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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.

Light Heavyweight MMA

Consensus Rankings posted July 30, 2009

Rank Fighter % Promotion Last Rank
1 Lyoto Machida 100 UFC 1
2 Quinton Jackson 94 UFC 2
3 Rashad Evans 93 UFC 3
4 Forrest Griffin 87 UFC 4
5 Mauricio Rua 84 UFC 5
6 Keith Jardine 70 UFC 6
7 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira 63 ??? 7
8 Luiz Cane 62 UFC 8
9 Rich Franklin 58 UFC 10
10 Renato Sobral 54 Strikeforce 9
11 Thiago Silva 40 UFC 13
12 Chuck Liddell 35 UFC 14
13 Dan Henderson 34 UFC 11
14 Wanderlei Silva 30 UFC 12
15 Jon Jones 24 UFC 31
16 Matt Hamill 21 UFC 17
17 Vladimir Matyushenko 20 Free Agent 16
18 Brandon Vera 20 UFC 19
18 Tito Ortiz 20 UFC 15
20 Sokoudjou 17 DREAM 27
21 Mark Coleman 17 UFC 23
22 Krzysztof Soszynski 17 UFC 19
23 Steve Cantwell 16 UFC 26
23 Muhammed Lawal 16 M-1 Global
22
25 Trevor Prangley 15 MaximumFC 27
12

Analysis by Kid Nate

In contrast to the crazy mixed up Heavyweight division, all is calm in the Light Heavyweight class. There is a clear #1 and he's set to defend his title against the best for the foreseeable future since the UFC has 20 of the top 25 Light Heavies under contract.

Disagree? Read more & discuss at Bloody Elbow »

About the Rankings

compiled by Kid Nate and Richard Wade of Bloody Elbow

Bloody ElbowBased 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 »

Sources

Jeremy Botter, Heavy MMA
Fight Matrix
Jordan Breen, Sherdog
Jim Genia, Full Contact Fighter
Jesse Holland, MMA Mania
Kevin Iole, Yahoo!
Eric Kamander, MMA Ratings
MMA Playground
MMA Weekly
Leland Roling, Bloody Elbow
Matthew Roth, Head Kick Legend
Wojslaw Rysiewski, MMA Rocks
Michael David Smith, MMA Fighting
Derek Suboticki, Fightlinker
Luke Thomas, SB Nation