Analysis by Richard Wade
With his dominant victory over the veteran Vladimir Matyushenko, Alexander Gustafsson has finally cracked the top 10.
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 | Points | Promotion | Last Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jon Jones | 400 | UFC | 1 |
| 2 | Dan Henderson | 377 | UFC | 2 |
| 3 | Rashad Evans | 362 | UFC | 3 |
| 4 | Mauricio Rua | 356 | UFC | 4 |
| 5 | Quinton Jackson | 338 | UFC | 5 |
| 6 | Lyoto Machida | 325 | UFC | 6 |
| 7 | Phil Davis | 286 | UFC | 7 |
| 8 | Forrest Griffin | 260 | UFC | 8 |
| 9 | Alexander Gustafsson | 216 | UFC | 13 |
| 10 | Antonio Rogerio Nogueira | 207 | UFC | 10 |
| 11 | Gegard Mousasi | 196 | Strikeforce | 9 |
| 12 | Rafael Cavalcante | 173 | Strikeforce | 12 |
| 13 | Muhammed Lawal | 167 | Strikeforce | 11 |
| 14 | Rich Franklin | 156 | UFC | 15 |
| 15 | Thiago Silva | 151 | UFC | 14 |
| 16 | Ryan Bader | 108 | UFC | 16 |
| 17 | Tito Ortiz | 100 | UFC | 17 |
| 18 | Vladimir Matyushenko | 83 | UFC | 18 |
| 19 | Renato Sobral | 80 | Strikeforce | 19 |
| 20 | Stanislav Nedkov | 73 | UFC | 20 |
| 21 | Ryan Jimmo | 72 | UFC | 21 |
| 22 | Brandon Vera | 63 | UFC | 24 |
| 23 | Mike Kyle | 62 | Strikeforce | 26 |
| 24 | Roger Gracie | 61 | Strikeforce | 23 |
| 25 | Stephan Bonnar | 60 | UFC | 21 |
With his dominant victory over the veteran Vladimir Matyushenko, Alexander Gustafsson has finally cracked the top 10.
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 »