Cain Velasquez, Ronda Rousey still the ones to beat in MMA rankings

Todd Martin’s MMA rankings for August:

Heavyweight

1. Cain Velasquez

2. Fabricio Werdum

3. Junior Dos Santos

4. Travis Browne

5. Antonio Silva

6. Josh Barnett

7. Alistair Overeem

8. Stipe Miocic

9. Mark Hunt

10. Roy Nelson

Roy Nelson and Mark Hunt will collide September 20 in Japan, a battle of hard0headed and heavy0fisted fighters that could prove to be spectacular.

Light Heavyweight

1. Jon Jones

2. Alexander Gustafsson

3. Daniel Cormier

4. Anthony Johnson

5. Rashad Evans

6. Phil Davis

7. Glover Teixeira

8. Ryan Bader

9. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

10. Dan Henderson

A brawl broke out at a press event promoting Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier, leading to a wave of publicity and increased interest in what was already an intriguing light heavyweight title fight. An injury to Jones has delayed the fight, but there will be tremendous interest when it comes to fruition. After Jones-Cormier, two other challengers have distinguished themselves as future title opponents. Alexander Gustafsson was already in that discussion and Anthony “Rumble” Johnson added himself to that group with a brutal and quick devastation of Antonio Rogerio Nogueira on Fox. Ryan Bader also picked up a clear decision win this month over Ovince St. Preux but didn’t win a lot of fans in the process.

Middleweight

1. Chris Weidman

2. Anderson Silva

3. Lyoto Machida

4. Vitor Belfort

5. Luke Rockhold

6. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza

7. Gegard Mousasi

8. Yushin Okami

9. Tim Kennedy

10. Michael Bisping

An interesting middleweight rematch between Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Gegard Mousasi headlines a rare Friday UFC card September 5. Mousasi knocked out Jacare with a rare upkick KO the first time around and now both fighters are looking to put themselves into the discussion for a title shot.

Welterweight

1. Johny Hendricks

2. Robbie Lawler

3. Rory MacDonald

4. Tyron Woodley

5. Carlos Condit

6. Matt Brown

7. Ben Askren

8. Jake Ellenberger

9. Hector Lombard

10. Dong Hyun Kim

The welterweight showdown between Robbie Lawler and Matt Brown wasn’t as exciting as many expected, but it was still an entertaining and hard-fought battle. Lawler scored the decision and now will rematch Johny Hendricks for the UFC welterweight title. Brown will seek to work his way back into the title mix in a deep and talented division.

Lightweight

1. Anthony Pettis

2. Gilbert Melendez

3. Ben Henderson

4. Khabib Nurmagomedov

5. Eddie Alvarez

6. Nate Diaz

7. Donald Cerrone

8. Michael Chandler

9. T.J. Grant

10. Jim Miller

Donald Cerrone’s head kick knockout of Jim Miller was his fourth win in a row after struggles in 2013 temporarily derailed his title aspirations. Next up for the Cowboy will be a fight with surging Bobby Green, who recently scored a close decision win over respected veteran Josh Thomson.

Featherweight

1. Jose Aldo

2. Chad Mendes

3. Cub Swanson

4. Frank Edgar

5. Pat Curran

6. Dustin Poirier

7. Dennis Bermudez

8. Ricardo Lamas

9. Patricio “Pitbull” Freire

10. Daniel Straus

Pat Curran and Patricio “Pitbull” Freire will rematch for the Bellator featherweight title September 5 in a battle of two of the best fighters not under the UFC banner. Dennis Bermudez brought his winning streak up to 8 with a submission stoppage of fading star Clay Guida and now is in line to fight the best in the division. Conor McGregor backed up his talk with an impressive win over Diego Brandao in front of a thrilled crowd in his native Ireland. McGregor has a chance to earn further respect at UFC 178 when he battles tough contender Dustin Poirier, the stiffest challenge yet for the Irish star.

Bantamweight

1. T.J. Dillashaw

2. Renan Barao

3. Dominick Cruz

4. Urijah Faber

5. Raphael Assuncao

6. Michael McDonald

7. Takeya Mizugaki

8. Bibiano Fernandes

9. Eduardo Dantas

10. Iuri Alcantara

Dominick Cruz will finally return to action after a three year injury hiatus when he fights Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 178. It’s a tough test for Cruz right out of the gate as we’ll see if he can fully recover from devastating injury luck. It will be no reflection on the fighter Cruz once was even if he cannot.

Women’s Bantamweight

1. Ronda Rousey

2. Cat Zingano

3. Sarah Kaufman

4. Miesha Tate

5. Sara McMann

6. Alexis Davis

7. Jessica Eye

8. Jessica Andrade

9. Lauren Murphy

10. Holly Holm

Sara McMann rebounded from a quick loss to Ronda Rousey by spoiling Lauren Murphy’s previously perfect record.

Flyweight

1. Demetrious Johnson

2. Joseph Benavidez

3. John Dodson

4. Ian McCall

5. Ali Bagautinov