Analysis by Kid Nate
Due to the fallout from the Rampage Jackson A-Team casting, fans will have to wait until December's UFC 107 to see #1 B.J. Penn defend his belt against the very formidable #7 Diego Sanchez.
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 | B.J. Penn | 100 | UFC | 1 |
| 2 | Shinya Aoki | 94 | DREAM | 2 |
| 3 | Eddie Alvarez | 89 | Bellator/DREAM | 3 |
| 4 | Kenny Florian | 81 | UFC | 4 |
| 5 | Frank Edgar | 74 | UFC | 5 |
| 6 | Tatsuya Kawajiri | 69 | DREAM | 6 |
| 7 | Diego Sanchez | 66 | UFC | 8 |
| 8 | Joachim Hansen | 61 | DREAM | 9 |
| 8 | Gray Maynard | 61 | UFC | 7 |
| 10 | Sean Sherk | 51 | UFC | 10 |
| 11 | Josh Thomson | 35 | Strikeforce | 11 |
| 12 | Gesias Cavalcante | 34 | DREAM | 12 |
| 13 | Tyson Griffin | 30 | UFC | 16 |
| 14 | Gilbert Melendez | 28 | Strikeforce | 14 |
| 15 | Mizuto Hirota | 26 | WVR | 13 |
| 16 | Satoru Kitaoka | 25 | WVR | 15 |
| 17 | Takanori Gomi | 21 | WVR | 23 |
| 18 | Jamie Varner | 20 | WEC | 17 |
| 19 | Eiji Mitsuoka | 20 | WVR | 18 |
| 20 | Joe Stevenson | 19 | UFC | 19 |
| 21 | Spencer Fisher | 19 | UFC | 20 |
| 22 | Clay Guida | 18 | UFC | 20 |
| 23 | Kurt Pellegrino | 18 | UFC | 22 |
| 24 | Nate Diaz | 17 | UFC | 25 |
| 25 | Vitor Ribeiro | 16 | DREAM | 31 |
Due to the fallout from the Rampage Jackson A-Team casting, fans will have to wait until December's UFC 107 to see #1 B.J. Penn defend his belt against the very formidable #7 Diego Sanchez.
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 »