Analysis by Kid Nate
Well #1 Lyoto Machida broke the string of UFC Light Heavyweight champions who failed to make a single title defense. But after his UFC 104 bout with #4 Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, we're not hearing much talk of the "Machida Era."
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 Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lyoto Machida | 100 | UFC | 1 |
| 2 | Rashad Evans | 93 | UFC | 3 |
| 3 | Quinton Jackson | 86 | UFC | 2 |
| 4 | Mauricio Rua | 84 | UFC | 4 |
| 5 | Forrest Griffin | 80 | UFC | 5 |
| 6 | Anderson Silva | 71 | UFC | 9 |
| 7 | Thiago Silva | 71 | UFC | 7 |
| 8 | Gegard Mousasi | 65 | Strikeforce | 6 |
| 9 | Antonio Rogerio Nogueira | 56 | UFC | 8 |
| 10 | Luiz Cane | 50 | UFC | 11 |
| 11 | Rich Franklin | 38 | UFC | 10 |
| 12 | Dan Henderson | 38 | UFC | 13 |
| 13 | Keith Jardine | 31 | UFC | 12 |
| 14 | Chuck Liddell | 26 | UFC | 14 |
| 15 | Renato Sobral | 25 | Strikeforce | 16 |
| 16 | Brandon Vera | 23 | UFC | 17 |
| 16 | Wanderlei Silva | 23 | UFC | 15 |
| 18 | Jon Jones | 23 | UFC | 18 |
| 19 | Matt Hamill | 19 | UFC | 19 |
| 20 | Vladimir Matyushenko | 18 | UFC | 20 |
| 21 | Tito Ortiz | 17 | UFC | 21 |
| 22 | Vitor Belfort | 16 | UFC | 22 |
| 22 | Sokoudjou |
16 | DREAM | 23 |
| 24 | Mark Coleman | 16 | UFC | 25 |
| 25 | Paulo Filho | 15 | DREAM | 24 |
Well #1 Lyoto Machida broke the string of UFC Light Heavyweight champions who failed to make a single title defense. But after his UFC 104 bout with #4 Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, we're not hearing much talk of the "Machida Era."
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 »
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