Analysis by Kid Nate
The heavyweight division has endured months of stasis but big changes will be coming to the division this summer.
Compiling the rankings of twenty top mixed martial arts web sites, the USA TODAY / MMA Nation Consensus MMA Rankings present the top 25 fighters in MMA for the seven major weight classes. These world MMA rankings are the most accurate reflection of how the top fighters in MMA across all promotions like UFC, Strikeforce and ProElite are viewed by the experts who cover the sport.
| Rank | Fighter | % | Promotion | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fedor Emelianenko | 100 | Affliction | 1 |
| 2 | Josh Barnett | 92 | Affliction | 2 |
| 3 | Frank Mir | 90 | UFC |
4 |
| 4 | Andrei Arlovski | 88 | Strikeforce | 3 |
| 5 | Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira | 83 | UFC | 5 |
| 6 | Brock Lesnar | 78 | UFC | 6 |
| 7 | Randy Couture | 75 | UFC | 7 |
| 8 | Tim Sylvia | 58 | Adrenaline | 8 |
| 9 | Shane Carwin | 58 | UFC | 10 |
| 10 | Alistair Overeem | 53 | DREAM/Strikeforce | 9 |
| 11 | Fabricio Werdum | 40 | Strikeforce | 11 |
| 12 | Cheick Kongo | 35 | UFC | 12 |
| 13 | Junior dos Santos | 33 | UFC | 13 |
| 14 | Mirko Filipovic | 31 | UFC | 15 |
| 15 | Jeff Monson | 30 | DREAM | 14 |
| 16 | Gabriel Gonzaga | 26 | UFC | 16 |
| 17 | Antonio Silva | 24 | WVR | 17 |
| 18 | Ben Rothwell | 23 | Adrenaline | 18 |
| 19 | Cain Velasquez | 21 | UFC | 20 |
| 20 | Roy Nelson | 18 | Free Agent |
21 |
| 21 | Paul Buentello | 18 | Affliction | 23 |
| 21 | Sergei Kharitonov | 17 | DREAM | 21 |
| 23 | Aleksander Emelianenko | 17 | Free Agent | 19 |
| 24 | Gegard Mousasi | 16 | DREAM | NR |
| 25 | Marcio Cruz |
16 | WVR | NR |
The heavyweight division has endured months of stasis but big changes will be coming to the division this summer.
Based on the premise that all MMA rankings are subjective but that it’s still useful and informative to know who the online MMA community as a whole ranks as the best fighters in MMA, we collect and average the rankings of the top MMA websites to produce our consensus rankings. Show more »