Analysis by Richard Wade
Nate Diaz has reasserted himself as a top 10 lightweight following his battering of Donald Cerrone.
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 | Frankie Edgar | 400 | UFC | 1 |
| 2 | Gilbert Melendez | 376 | Strikeforce | 2 |
| 3 | Gray Maynard | 366 | UFC | 3 |
| 4 | Ben Henderson | 358 | UFC | 4 |
| 5 | Shinya Aoki | 315 | DREAM | 5 |
| 6 | Jim Miller | 311 | UFC | 7 |
| 7 | Clay Guida | 304 | UFC | 6 |
| 8 | Nate Diaz | 272 | UFC | 13 |
| 9 | Michael Chandler | 250 | Bellator | 9 |
| 10 | Anthony Pettis | 225 | UFC | 10 |
| 11 | Eddie Alvarez | 164 | Bellator | 11 |
| 12 | Joe Lauzon | 152 | UFC | 12 |
| 13 | Donald Cerrone | 149 | UFC | 8 |
| 14 | Gleison Tibau | 117 | UFC | 14 |
| 15 | Melvin Guillard | 115 | UFC | 15 |
| 16 | Dennis Siver | 91 | UFC | 16 |
| 17 | Sean Sherk | 85 | UFC | 17 |
| 18 | Rafael dos Anjos | 76 | UFC | 19 |
| 18 | Matt Wiman | 76 | UFC | 21 |
| 20 | Evan Dunham | 70 | UFC | 18 |
| 21 | George Sotiropoulos | 69 | UFC | 22 |
| 22 | Josh Thomson | 65 | Strikeforce | 23 |
| 22 | Jorge Masvidal | 65 | Strikeforce | 24 |
| 24 | Mac Danzig | 55 | UFC | 26 |
| 25 | Brian Cobb | 54 | MaximumFC | 26 |
Nate Diaz has reasserted himself as a top 10 lightweight following his battering of Donald Cerrone.
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 »