| Fighter | Points |
|---|---|
| 1. Anderson Silva | 30 |
| 2. Paulo Filho | 25.33 |
| 3. Matt Lindland | 19.17 |
| 4. Rich Franklin | 17.83 |
| 5. Robbie Lawler | 16.83 |
| 6. Dan Henderson | 14.83 |
| 7. Kazuo Misaki | 9.83 |
| 8. Yushin Okami | 9 |
| 9. Denis Kang | 5.5 |
| 10. Frank Trigg | 4.83 |
| 11. Nathan Marquardt | 4.33 |
| 12. Jorge Santiago | 4 |
| 13. Yoshihiro Akiyama | 2.5 |
| 14. Jason Miller | 1 |
The first thing to jump out at me when looking at the Middleweight Meta-Rankings is how weak the UFC is in this division. Leland Rolling can say what he wants about the UFC welterweight division needing a talent infusion, but as we saw yesterday the UFC has a pretty deep lock on the top tier talent at 170lbs with 7 of the top 10 in the world in their stable. GSP might be head and shoulders over everyone but outside of Jake Shields you can't really say there are fighters in other promotions that he needs to face to prove he's #1 in the world.
Middleweight is a different story. Anderson Silva's amazing run in the UFC has clearly established him as the consensus #1 in the weight class. Anderson scores a perfect 30 points in the Meta-Rankings which means that EVERY outlet ranking fighters has him at #1. But when Paulo Filho, the consensus #2 fighter is in the Zuffa owned WEC, #3 Matt Lindland is unsigned by any organization, #5 Robbie Lawler just re-signed with EliteXC and so on...You're looking at a situation where the UFC champ has a pretty thin claim to be facing the best in the world.
Thank God for Dan Henderson agreeing to move down to 185 and face Silva. That fight promises to be epic and many pundits believe Henderson will take Silva's belt away. Which sets up a lucrative and intriguing rematch plus the possibility that Filho would move to the UFC to face Henderson for the belt.
The only recent movement in the rankings came from the NYE events in Japan where the erratic Kazou Misaki salvaged his top 10 status by KTFO the controversial Yoshihiro Akiyama with a soccer kick of dubious legality. Akiyama was poised to shoot up the rankings had he won, having demolished Denis Kang only a couple months earlier. The prospect of a rematch in Korea has had the Asian MMA world buzzing. But Misaki's recent signing to World Victory Road might gum up the works.
Trigg and Miller are on a collision course for a rematch at HDNet Fights. Jorge Santiago is riding (relatively) high after taking the Strikeforce middleweight tourny with wins over Trevor Prangley and Sean Salmon.
Rich Franklin, Nathan Marquardt and Yoshin Okami constitute the legit contenders in the UFC 185 division who have already shown they can't beat Anerson Silva niche.
The methodology of the rankings is in the full entry.
Rankings are based on an average of 6 Media Rankings (MMA Weekly, Sherdog, Irish Whip, MMA on Tap, our own Luke Thomas', and 5 oz of Pain), Fan Rankings (represented by MMA HQ Rankings) and Computer Rankings (represented by Fight Matrix). If we missed a good ranking someone is doing let us know, we'll add them to the mix. Particularly other computerized or fan vote rankings.
A #1 vote is worth 10 points, #2 is 9 points and so on. Media rankings are totaled and divided by 6 to represent the average media ranking, this is then added to the computer and fan ranking points to create the total (perfect score is 30 points).