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Top 25 World MMA Rankings (13 Divisions)
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12.10.2012 | 4:32 PM ET
I am about to update my rankings and thought I would share them all with you here first. Hope you enjoy.
Updated Monday, December 10th, 2012
Top 25 World MMA Rankings by Mac Greene
These rankings span 13 weight classes including 8 men’s and 5 women’s divisions and a pound-for-pound listing for both genders. I am sure there are quality fighters that I am not aware of, especially at the lighter weights and in the women’s divisions. I do not have the resources that many of the top MMA websites do so I can only rank fighters that I follow. These rankings are not based on who I think would beat who but who I believe deserves the rank based on what they’ve done in the cage, or ring. Continue reading for a more detailed explination of how the system works.
Moving Up In The Ranks:
-Record
-Win Streak
-Competition Level
-Finishing Rate
-Performance Within A Fight
I Do Not Rank Based On:
-Championship Status
-#1 Contender Status
-Name Value
-Hype
-Promotion
Exclusion From Rankings:
-2 Years Of Inactivity
-Missing Weight In Back-To-Back Fights
-Retirement
-Fighting In Another Weight-Class (Men)
-Announcing A Move To Another Weight-Class (Men)
Gaining/Losing Ranks: Moving up in the ranks depends on a few things, record, win streak, competition level, finishing rate. A strong performance in a losing effort may keep a competitor from dropping further down the ladder but an athlete can not gain rank with a loss, no matter how great a performance. Example, Alves did not drop very far in the WW ranks because of a strong performance in his loss to Kampann.
Fighters will not gain ranks based on their championship status, contender status, organization, name value or hype. The status of the previous titleholder is what usually pushes most fighters to the #1 spot. Depending on the depth of a division if a competitor is not ranked in the top 25 of a weight class it will be hard for him/her to move into the top 10 with only one big win, it may be enough for him/her to crack the top 20 or even the top 15, again depending on the depth of the class. Fighters do not automatically take over the spot of the fighter they just defeated or jump ahead of them in the rankings.
Just because an athlete competes in a certain organization does not mean that he/she has faced better competition than someone outside of ZUFFA/Bellator/InvictaFC in every case. Example, half of the fighters ranked in the men’s FW, BW and most in the FLW divisions aren’t under ZUFFA or Bellator contracts, so it would be easier for competitors in other promotions to make claim to a much higher placement in those weight categories, This would be much harder to pull off in divisions such as LW, WW. or the women’s BW division. Name value does not always equate to a quality win.
Removal from Rankings: Fighters that have not competed in two years will be removed from their spot in the Rankings. I understand that major injuries happen, this is why our rankings give athletes that extra year to recover and come back at full health instead of using the standard one year format. Fighters should gain ranks because they have earned it, not by default. Missing weight in back-to-back fights will get you removed from all rankings.
Retired fighters and those in the men’s divisions that announce a move to another weight class will no longer be ranked in their previous category, as the major organizations usually force fighters to focus on one division at a time. The women’s weight classes are different, since most of the top female fighters compete outside of major promotions they are eligible for spots in more than one listing. It is more common for female athletes to jump between divisions, especially in the case of 145. This may change with the emergance of Invicta FC who have been grabbing up many of the top competitors on the women’s circuit and other high profile organizations now promoting women’s bouts.
Holding a win over a top fighter may keep him/her from jumping you soon after but depending on the success of the fighter and competition they have faced since that point it may be possible for them to jump ahead of you later on.
Pound-For-Pound rankings are mythical but very fun to do. A loss in a division may not give the individual that defeated you automatic entry into the PFP rankings. Example, Hendricks/Fitch, while Hendricks is ranked above Fitch at 170 he has not done enough to warrant a PFP ranking.
That’s pretty much it. The reasons I started doing these rankings a few years back is because I felt that many high profile websites rank based on name value and the big name of a promotion, not really who deserves it the most. I understand that my system is not perfect but I do believe that it is fairly accurate. I welcome any suggestions on how to improve the system and feedback.
I hope you all enjoy these rankings because that’s really why I do them, for the fans and fighters that work so hard to achieve their goals in this great sport.
