USAT/SBN February MMA Consensus Rankings: Light Heavyweight

Rankings compiled by Richard Wade.

In contrast to the wild and wooly heavyweight division, the light heavyweight division is lying dormant in suspended animation, awaiting the rematch between #1 Lyoto Machida and #2 Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at UFC 113 in May.

Fans have to wait until UFC 114 on Memorial Day weekend to see the long-awaited bout between #3 Rashad Evans and #4 Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. Presumably the winner of that fight will get an immediate title shot against the winner of Machida/Rua 2.

The most compelling rising forces in the division are #5 (and #1 middleweight) Anderson Silva and #6 Gegard Mousasi. But they are both outside the contention track. Silva because of his middleweight obligations and Mousasi because he's fighting for Strikeforce and DREAM and is therefore somewhat starved for opponents.

The other man tied for #6 Forrest Griffin will face the red hot #8 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at  UFC 114. It's hard to believe Rogerio and his brother Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira are the same age, because Rogerio's 33 years don't seem to weigh nearly as heavy as Rodrigo's. And in contrast to his twin's sunset on a storied career, Little Nog may be closing in on the first title run of his career.

No word on who's next for #9 Thiago Silva after he came up just short against Rashad Evans at UFC 108.  

#10 Dan Henderson will likely fight next at middleweight, contesting for Jake Shield's Strikeforce belt but if he wins that one, a shot at Mousasi's light heavyweight belt is a likely possibility. If he beats Mousasi, there is a possibility he'll get to challenge for the Strikeforce heavyweight belt. Not bloody likely, but I'll be rooting for Dan to pull it off.

#11 Randy Couture is possibly going to fight #12 Rich Franklin at UFC 115. That card is shaping up to be a heavily "senior league" event, with #16 Chuck Liddell and #24 Tito Ortiz set to headline. Personally, I'd just as soon 3/4 of those guys go ahead and retire. Franklin is the only one who seems likely to really contend again.

One of the most relevant bouts coming up in the division is between the deceptively low ranked #23 Jon Jones and #18 Brandon Vera at UFC on Versus in March. Both fighters are coming off losses in which they were clearly the better fighters. Jones got DQ'd against Matt Hamill and Vera dropped a decision to Randy Couture despite landing the most significant blows of the fight. If Jones wins, he'll be on his way to his first title run and if Vera wins he'll have saved his career from the brink of oblivion.