Analysis by Kid Nate
The middleweight division continues to feel cursed. Despite the emergence of a clear-cut, utterly undisputed #1 in UFC champ #1 Anderson Silva, the failure of the UFC to develop a credible pool of challengers still rankles.
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 | Anderson Silva | 100 | UFC | 1 |
| 2 | Dan Henderson | 94 | UFC | 4 |
| 3 | Yushin Okami | 87 | UFC | 3 |
| 3 | Nate Marquardt | 87 | UFC | 2 |
| 5 | Demian Maia | 81 | UFC | 5 |
| 6 | Jorge Santiago | 76 | WVR | 6 |
| 7 | Robbie Lawler | 58 | Strikeforce | 7 |
| 8 | Vitor Belfort | 56 | ??? | 9 |
| 9 | Thales Leites | 49 | UFC | 8 |
| 10 | Yoshihiro Akiyama | 44 | UFC | 12 |
| 11 | Chael Sonnen | 41 | UFC | 10 |
| 12 | Gegard Mousasi | 31 | Strikeforce | 11 |
| 13 | Paulo Filho | 30 | DREAM | 15 |
| 14 | Michael Bisping | 29 | UFC | 13 |
| 15 | Kazuo Misaki | 25 | WVR | 16 |
| 16 | Ronaldo Souza | 23 | DREAM | 19 |
| 17 | Nick Diaz | 22 | Strikeforce | 20 |
| 18 | Hector Lombard | 21 | Bellator | 23 |
| 19 | Jake Shields | 19 | Strikeforce | 31 |
| 20 | Patrick Cote | 19 | UFC | 18 |
| 21 | Alan Belcher | 16 | UFC | 22 |
| 22 | Matt Lindland | 15 | ??? | 21 |
| 23 | Cung Le | 15 | Strikeforce | 26 |
| 24 | Frank Trigg | 15 | UFC | 17 |
| 25 | Nate Quarry | 14 | UFC | 26 |
The middleweight division continues to feel cursed. Despite the emergence of a clear-cut, utterly undisputed #1 in UFC champ #1 Anderson Silva, the failure of the UFC to develop a credible pool of challengers still rankles.
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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