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)
At UFC Shanghai, on Aug. 23, No. 7 Sergei Pavlovich defeated Waldo Cortes-Acosta by unanimous decision. The rankings remain unchanged.
- Magomed Ankalaev (1)
- Alex Pereira (2)
- Jiří Procházka (3)
- Khalil Rountree Jr. (4)
- Carlos Ulberg (5)
- Aleksandar Rakić (6)
- Corey Anderson (7)
- Jamahal Hill (8)
- Jan Błachowicz (9)
- Volkan Oezdemir (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Khamzat Chimaev (4)
- Dricus du Plessis (1)
- Sean Strickland (2)
- Nassourdine Imavov (3)
- Israel Adesanya (5)
- Reinier de Ridder (6)
- Robert Whittaker (7)
- Anthony Hernandez (-)
- Caio Borralho (9)
- Paulo Costa (10)
Dropped from the rankings: Roman Dolidze (8)
On Aug. 9, unranked Anthony Hernandez submitted No. 8 Roman Dolidze with a rear-naked choke at UFC Vegas 109. a week later, No. 4 Khamzat Chimaev finally got his title shot against champion Dricus du Plessis, and he came through with a dominant decision win. A new middleweight king was crowned that evening, which vaulted Chimaev to the top of the rankings, pushing those below him down one notch. Hernandez replaced Dolidze in the rankings at No. 8.
- 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 (6)
- Paddy Pimblett (7)
- Dan Hooker (8)
- Michael Chandler (9)
- Beneil Dariush (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Ilia Topuria (1)
- Alex Volkanovski (2)
- Diego Lopes (3)
- Yair Rodriguez (5)
- Aljamain Sterling (9)
- Movsar Evloev (6)
- Brian Ortega (4)
- Lerone Murphy (8)
- Jean Silva (7)
- Patricio “Pitbull” Freire (10)
August saw a bit of action in the featherweight division, which shook up the rankings.On Aug. 16, No. 8 Lerone Murphy took out Aaron Pico with first-round knockout by spinning back elbow at UFC 319. A week later, ninth-ranked Aljamain Sterling breezed to a unanimous decision over No. 4 Brian Ortega. Ortega was not going to make weight, so they negotiated a 153-pound catchweight bout the week of the fight, but this fight still affects the featherweight rankings. Sterling jumps to No. 5, Ortega falls to No. 7, and the fighters surrounding them moved up or down accordingly with Murphy holding solid at No. 8.
- 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)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so 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. 9 Tatsuro Taira submitted Park Hyun-Sung with a face crank at UFC Vegas 108 on Aug. 2. 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)
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.