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.
- Francis Ngannou (1)
- Ciryl Gane (2)
- Tom Aspinall (3)
- Alexander Volkov (4)
- Josh Hokit (5)
- Curtis Blaydes (6)
- Sergei Pavlovich (7)
- Rizvan Kuniev (8)
- Jailton Almeida (9)
- Waldo Cortes-Acosta (10)
Three top-10 heavyweights picked up wins in May. At UFC 328 on May 9, Alexander Volkov earned a unanimous decision over fellow top-10 heavyweight Waldo Cortes-Acosta. One week later, on May 16, Francis Ngannou returned from a 19-month layoff and knocked out Philipe Lins in the first round at MVP MMA 1. Sergei Pavlovich closed out the month with a 39-second TKO of Tallison Teixeira at UFC Macau on May 30. The rankings remain unchanged.
- Alex Pereira (1)
- Carlos Ulberg (2)
- Magomed Ankalaev (3)
- Jiří Procházka (4)
- Khalil Rountree Jr. (5)
- Paulo Costa (6)
- Azamat Murzakanov (7)
- Jamahal Hill (8)
- Corey Anderson (9)
- Jan Błachowicz (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Sean Strickland (3)
- Khamzat Chimaev (1)
- Dricus du Plessis (2)
- Nassourdine Imavov (4)
- Joe Pyfer (5)
- Brendan Allen (6)
- Israel Adesanya (7)
- Anthony Hernandez (8)
- Caio Borralho (9)
- Reinier de Ridder (10)
The middleweight division experienced a major shake-up at UFC 328 on May 9. Third-ranked Sean Strickland handed top-ranked Khamzat Chimaev his first professional loss, winning a split decision to recapture the UFC middleweight championship. Strickland moves back into the top spot.
- Islam Makhachev (1)
- Carlos Prates (7)
- Jack Della Maddalena (2)
- Shavkat Rakhmonov (3)
- Michael Morales (4)
- Ian Machado Garry (5)
- Sean Brady (6)
- Belal Muhammad (8)
- Joaquin Buckley (9)
- Ramazan Kuramagomedov (10)
The welterweight division produced two important results in May. At UFC Perth on May 2, seventh-ranked Carlos Prates stopped second-ranked Jack Della Maddalena in the third round. One week later, sixth-ranked Sean Brady controlled ninth-ranked Joaquin Buckley en route to a dominant unanimous-decision victory at UFC 328. The big rankings move was Prates jumping to No. 2, and those who were previously above him, except for top-ranked Islam Makhachev, all moving down one spot.
- Islam Makhachev (1)
- Ilia Topuria (2)
- Arman Tsarukyan (3)
- Charles Oliveira (4)
- Justin Gaethje (5)
- Max Holloway (6)
- Paddy Pimblett (7)
- Benoît Saint Denis (8)
- Mateusz Gamrot (9)
- Dan Hooker (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Alex Volkanovski (1)
- Diego Lopes (2)
- Yair Rodriguez (3)
- Aljamain Sterling (4)
- Movsar Evloev (5)
- Brian Ortega (6)
- Lerone Murphy (7)
- Jean Silva (8)
- Aaron Pico (9)
- David Onama (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Petr Yan (1)
- Merab Dvalishvili (2)
- Sean O’Malley (3)
- Umar Nurmagomedov (4)
- Cory Sandhagen (5)
- Song Yadong (7)
- Deiveson Figueiredo (6)
- Aiemann Zahabi (8)
- Mario Bautista (9)
- David Martinez (10)
Two ranked bantamweights met in the UFC Macau main event on May 30. Seventh-ranked Song Yadong submitted sixth-ranked Deiveson Figueiredo with a guillotine choke late in the second round, giving Song one of the biggest victories of his career. Song and Figueiredo swap spots in the rankings.
- Joshua Van (1)
- Alexandre Pantoja (2)
- Tatsuro Taira (3)
- Manel Kape (4)
- Kyoji Horiguchi (5)
- Lone’er Kavanagh (6)
- Amir Albazi (7)
- Muhammad Mokaev (8)
- Brandon Moreno (9)
- Brandon Royval (10)
Top-ranked Joshua Van successfully defended the UFC flyweight championship against third-ranked Tatsuro Taira at UFC 328 on May 9. Van stopped Taira with strikes in the fifth round to solidify his position at the top of the division. The rankings remain unchanged.
- Islam Makhachev (1)
- Ilia Topuria (2)
- Alexander Volkanovksi (3)
- Charles Oliveira (4)
- Max Holloway (5)
- Valentina Shevchenko (7)
- Alex Pereira (8)
- Justin Gaethje (9)
- Joshua Van (10)
- Sean Strickland (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Jack Della Maddalena (6)
Two pound-for-pound-ranked fighters competed during May. Sixth-ranked Jack Della Maddalena suffered a third-round TKO loss to Carlos Prates at UFC Perth on May 2. Tenth-ranked Joshua Van successfully defended the UFC flyweight championship by stopping Tatsuro Taira in the fifth round at UFC 328 on May 9. JDM is removed from the pound-for-pound rankings, those below him move up, and Strickland enters 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.