MMA Ratings Men's Divisional Fighter Rankings attempt to illustrate who the best fighters are in each division based on their MMA fighting accomplishments. Unfortunately there are not always matchups that allow for objective analysis and in these situations we have to make judgment calls. As fights occur we will retroactively adjust the rankings to better illustrate who are the best fighters in each division. ...
The quality of opponents takes precedence of the quantity of wins and losses. Secondary factors used in determining rank include conclusiveness of defeats and recency. In other words the primary factor in ranking fighters is who have they beat and who beat them. The recency and nature of those wins and losses are secondary factors. Things like titles and winning streaks are irrelevant.
Draws: A fight resulting in a draw is considered a tie. Note that prior to 2012 fights resulting in draws were not considered at all in terms of rankings.
Inactivity: Fighters who have not fought in the past 12 months are not eligible to be ranked, and will regain their eligibility the next time they fight.
Disciplinary Suspensions: We do not take disciplinary suspensions or drug test results into consideration.
Weight Divisions: Fighters are eligible to be ranked in any divisions in which they have competed in the last 12 months.
Catch Weight Fights: When fights are contested at weights that are in between the limits of the various weight classes, they are considered to be in the higher weight class. The weight limits for each weight class are listed at the top of the rankings for each weight class. This is subject to discretion when one fighter misses the planned contested weight.
Back to Full Rankings | Back to Men's Rankings
These rankings contribute to the Independent World MMA Rankings and the USA TODAY / SB Nation Consensus MMA Rankings.
You can syndicate these rankings on your site.
January 25, 2012
Men's Divisional Fighter Rankings:
Men's Heavyweight (265) Rankings
#1 Junior Dos Santos
#2 Cain Velasquez
#3 Alistair Overeem
#4 Fabricio Werdum
#5 Daniel Cormier
#6 Antonio Silva
#7 Dan Henderson
#8 Fedor Emelianenko
#9 Shane Carwin
#10 Frank Mir
#11 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
#12 Josh Barnett
#13 Roy Nelson
#14 Cheick Kongo
#15 Brendan Schaub
Back to Full Rankings | Back to Men's Rankings | Back to Heavyweight Rankings
Men's Light Heavyweight (205) Rankings
#1 Jon Jones
#2 Dan Henderson
#3 Mauricio Rua
#4 Lyoto Machida
#5 Rashad Evans
#6 Forrest Griffin
#7 Quinton Jackson
#8 Phil Davis
#9 Rafael Cavalcante
#10 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira _
#11 Rich Franklin
#12 Alexander Gustafsson
#13 Muhammed Lawal _
#14 Gegard Mousasi _
#15 Vladimir Matyushenko
The following fighters were removed from this division's rankings due to inactivity:
Thiago Silva from #9 on 1/1/2012
Back to Full Rankings | Back to Men's Rankings | Back to Light Heavyweight Rankings
Men's Middleweight (185) Rankings
#1 Anderson Silva
#2 Chael Sonnen
#3 Yushin Okami
#4 Mark Munoz
#5 Nate Marquardt
#6 Demian Maia
#7 Brian Stann
#8 Luke Rockhold
#9 Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza
#10 Michael Bisping
#11 Tim Kennedy
#12 Hector Lombard
#13 Rousimar Palhares
#14 Robbie Lawler
#15 Vitor Belfort
The following fighters were removed from this division's rankings due to inactivity:
Wanderlei Silva from #8 on 2/20/2011
Jake Shields from #3 on 4/17/2011
Dan Henderson from #4 on 4/17/2011
Back to Full Rankings | Back to Men's Rankings | Back to Middleweight Rankings
Men's Welterweight (170) Rankings
#1 Georges St. Pierre
#2 Carlos Condit
#3 Jake Ellenberger
#4 Jake Shields
#5 Nick Diaz
#6 Josh Koscheck
#7 Anthony Johnson
