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)
- Jairzinho Rozenstruik (9)
- Marcin Tybura (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Magomed Ankalaev (1)
- Alex Pereira (2)
- Jiří Procházka (3)
- Khalil Rountree Jr. (9)
- Carlos Ulberg (5)
- Aleksandar Rakić (6)
- Corey Anderson (7)
- Jamahal Hill (4)
- Jan Błachowicz (8)
- Volkan Oezdemir (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Dricus du Plessis (1)
- Sean Strickland (2)
- Nassourdine Imavov (3)
- Khamzat Chimaev (4)
- Israel Adesanya (5)
- Reinier de Ridder (-)
- Robert Whittaker (6)
- Roman Dolidze (7)
- Caio Borralho (8)
- Paulo Costa (9)
Dropped from the rankings: Johnny Eblen (10)
The middleweight division saw the most action in July. At UFC 319, ninth-ranked Paulo Costa got back in the win column with a decision over Roman Kopylov, and Brendan Allen picked up a decision over Marvin Vettori. That same day, tenth-ranked Johnny Eblen lost the PFL middleweight title to Costello van Steenis when he got choked unconscious in the final round. A week later, Reinier de Ridder extended his UFC record to 4-0 when he picked up a split decision over No. 6 Robert Whittaker. De Ridder enters the rankings at No. 6, everyone below him moves down one, and Eblen is the odd man out.
- Jack Della Maddalena (1)
- Belal Muhammad (2)
- Sean Brady (3)
- Kamaru Usman (4)
- Leon Edwards (5)
- Shavkat Rakhmonov (6)
- Joaquin Buckley (7)
- Colby Covington (8)
- Ramazan Kuramagomedov (9)
- Ian Machado Garry (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Islam Makhachev (1)
- Ilia Topuria (2)
- Arman Tsarukyan (3)
- Charles Oliveira (4)
- Justin Gaethje (5)
- Max Holloway (-)
- Paddy Pimblett (7)
- Dan Hooker (8)
- Michael Chandler (9)
- Beneil Dariush (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Dustin Poirier (6), Mateusz Gamrot (10)
The sole ranked lightweight bout in July was the Dustin Porier retirement bout against Max Holloway at UFC 318. Holloway picked up a unanimous decision, and Poirier retired with grace. Holloway enters the lightweight rankings at No. 6, as he intends to stay there.
- Ilia Topuria (1)
- Alex Volkanovski (2)
- Diego Lopes (3)
- Brian Ortega (5)
- Yair Rodriguez (6)
- Movsar Evloev (7)
- Jean Silva (8)
- Lerone Murphy (9)
- Aljamain Sterling (10)
- Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Max Holloway (4)
While no top-10 fighters fought at featherweight in July, Max Holloway permanently moved up to lightweight with his fight against Dustin Poirier. Everyone below Holloway moved up, and Patricio “Pitbull” Freire re-enters at No. 10.
- Merab Dvalishvili (1)
- Sean O’Malley (2)
- Umar Nurmagomedov (3)
- Cory Sandhagen (4)
- Petr Yan (5)
- Deiveson Figueiredo (6)
- Song Yadong (7)
- Mario Bautista (8)
- Marlon Vera (9)
- Patchy Mix (10)
The only ranked bantamweight in action in July was No. 5 Petr Yan, who picked up a unanimous decision over Marcus McGhee at UFC Abu Dhabi. The rankings remain unchanged.
- Alexandre Pantoja (1)
- Joshua Van (2)
- Brandon Moreno (3)
- Brandon Royval (4)
- Amir Albazi (5)
- Muhammad Mokaev (6)
- Kai Kara-France (7)
- Manel Kape (8)
- Tatsuro Taira (9)
- Alex Perez (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Islam Makhachev (1)
- Jon Jones (2)
- Ilia Topuria (3)
- Alexander Volkanovksi (4)
- Max Holloway (5)
- Jack Della Maddalena (6)
- Belal Muhammad (7)
- Justin Gaethje (8)
- Magomed Ankalaev (9)
- Alexandre Pantoja (10)
Dropped from the rankings: Dustin Poirier (7)
With Dustin Poirier going into retirement, he has been removed from the pound-for-pound rankings, and everyone below him moves up on notch. This makes way for flyweight king Alexandre Pantoja to enter at No. 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.