SB Nation MMA rankings: Middleweight

We're just under a week removed from Chris Weidman's successful middleweight title defense over Lyoto Machida at UFC 175, and the win has cemented his status as the consensus #1 middleweight in the world. From there? That's when it gets a bit tricky.

The SB Nation panel is comprised of two members from each of the three SBN MMA sites - MMA Fighting, MMA Mania, and Bloody Elbow. Replacing Tim Burke on the Bloody Elbow side is Fraser Coffeen. With that in mind, here's the newest table:

(Scoring: Fighters are given 10 points for a first-place vote, nine points for a second, etc., down to one point for 10th place. The results are then tallied up and presented here. Official SB Nation rankings policy: Fighters under commission suspension are ineligible to be ranked during the duration of their suspension or if they have licensing issues. As of this writing, this affects Vitor Belfort).

Everyone is obviously on board with Chris Weidman as the #1 middleweight, but from there the rankings vary differently as to who is 2nd best. While Fraser and Dave both have Lyoto Machida at #2, Alex, Thomas, and Ariel still have Anderson Silva taking up that spot. Dallas has blazed a trail by not ranking Anderson at all, while putting "Jacare" at 2nd. Gegard Mousasi is clearly the biggest addition to the rankings as he won his first UFC middleweight fight at the end of May and moves into a tie for 6th with fellow Strikeforce standout Tim Kennedy.

Yushin Okami is the only non-UFC middleweight to appear in the top 10, while Alexander Shlemenko is 12th.

Upcoming matchups for ranked fighters

#3 Ronaldo Souza vs. #6 Gegard Mousasi (UFC Fight Night: Connecticut, September 5th)

#6 Tim Kennedy vs. Yoel Romero (UFC 178, September 27th)