#8 Charlie Brenneman
#9 Martin Kampmann
#10 Rick Story
#11 Johny Hendricks
#12 Jon Fitch
#13 BJ Penn
#14 Thiago Alves
#15 Diego Sanchez
Back to Full Rankings | Back to Men's Rankings | Back to Welterweight Rankings
Men's Lightweight (155) Rankings
#1 Frankie Edgar
#2 Gray Maynard
#3 Gilbert Melendez
#4 Michael Chandler
#5 Shinya Aoki
#6 Eddie Alvarez
#7 Benson Henderson
#8 Clay Guida
#9 Anthony Pettis
#10 Jim Miller
#11 Joe Lauzon
#12 Nate Diaz
#13 Donald Cerrone
#14 Melvin Guillard
#15 Gleison Tibau
The following fighters were removed from this division's rankings due to inactivity:
Sean Sherk from #5 on 9/25/2011
BJ Penn from #4 on 8/28/2011
Kenny Florian from #7 on 8/28/2011
Back to Full Rankings | Back to Men's Rankings | Back to Lightweight Rankings
Men's Featherweight (145) Rankings
#1 Jose Aldo
#2 Chad Mendes
#3 Hatsu Hioki
#4 Pat Curran
#5 Marlon Sandro
#6 Kenny Florian
#7 Diego Nunes
#8 Bart Palaszewski
#9 Tyson Griffin
#10 Manny Gamburyan
#11 Dustin Poirier
#12 Eddie Wineland
#13 Mark Hominick
#14 George Roop
#15 Chan Sung Jung
The following fighters were removed from this division's rankings due to inactivity:
Urijah Faber from #8 on 4/24/2011
Back to Full Rankings | Back to Men's Rankings | Back to Featherweight Rankings
Men's Bantamweight (135) Rankings
#1 Dominick Cruz
#2 Urijah Faber
#3 Joseph Benavidez
#4 Brian Bowles
#5 Scott Jorgensen
#6 Renan Pegado
#7 Brad Pickett
#8 Demetrious Johnson
#9 Miguel Torres
#10 Takeya Mizugaki
#11 Michael McDonald
#12 Bibiano Fernandez
#13 Zach Machovsky
#14 Masakatsu Ueda
#15 Eduardo Dantas
Back to Full Rankings | Back to Men's Rankings | Back to Bantamweight Rankings
Men's Flyweight (125) Rankings
#1 Ian McCall
#2 Jussier "Formiga" da Silva
#3 Yasuhiro Urushitani
#4 Shinichi "BJ" Kojima
#5 Mamoru Yamaguchi
#6 Yuki Shojo
#7 Rambaa Somdet
#8 Darrell Montague
#9 Ulysses "Useless" Gomez
#10 Kiyotaka Shimizu
The following fighters were removed from this division's rankings due to inactivity:
Fumihiro Kitahara from #9 on 11/19/2011
Back to Full Rankings | Back to Men's Rankings | Back to Flyweight Rankings
January 5, 2012
Fight Rankings (top 10 from 2011):
#1 - 5.00 - Michael Chandler vs. Eddie Alvarez (Bellator 58)
#2 - 4.85 - Dan Henderson vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (UFC 139)
#3 - 4.73 - Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard (UFC 125)
#4 - 4.62 - Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber (UFC 132)
#5 - 4.55 - Benson Henderson vs. Clay Guida (UFC Live on Fox 1)
#6 - 4.5 - Jose Aldo vs. Mark Hominick (UFC 129)
#7 - 4.46 - Jon Jones vs. Lyoto Machida (UFC 140)
#8 - 4.39 - Benson Henderson vs. Jim Miller (UFC Live on Versus 5)
#9 - 4.38 - Dominick Cruz vs. Demetrious Johnson (UFC Live on Versus 6)
#10 - 4.37 - Nick Diaz vs. Paul Daley (Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley)
Back to Full Rankings | Back to Fight Rankings | Back to Event Rankings
Rate the 2011 top 10 fights.
Fight Rankings are user generated based on fight ratings. Publish them on your site.
Event Rankings (top 10 from 2011):
#1 - 4.64 - UFC 132: Cruz vs. Faber
#2 - 4.52 - UFC 140: Jones vs. Machida
#3 - 4.45 - UFC 139: Henderson vs. Rua
#4 - 4.33 - UFC 126: Silva vs. Belfort
#5 - 4.27 - UFC 136: Edgar vs. Maynard III
#6 - 4.20 - UFC 135: Jones vs. Jackson
#7 - 4.13 - UFC 129: St-Pierre vs. Shields
#8 - 4.10 - Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley
#9 - 4.02 - UFC 128: Shogun vs. Jones
#10 - 4.00 - UFC: Fight for the Troops 2
#10 - 4.00 - UFC Live on Versus 5: Hardy vs. Lytle
Back to Full Rankings | Back to Event Rankings | Back to Fight Rankings
Rate the 2011 top 10 events.
Event Rankings are user generated based on event ratings. Publish them on your site.
