| Rank | Fighter | % | Promotion | Last Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mauricio Rua | 100 | UFC | 1 |
| 2 | Lyoto Machida | 95 | UFC | 2 |
| 3 | Rashad Evans | 92 | UFC | 3 |
| 4 | Quinton Jackson | 87 | UFC | 4 |
| 5 | Forrest Griffin | 80 | UFC | 5 |
| 6 | Ryan Bader | 75 | UFC | 6 |
| 7 | Jon Jones | 64 | UFC | 7 |
| 8 | Antonio Rogerio Nogueira | 59 | UFC | 8 |
| 9 | Anderson Silva | 59 | UFC | 9 |
| 10 | Thiago Silva | 52 | UFC | 11 |
| 11 | Gegard Mousasi | 50 | Strikeforce/DREAM | 10 |
| 12 | Rich Franklin | 47 | UFC | 14 |
| 13 | Randy Couture | 45 | UFC | 12 |
| 14 | Rafael Cavalcante | 41 | Strikeforce | 16 |
| 15 | Muhammed Lawal | 41 | Strikeforce | 13 |
| 16 | Dan Henderson | 33 | Strikeforce | 15 |
| 17 | Matt Hamill | 29 | UFC | 18 |
| 18 | Renato Sobral | 26 | Strikeforce | 17 |
| 19 | Brandon Vera | 18 | UFC | 20 |
| 20 | Vitor Belfort | 17 | UFC | 19 |
| 21 | Phil Davis | 15 | UFC | 23 |
| 22 | Alexander Gustafsson | 15 | UFC | NR |
| 23 | Jason Brilz | 14 | UFC | 21 |
| 24 | Chuck Liddell | 13 | UFC | 25 |
| 25 | Luis Arthur Cane | 11 | UFC | 22 |
Rankings compiled by Richard Wade.
Not a lot of movement in the light heavyweight division. It's been a sleeping giant this fall with #1 Mauricio "Shogun" Rua aka Shogun out for knee surgery and #3 Rashad Evans patiently awaiting his title shot.
That will change in November when #2 Lyoto Machida and #4 Quinton "Rampage" Jackson headline UFC 123. That fight will likely determine the next title challenger.
We'll have to wait until February and UFC 126 to see #7 Jon Jones and #5 Ryan Bader face off -- that is if we don't have to wait even longer. Seems likely that the winner of that one will go from the frying pan of a top contender fight to the fire of a title shot.
#17 Matt Hamill was promised a top 10 opponent by Dana White after beating Tito Ortiz at UFC 121. #8 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira might be just the man.
The only significant movement in the rankings this month comes from the Strikeforce light heavyweights beginning to settle into a somewhat coherent pattern at the various rankers wrap their minds around the #11 Gegard Mousasi, #14 Rafeal "Feijao" Cavalcante, #15 Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal three-way.
#22 Alexander Gustafsson fought his way into the top 25 by beating Cyrille Diabate, the former #25, at UFC 120.
December 4th's Strikeforce event between #16 Dan Henderson and #18 Renato "Babalu" Sobral should provide Feijao with his first challenger for his Strikeforce title.
#5 Forrest Griffin will face #12 Rich Franklin at UFC 126. The winner will be one step closer to relevancy in the division. The loser will be pretty much relegated to the senior circuit. #10 Thiago Silva will get #19 Brandon Vera at UFC 125. That's got loser leaves town written all over it.
#13 Randy Couture has been talking a lot about retiring.
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. We compile the top MMA rankings from each of our sources and award 25 points for a first place ranking, 16 for a 10th place ranking, 1 for a 25th place ranking. A formula is used to "normalize" the data so all fighters are awarded points from those lists that do not include a full 25 fighters. This formula ensures that each ranking site awards the same number of total points regardless of how many fighters they choose to rank. Each fighter’s total is divided by the number of possible points to determine their standing in the Consensus Rankings.
We are now moving to what JCS of Fight Matrix has described as assumed rankings in an attempt to rank fighters who move between weight classes. This has been the biggest problem with the consensus rankings and we believe this new methodology will rectify that.
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