Times MMA rankings for September: Lots of light-heavyweight action

Heavyweight

1. Fabricio Werdum
2. Cain Velasquez
3. Junior Dos Santos
4. Stipe Miocic
5. Andrei Arlovski
6. Travis Browne
7. Ben Rothwell
8. Josh Barnett
9. Alistair Overeem
10. Stefan Struve

It was a slow month for MMA, with few major events and not a lot of talking points. In the biggest heavyweight bout of the month, both Andrei Arlovski and Frank Mir looked bad in a disappointing three-round fight that Arlovski won via unanimous decision.

Light Heavyweight

1. Jon Jones
2. Daniel Cormier
3. Anthony Johnson
4. Alexander Gustafsson
5. Rashad Evans
6. Ryan Bader
7. Phil Davis
8. Glover Teixeira
9. Liam McGeary
10. Ovince St. Preux

No division was busier in the past month than light heavyweight. Phil Davis looked great debuting for Bellator, submitting Emanuel Newton and knocking out Francis Carmont both in the first round to earn a title shot at Bellator light heavyweight champion Liam McGeary. McGeary got an impressive stoppage in his own right, forcing Tito Ortiz to submit for the first time since Bill Clinton was president. Anthony Johnson also picked up a solid win, knocking out Jimi Manuwa to rebound from a title setback against Daniel Cormier.

Middleweight

1. Chris Weidman
2. Luke Rockhold
3. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza
4. Yoel Romero
5. Anderson Silva
6. Lyoto Machida
7. Vitor Belfort
8. Gegard Mousasi
9. Tim Kennedy
10. Michael Bisping

Nick Diaz, who fought his last bout at middleweight, was suspended a whopping five years by the Nevada athletic commission for marijuana use in a decision that was ripped far and wide for good reason. The commission seemed more concerned with Diaz offending their egos than any sense of justice, consistency or fair dealing.

Welterweight

1. Robbie Lawler
2. Johny Hendricks
3. Rory MacDonald
4. Tyron Woodley
5. Ben Askren
6. Carlos Condit
7. Demian Maia
8. Hector Lombard
9. Dong Hyun Kim
10. Matt Brown

Luis Santos gave Ben Askren one of the toughest fights of Askren’s career before an eye poke brought the bout to a premature conclusion. In November, Santos will get his rematch and the opportunity to hand Askren his first career loss.

Lightweight

1. Rafael Dos Anjos
2. Khabib Nurmagomedov
3. Anthony Pettis
4. Donald Cerrone
5. Ben Henderson
6. Eddie Alvarez
7. Gilbert Melendez
8. Tony Ferguson
9. Will Brooks
10. Beneil Dariush

Josh Thomson picked up his first win since 2013 in his Bellator debut, submitting Mike Bronzoulis in the third round.

Featherweight

1. Jose Aldo
2. Conor McGregor
3. Frankie Edgar
4. Chad Mendes
5. Patricio “Pitbull” Freire
6. Max Holloway
7. Cub Swanson
8. Ricardo Lamas
9. Charles Oliveira
10. Daniel Straus

The interplay between Conor McGregor and Urijah Faber has been highly entertaining on the most recent season of the Ultimate Fighter. It will likely lead to a fight somewhere down the line.

Bantamweight

1. T.J. Dillashaw
2. Dominick Cruz
3. Renan Barao
4. Urijah Faber
5. Raphael Assuncao
6. Michael McDonald
7. Bibiano Fernandes
8. Thomas Almeida
9. Aljamain Sterling
10. Marlon Moraes

John Lineker made an impressive move to 135 pounds with a quick knockout of Francisco Rivera in a wild, short fight.

Women’s Bantamweight

1. Ronda Rousey
2. Miesha Tate
3. Cat Zingano
4. Alexis Davis
5. Amanda Nunes
6. Sara McMann
7. Jessica Eye
8. Sarah Kaufman
9. Holly Holm
10. Liz Carmouche

Ronda Rousey’s title defense against Holly Holm got moved to Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia. That November event should draw one of the biggest gates in UFC history.

Flyweight

1. Demetrious Johnson
2. Joseph Benavidez
3. John Dodson
4. Jussier Formiga
5. John Moraga

Demetrious Johnson successfully defended his UFC flyweight title against John Dodson.

Women’s Strawweight

1. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
2. Claudia Gadelha
3. Jessica Aguilar
4. Carla Esparza
5. Jessica Penne

Paige VanZant looked impressive in a victory over Alex Chambers as she continues to move up the ladder.