| Rank | Fighter | % | Promotion | Last Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anderson Silva | 100 | UFC | 1 |
| 2 | Chael Sonnen | 89 | UFC | 2 |
| 3 | Yushin Okami | 88 | UFC | 3 |
| 4 | Nate Marquardt | 82 | UFC | 4 |
| 5 | Demian Maia | 78 | UFC | 5 |
| 6 | Vitor Belfort | 66 | UFC | 6 |
| 7 | Dan Henderson | 64 | Strikeforce | 7 |
| 8 | Jorge Santiago | 60 | WVR | 8 |
| 9 | Ronaldo Souza | 58 | Strikeforce | 10 |
| 10 | Jake Shields | 56 | UFC | 9 |
| 11 | Michael Bisping | 45 | UFC | 11 |
| 12 | Robbie Lawler | 41 | Strikeforce | 14 |
| 13 | Wanderlei Silva | 39 | UFC | 12 |
| 14 | Chris Leben | 37 | UFC | 13 |
| 15 | Hector Lombard | 36 | Bellator | 15 |
| 16 | Alan Belcher | 35 | UFC | 16 |
| 17 | Yoshihiro Akiyama | 23 | UFC | 17 |
| 18 | Mamed Khalidov | 22 | KSW | 18 |
| 19 | Alessio Sakara | 22 | UFC | 19 |
| 20 | Thales Leites | 16 | Superior Challenge | 20 |
| 21 | Rousimar Palhares | 16 | UFC | 21 |
| 22 | Tim Kennedy | 14 | Strikeforce | 22 |
| 23 | Maiquel Jose Falcao Goncalves | 12 | UFC | 23 |
| 24 | Jorge Rivera | 11 | UFC | 25 |
| 25 | Jason Miller | 11 | DREAM | 24 |
Rankings compiled by Richard Wade.
#1 Anderson Silva will defend his middleweight title against #6 Vitor Belfort at UFC 126 in February.
#2 Chael Sonnen will return to action after serving six months suspension for having elevated testosterone ratios at a post-fight drug test after UFC 117, precluding an immediate rematch for the title.
Sonnen is widely expected to face #13 Wanderlei Silva upon his return.
#3 Yushin Okami has been promised his long-awaited title shot after edging #4 Nate Marquardt at UFC 122.
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.
Let's take Anderson Silva for instance. 87% (13 of 15) of our panelists have him at Light Heavyweight and 100% (15 of 15) at Middleweight. On the 13 ballots that ranked Silva at 205, we took the average (21.2). We then reduced that number by half the percentage of Light Heavyweight ballots that he was not included on. Say he's not on 30% of them, then we do a 15% penalty on the average that we found in the previous step. That number is then used instead of the usual "normalization number" to provide points from those not ranking the fighter in the weight class in question. This avoids fighters being excessively penalized by confusion about which weight class they belong.
