MMA Rankings (11/23/2012)

A lot can change in a few weeks in the world of MMA. We’ve experienced a few events since the last update in October. GSP has successfully returned from his injury to defend his title against Carlos Condit. Let’s see what changes have taken place over the past few weeks.

Heavyweight

1. Junior dos Santos (UFC Champion)
2. Cain Velasquez (UFC)
3. Alistair Overeem (UFC)
4. Fabricio Werdum (UFC)
5. Daniel Cormier (Strikeforce)
6. Frank Mir (UFC)
7. Josh Barnett (Strikeforce)
8. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (UFC)
9. Antonio Silva (UFC)
10. Roy Nelson (UFC)

-No changes. Junior dos Santos is expected to fight Cain Velasquez at UFC 155 in December. Roy Nelson will fight Matt Mitrione in December at the TUF 16 Finale. Antonio Silva will take on Alistair Overeem at UFC 156 in February 2013. Daniel Cormier will fight on the final Strikeforce show in January.

Light heavyweight

1. Jon Jones (UFC Champion)
2. Dan Henderson (UFC)
3. Rashad Evans (UFC)
4. Lyoto Machida (UFC)
5. Mauricio Rua  (UFC)
6. Phil Davis (UFC)
7. Alexander Gustaffson (UFC)
8. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (UFC)
9. Ryan Bader (UFC)
10. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (UFC)

-No movement here. Shogun Rua will face Alexander Gustafsson at the UFC on FOX 5 event in December. Machida and Dana Henderson will fight at UFC 157. Rashad Evans will face Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 156 in February. Phil Davis will face Forrest Griffin at UFC 155. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson will face Glover Teixeira at the UFC on FOX 6 event in January 2013.

Middleweight

1. Anderson Silva (UFC Champion)
2. Chris Weidman (UFC)
3. Michael Bisping (UFC)
4. Mark Munoz (UFC)
5. Vitor Belfort (UFC)
6. Tim Boetsch (UFC)
7. Yushin Okami (UFC)
8. Brian Stann (UFC)
9. Luke Rockhold (Strikeforce)
10. Alan Belcher (UFC)

-No movement here. However, Chael Sonnen has been taken out of the middleweight rankings(was #2) because he has moved to the UFC light heavyweight division. Michael Bisping will face Vitor Belfort at the UFC on FX 7 event. Tim Boetsch will take on Constatinos Philippou at UFC 155. Yushin Okami will face Alan Belcher at UFC 155. Luke Rockhold will be taking on Lorenz Larkin in January. Alan Belcher makes his first appearance courtesy of Sonnen leaving the division.

Welterweight

1. Georges St. Pierre (UFC Champion)
2. Johny Hendricks (UFC)
3. Jon Fitch (UFC)
4. Carlos Condit (UFC)
5. Josh Koscheck (UFC)
6. Martin Kampmann (UFC)
7. Jake Ellenberger (UFC)
8. Rory MacDonald (UFC)
9. Nick Diaz (UFC)
10.  Ben Askren (Bellator)

-Georges St. Pierre returned to pretty much dominant Carlos Condit at UFC 154. Jon Fitch defeated Erick Silva at UFC 153. Johny Hendricks destroyed Martin Kampmann at UFC 154. Nick Diaz has been out of action for quite some time and dropped in the rankings. BJ Penn was removed for the same reason although he will fight Rory MacDonald at the UFC on FOX 5 event. Ben Askren makes an appearance in the #10 spot which was a toss up between him and Demian Maia.

Lightweight

1. Ben Henderson (UFC Champion)
2. Gray Maynard (UFC)
3. Nate Diaz (UFC)
4. Gilbert Melendez (Strikeforce Champion)
5. Anthony Pettis (UFC)
6. Michael Chandler (Bellator Champion)
7. Donald Cerrone (UFC)
8. Jim Miller (UFC)
9. Eddie Alvarez (Free Agent)
10. Joe Lauzon (UFC)

-Nate Diaz will challenge Ben Henderson for the title in December at the UFC on FOX 5 event. Frankie Edgar and Clay Guida were removed from the rankings because they have moved to the UFC featherweight division. Maynard stays ahead of Diaz because he fought the former #1 guy tit for tat and has a win over Diaz. Everybody else slides up a spot or so and Alvarez and Lauzon make an appearance in the top ten. I picked Lauzon over Rick Hawn because Lauzon has a win over a guy in Melvin Guillard who was top ten at the time.

Featherweight

1. Jose Aldo (UFC Champion)
2. Pat Curran (Bellator Champion)
3. Chad Mendes (UFC)
4. Ricardo Lamas (UFC)
5. Hatsu Hioki (UFC)
6. Dennis Siver (UFC
7. Diego Nunes (UFC)
8. Erik Koch (UFC)
9. Chang  Jung Sung (UFC)
10. Dustin Poirier (UFC)

No movement here except I removed Dustin Poirier and inserted Daniel Straus. Straus has been on a tear, winning five fights in the past year. Aldo will face Frankie Edgar at UFC 156. Mendes will face Hacran Dias in January. Siver will face Nam Phan at the UFC on FOX 5 event. Lamas will face Erick Koch at the UFC on FOX 6 event. Also, Hioki will face Clay Guida at UFC on FOX 6. Nunes will face Nik Lentz at the UFC on FX 7 event.

Bantamweight

1. Dominick Cruz (UFC Champion)
2. Renan Barao (UFC Interim Champion)
3. Urijah Faber (UFC)
4. Michael McDonald (UFC)
5. Brad Pickett (UFC)
6. Eddie Wineland (UFC)
7. Eduardo Dantas (Bellator)
8. Scott Jorgensen (UFC)
9. Bibiano Fernandes (ONE FC)
10. Mike Easton (UFC)

-Brian Bowles was removed for inactivity and doesn’t have anything lined up. It looks like Barao will defend his interim title against Michael McDonald sometime soon. Urijah Faber hopes to fight at UFC 156. Brad Pickett will face Eddie Wineland at UFC 155. Eduardo Dantas will face Marcos Galvao next. Mike Easton will face Raphael Assuncao at the UFC on FOX 5 event.

Flyweight

1. Demetrious Johnson (UFC Champion)
2. Joseph Benavidez (UFC)
3. Ian McCall (UFC)
4. John Dodson (UFC)
5. Yasuhiro Urushitani (UFC)
6. Darrell Montague (Tachi Palace)
7. Mamoru Yamaguchi (Shooto/Tachi Palace)
8. Jussier Da Silva (UFC)
9. Tim Elliot (UFC)
10. Louis Gaudinot (UFC)

-No Movement here.
If you have thoughts regarding the rankings we would love to hear your opinions.