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 male and female athletes.
Note: the numbers in parentheses represent the fighter’s ranking from the previous month.
- Jon Jones (1)
- Francis Ngannou (2)
- Ciryl Gane (3)
- Tom Aspinall (4)
- Alexander Volkov (5)
- Curtis Blaydes (6)
- Sergei Pavlovich (7)
- Jailton Almeida (8)
- Serghei Spivac (9)
- Jairzinho Rozenstruik (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Magomed Ankalaev (4)
- Alex Pereira (1)
- Jiří Procházka (2)
- Jamahal Hill (3)
- Carlos Ulberg (-)
- Aleksandar Rakić (6)
- Corey Anderson (7)
- Jan Błachowicz (5)
- Khalil Rountree Jr. (-)
- Volkan Oezdemir (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Phil Davis (8), Bogdan Guskov (10)
March saw a small shake-up, and then a rather large shake-up in the light heavyweight rankings. But, before we get to March results, No. 8 Phil Davis, who hasn’t fought since Jun. 2023, has been removed due to inactivity.
At UFC 313, on Mar. 8, the UFC light heavyweight crown changed hands, when challenger Magomed Ankalaev won a unanimous decision over champion Alex Pereira. Two week later, at UFC London, unranked Carlos Ulberg won a unanimous decision over former UFC champion Jan Blachowicz.
Ankalaev takes the top spot, Blachowicz drops to No. 8, Khalil Rountree enters at No. 9, Volkan Oezdemir falls to No. 10, and Bogdan Guskov falls out of the top-10 rankings. Corey Anderson is hanging on by a thread, but the way PFL is going with their Bellator fighters, he may not be in the rankings much longer.
- Dricus du Plessis (1)
- Sean Strickland (2)
- Nassourdine Imavov (3)
- Khamzat Chimaev (4)
- Israel Adesanya (5)
- Robert Whittaker (6)
- Roman Dolidze (-)
- Caio Borralho (9)
- Paulo Costa (8)
- Johnny Eblen (10)
Dropped from the rankings: Marvin Vettori (7)
At UFC Vegas 104 on Mar. 15, previously unranked Roman Dolidze won a unanimous decision over seventh-ranked Marvin Vettori. This was the second loss in a row for Vettori, and he has lost three of his last four bouts. Vettori falls out of the rankings, and Dolidze takes his spot at No. 7. This adjustment, due to the rankings panel voting, also caused No. 9 Caio Borralho and No. 8 Paulo Costa to switch spots.
- Belal Muhammad (1)
- Sean Brady (7)
- Leon Edwards (2)
- Kamaru Usman (3)
- Shavkat Rakhmonov (4)
- Joaquin Buckley (5)
- Jack Della Maddalena (6)
- Colby Covington (8)
- Ramazan Kuramagomedov (9)
- Gilbert Burns (10)
The welterweight division saw some action at the top of the rankings in March. At UFC London, on Mar. 22, No. 7 Sean Brady Brady choked out former UFC champion Leon Edwards in the fourth round of their main event clash. Brady jumps to the No. 2 spot, pushing everyone else down.
- 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 (9)
- Rafael Fiziev (10)
At UFC 313, fourth-ranked Justin Gaethje picked up another decision win over No. 10 Rafael Fiziev. 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)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Merab Dvalishvili (1)
- Sean O’Malley (2)
- Demetrious Johnson (3)
- Umar Nurmagomedov (4)
- Cory Sandhagen (5)
- Petr Yan (6)
- Song Yadong (7)
- Patchy Mix (8)
- Deiveson Figueiredo (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)
- Manel Kape (-)
- Tatsuro Taira (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Alex Perez (10)
To kick the month off, at UFC Vegas 103 on Mar. 1, former RIZIN FF bantamweight champion Manel Kape scored a TKO, due to retirement, over Asu Almabayev. To close the month out, former two-time UFC champion Brandon
Moreno picked up a decision win over Steve Erceg in Mexico City on Mar. 29. Kape enters the rankings at No. 9, pushing down No. 9 Tatsuro Taira. No. 10 Alex Perez falls out of the rankings.
- Islam Makhachev (1)
- Jon Jones (2)
- Ilia Topuria (3)
- Max Holloway (5)
- Demetrious Johnson (6)
- Dustin Poirier (7)
- Belal Muhammad (8)
- Magomed Ankalaev (-)
- Justin Gaethje (10)
- Alex Pereira (4)
Dropped from the rankings: Amanda Nunes (9)
Before getting to March results, No. 9 Amanda Nunes has been removed from the pound-for-pound rankings, due to inactivity. With Alex Pereira’s loss to Magomed Ankalaev, he drops from No. 4 to No. 10, and Ankalaev enters at No. 8. Everyone above No. 8 moves up a notch, and Justin Gaethje, who bested Rafael Fiziev in March, moves up 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.