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By Rich Hansen, MMA Torch Columnist
So let's make this a regular feature. I'll post my unofficial, meaningless, non-influential UFC rankings after each UFC event. Since most divisions will be unchanged from event to event, there won't be much explanation in most divisions. But in the divisions with movement, I'll go into greater detail. Where there are changes, I'll post the previous rankings in parentheses. Pretty straight forward, no?
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champ Cain Velasquez
1 Daniel Cormier
2 Junior dos Santos
3 Fabrico Werdum
4 Antonio Silva
5 Frank Mir
6 Alistair Overeem
7 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
8 Roy Nelson
9 Stefan Struve
10 Gabriel Gonzaga
My rationale: No changes. The next top ten heavyweight fight is Stefan Struve vs. Mark Hunt on March 3.
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champ Jon Jones
1 Dan Henderson
2 Lyoto Machida
3 Alexander Gustafsson
4 Chael Sonnen
5 Rashad Evans
6 Phil Davis
7 Glover Teixeira
8 Mauricio Rua
9 Ryan Bader
10 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
My rationale: No changes. The next top ten light heavyweight fight is Dan Henderson vs. Lyoto Machida on February 23. Don't expect that to shuffle my rankings too much, though. Unless someone gets dominated, one of them will be #1, and the other will be #2.
I didn't explain my placement of Chael Sonnen last time out. His resume at middleweight explains why he debuts at #4, of course. Because the UFC constraints mandate that a fighter be ranked in the division of his next scheduled fight, he has to be considered at light heavyweight only.
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champ Anderson Silva
1 Vitor Belfort
2 Chris Weidman
3 Yushin Okami
4 Luke Rockhold
5 Ronaldo Souza
6 Michael Bisping
7 Costa Phillipou
8 Tim Boetsch
9 Hector Lombard
10 Mark Munoz
My rationale: No changes. The next top ten middleweight fight is Yushin Okami vs. Hector Lombard on March 3.
WELTERWEIGHT
Champ Georges St-Pierre
1 Johny Hendricks
2 Carlos Condit
3 Demian Maia
4 Rory MacDonald
5 Martin Kampmann
6 Jake Ellenberger
7 Jon Fitch
8 Nick Diaz
9 Josh Koscheck
10 Mike Pyle
My rationale: No changes. The next top ten welterweight fights are Georges St-Pierre vs. Nick Diaz, Johny Hendricks vs. Jake Ellenberger, and Carlos Condit vs. Rory MacDonald on March 16. Dong Hyun Kim fights Siyar Bahadurzada on March 3. The winner of which might be able to sneak into the number 10 spot.
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champ Benson Henderson (champ)
1 Gray Maynard (2)
2 Gilbert Melendez (3)
3 Nathan Diaz (4)
4 TJ Grant (5)
5 Rafael dos Anjos (6)
6 Donald Cerrone (7)
7 Jim Miller (8)
8 Khabib Nurmagomedov (9)
9 Pat Healy (10)
10 Joe Lauzon (NR)
My rationale: The only change at lightweight is the departure of Anthony Pettis, the former #1 contender on my ballot. Now that he's nominally a featherweight, and since there were no other fights at lightweight that affect the top-10, it was just a matter of sliding in the next best lightweight. It was a toss-up between Joe Lauzon and Matt Wiman. I flipped a coin, it came up heads, so Miller > Wiman.
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champ Jose Aldo (champ)
1 Ricardo Lamas (1)
2 Chad Mendes (2)
3 Frankie Edgar (3)
4 Anthony Pettis (NR)
5 Chan Sung Jung (4)
6 Cub Swanson (6)
7 Dennis Siver (5)
8 Clay Guida (7)
9 Nik Lentz (9)
10 Hatsu Hioki (10)
My rationale: So, two things happened in the featherweight division since the inaugural rankings. 1.) Cub Swanson beat Dustin Poirier and 2.) Anthony Pettis signed to fight Jose Aldo, making him a featherweight (at least for now). Swanson was impressive enough where I have no problem hopping him ahead of Dennis Siver. I wouldn't be surprised to see Swanson vs. The Korean Zombie next.
And now for Pettis. I had him at #1 on my last lightweight ballot, and had to figure out where to put him at featherweight. For a couple of years I had him behind Frankie Edgar at lightweight. Sure, Edgar is coming off like like 42 losses in his last five fights and all, but Edgar's ahead of Pettis until Pettis beats an elite fighter. And yeah, beating Jose Aldo in August just might qualify.
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champ Dominick Cruz
1 Renan Barao
2 Michael McDonald
3 Urijah Faber
4 Eddie Wineland
5 Rafael Assuncao
6 Scott Jorgensen
7 Brad Pickett
8 Brian Bowles
9 Francisco Rivera
10 Takeya Mizugaki
My rationale: No changes. The next top ten bantamweight fight is Urijah Faber vs. Ivan Menjivar on February 23. OK, so Michael McDonald just lost a fight, why didn't he drop? Well, unlike your typical AP voter in the college basketball poll, I am capable of critical thought. McDonald lost to the best active bantamweight in the world. He also was more effective than Urijah Faber was against Renan Barao in July. And yes, I know Faber went the distance and McDonald got finished. So that's purely subjective on my part. In my opinion (and that's all it is, no hubris here) Michael McDonald is better than Urijah Faber. So there you go. That said, if Faber slaughters Menjivar, they might flipflop. Conversely, if Menjivar destroys Faber, he might slide into the bottom half of the top ten.
FLYWEIGHT
Champ Demetrious Johnson
1 Joseph Benavidez
2 John Dodson
3 Ian McCall
4 John Moraga
5 Darren Uyenoyama
6 Jussier Da Silva
7 John Lineker
8 Chris Cariaso
9 Louis Gaudinot
10 Tim Elliott
My rationale: No changes. The next top ten flyweight fight is Demetrious Johnson vs. John Moraga on April 13.
POUND FOR POUND
1 Anderson Silva (1)
2 Jon Jones (2)
3 Georges St-Pierre (3)
4 Jose Aldo (4)
5 Ben Henderson (5)
6 Dominick Cruz (6)
7 Renan Barao (8)
8 Demetrious Johnson (7)
9 Cain Velasquez (9)
10 Anthony Pettis (10)
My rationale: I was impressed enough with Renan Barao that I slotted him ahead of Mighty Mouse. Again, P4P is subjective by definition, so I'm not going to give myself carpal tunnel explaining. Opinion is what it is, blah blah blah.
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