In my opinion the middleweight division has been one of the weaker UFC divisions for a while. This, in part, can be contributed to the dominance of long time champion Anderson Silva, who has "nearly" cleared the division out on more than one occassions. His dominance has caused a few middleweights, namely Rich Franklin, to alter their course and head for greener pastures in other divisions.

Recently, however, the middleweight has seen a surge of new contenders making their way to the front of the division. Some of these contenders include Mark Munoz , Brian Stann, Tim Boetsch, Chris Weidman, and Rousimar Palhares. Who knows. Will this be the batch that knocks off "The Spider", or will it just be another opprotunity for Silva to "nearly" clear out the division?

Three of these aforemention contenders: Munoz, Stann, and Boetsch; have recently found success by dropping down to the middleweight division from the light heavyweight division. This seems to be a common trend of late. light heavyweight's, who have seen little success, dropping and becoming contenders in the middleweight division.

Other light heavyweight's, who have recently debuted at middleweight or have announced their intentions of making the drop to middleweight included: Ronny Markes, Steve Cantwell, Eric Schafer, and Luis Cane. Only one of the fighter's, Ronny Markes, had a winning record in the light heavyweight division.

There has also been a few superstars, who look to revive their carreer by returning to the division. One, Wanderlei Silva, has faired pretty well supporting a 2-1 record with wins of division contender Michael Bisping and newcomer Cung Le. His lone middleweight loss is to division gatekeeper Chris Leben.

A second star, Rich Franklin, returns to his most dominate division, after dabbling at 195 and 205 for nearly three years. He looks to follow in Silva's footstep as he takes on former Strikeforce champion Cung Le.

On the rise....

Ed Herman- Since returning from a nearly two year layoff, he is undefeated and riding a 3 fight winning streak.

Contantino Phillippou- on 3 fight winning streak since dropping debute.

Newbies to watch...

Ronny Markes, 2-0 UFC & 1-0 MW, Wins- Simpson, Vemola

Francis Carmont, 2-0, Wins- Cedenbald, Camozzi

Middleweight Rankings

1.) Anderson Silva
2.) Chael Sonnen
3.) Mark Munoz
4.) Vitor Belfort
5.) Michael Bisping
6.) Chris Weidman
7.) Tim Boetsch
8.) Yushin Okami
9.) Jake Shields
10.) Brian Stann
11.) Rousimar Palhares
12.) Chris Leben
13.) Ronny Markes
14.) Alan Belcher
15.) Ed Herman
16.) Costantino Philippou
17.) Court McGee
18.) Wanderlie Silva
19.) Francis Carmont
20.) Jason Miller
21.) Brad Tavares
22.) Nick Ring
23.) Andrew Craig
24.) Kyle Noke
25.) CB Dollaway

Unranked

Chris Camozzi
Rafael Natal
Alessio Sakara
Tom Lawlor
Riki Fukuda
Clifford Starks
Buddy Roberts
Caio Magalhes
Jason McDonald
Jared Hamman
Dongi Yang
Karlos Vemola
Cung Le
Magnus Cedenbald
Michael Kuiper
Mike Massenzio
Dustin Jacoby
Eric Schafer
Steve Cantwell

ineligable

Sean Loeffler
Luis Cane
Marcelo Guimaraes
Tim Credeur
Nick Catone
Rich Franklin

How I Rank click here

Heavyweight Rankings click here

Light Heavyweight Rankings click here