belal Muhammad (6)
- Amanda Nunes (8)
- Justin Gaethje (10)
With Ilia Topuria and Alex Pereira both defending their titles in October, there was some shifting in the rankings with both making moves up. However, the same fighters remain in the top 10.
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.