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)
Two ranked heavyweights met at Noche UFC, where No. 6 Curtis Blaydes returned to the win column against No. 10 Waldo Cortes-Acosta. Blaydes used his wrestling and positional control to secure all three scorecards. 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 (1)
- Khamzat Chimaev (2)
- Dricus du Plessis (3)
- Nassourdine Imavov (4)
- Joe Pyfer (5)
- Brendan Allen (6)
- Israel Adesanya (7)
- Gregory Rodrigues (8)
- Caio Borralho (9)
- Anthony Hernandez (10)
No top-10 fighters were in action this month, so the rankings remain unchanged.
- Islam Makhachev (1)
- Carlos Prates (2)
- Jack Della Maddalena (3)
- Michael Morales (5)
- Ian Machado Garry (6)
- Sean Brady (7)
- Gabriel Bonfim (8)
- Joaquin Buckley (9)
- Belal Muhammad (10)
- Ramazan Kuramagomedov (-)
Dropped from the rankings: Shavkat Rakhmonov (4)
While no top-10 fighters were in action this month, No. 4 Shavkat Rakhmonov is being removed for inactivity. Those below him each move up one notch. Ramazan Kuramagomedov enters at No. 10.
- Justin Gaethje (1)
- Ilia Topuria (2)
- Arman Tsarukyan (3)
- Charles Oliveira (4)
- Paddy Pimblett (5)
- Max Holloway (6)
- Benoît Saint Denis (7)
- Quillan Salkilld (8)
- Salahdine Parnasse (-)
- Mauricio Ruffy (10)
Dropped from the rankings: Dan Hooker (9)
No. 9 Dan Hooker’s losing streak continued when UFC newcomer Salahdine Parnasse stopped him with a body kick and follow-up punches. At UFC 331, No. 3 Arman Tsarukyan knocked out No. 10 Mauricio Ruffy with four seconds remaining in the opening round. Tsarukyan’s emphatic victory reinforces his position as the leading challenger to Justin Gaethje.
- 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. 8 Jean Silva survived a competitive opening round against José Miguel Delgado before increasing his pressure and securing a third-round submission. The rankings remain unchanged.
- Petr Yan (1)
- Merab Dvalishvili (2)
- Sean O’Malley (3)
- Song Yadong (4)
- Umar Nurmagomedov (5)
- Mario Bautista (6)
- Cory Sandhagen (7)
- Deiveson Figueiredo (8)
- Aiemann Zahabi (9)
- David Martinez (10)
No. 10 David Martinez extended his winning streak with a composed decision victory over Dan Ige. The rankings remain unchanged.
- Joshua Van (1)
- Alexandre Pantoja (2)
- Tatsuro Taira (3)
- Manel Kape (4)
- Kyoji Horiguchi (5)
- Brandon Royval (6)
- Muhammad Mokaev (7)
- Lone’er Kavanagh (8)
- Amir Albazi (9)
- Brandon Moreno (10)
In the UFC 331 main event, No. 1 Jos hua Van decisively defeated No. 2 Alexandre Pantoja in their rematch. Unlike their first meeting, which ended because of Pantoja’s elbow injury, the second fight provided a conclusive result. No. 10 Brandon Moreno also returned to the win column at Noche UFC, narrowly defeating Joseph Morales by split decision. The rankings remain unchanged.
- Islam Makhachev (1)
- Justin Gaethje (2)
- Ilia Topuria (3)
- Alexander Volkanovksi (4)
- Charles Oliveira (5)
- Max Holloway (6)
- Valentina Shevchenko (7)
- Joshua Van (8)
- Sean Strickland (9)
- Ciryl Gane (10)
No. 8 Joshua Van was the only September pound-for-pound top-10 fighter to compete. The rankings remain unchanged.
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.