Men’s Divisions: (Top 25)
Heavyweight (206.1-266lbs)
1 Junior dos Santos
2 Cain Velasquez
3 Alistair Overeem
4 Fabricio Werdum
5 Daniel Cormier
6 Frank Mir
7 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
8 Antonio Silva
9 Stefan Struve
10 Josh Barnett
11 Shane Carwin
12 Travis Browne
13 Mark Hunt
14 Cheick Kongo
15 Roy Nelson
16 Damian Grabowski
17 Alexander Volkov
18 Brendan Schaub
19 Gabriel Gonzaga
20 Sergei Kharitonov
21 Mike Russow
22 Ben Rothwell
23 Stipe Mioćić
24 Shane del Rosario
25 Vitaly Minakov
Light Heavyweight (186.1-206lbs)
1 Jon Jones
2 Dan Henderson
3 Alexander Gustafsson
4 Rashad Evans
5 Lyoto Machida
6 Mauricio Rua
7 Quinton Jackson
8 Phil Davis
9 Forrest Griffin
10 Ryan Bader
11 Rafael Cavalcante
12 Muhammed Lawal
13 Gegard Mousasi
14 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
15 Glover Teixeira
16 Thiago Silva
17 Vladimir Matyushenko
18 James Te Huna
19 Stanislav Nedkov
20 Ryan Jimmo
21 Vinny Magalhaes
22 Igor Pokrajac
23 Jan Blachowicz
24 Attila Vegh
25 Jimi Manuwa
Middleweight (171.1-186lbs)
1 Anderson Silva
2 Chris Weidman
3 Michael Bisping
4 Tim Boetsch
5 Yushin Okami
6 Mark Muñoz
7 Luke Rockhold
8 Alan Belcher
9 Jake Shields
10 Brian Stann
11 Rousimar Palhares
12 Vitor Belfort
13 Hector Lombard
14 Alexander Shlemenko
15 Mamed Khalidov
16 Ronaldo Souza
17 Chris Leben
18 Wanderlei Silva
19 Cung Le
20 Ronny Markes
21 Constantinos Philippou
22 Brad Tavares
23 Ed Herman
24 Maiquel Goncalves
25 Francis Carmont
Welterweight (156.1-171lbs)
1 Georges “RUSH” St. Pierre
2 Johny Hendricks
3 Carlos Condit
4 Jon Fitch
5 Martin Kampmann
6 Jake Ellenberger
7 Josh Koscheck
8 Nick Diaz
9 Rory MacDonald
10 Demian Maia
11 Thiago Alves
12 Ben Askren
13 Rick Story
14 Erick Silva
15 Mike Pierce
16 Siyar Bahadurzada
17 Nate Marquardt
18 Douglas Lima
19 Dong Hyun Kim
20 Andrey Koreshkov
21 Jay Hieron
22 Jason High
23 Kyle Noke
24 Charlie Brenneman
25 Tyron Woodley
Lightweight (146.1-156lbs)
1 Benson Henderson
2 Gray Maynard
3 Gilbert Melendez
4 Nathan Diaz
5 Michael Chandler
6 Eddie Alvarez
7 Jim Miller
8 Donald Cerrone
9 Shinya Aoki
10 Anthony Pettis
11 Joe Lauzon
12 Khabib Nurmagomedov
13 Gleison Tibau
14 T.J. Grant
15 Rafael dos Anjos
16 Matt Wiman
17 Paul Sass
18 Jacob Volkmann
19 Rick Hawn
20 Jamie Varner
21 Melvin Guillard
22 Evan Dunham
23 Josh Thomson
24 Mark Bocek
25 Pat Healy
Featherweight (136.1-146lbs)
1 José Aldo
2 Pat Curran
3 Chad Mendes
4 Erik Koch
5 Ricardo Lamas
6 Hatsu Hioki
7 Daniel Straus
8 Chan Sung Jung
9 Dennis Siver
10 Diego Nuñes
11 Robert Peralta
12 Cub Swanson
13 Patricio Freiré
14 Marlon Sandro
15 Hacran Dias
16 Hiroyuki Takaya
17 Dustin Poirier
18 Iuri Alcantara
19 Eddie Yagin
20 Darren Elkins
21 Tatsuya Kawajiri
22 Manny Gamburyan
23 Marcus Brimage
24 Takeshi Inoue
25 Charles Oliveira
Bantamweight (126.1-136lbs)
1 Dominick Cruz
2 Renan “Barão” Pegado
3 Urijah Faber
4 Brian Bowles
5 Michael McDonald
6 Brad Pickett
7 Marcos Galvão
8 Bibiano Fernandes
9 Scott Jorgensen
10 Eduardo Dantas
11 Eddie Wineland
12 Raphael Assuncão
13 Luis Nogueira
14 Miguel Torres
15 Tyson Nam
16 Masakatsu Ueda
17 Marlon Moraes
18 Mike Easton
19 Takeya Mizugaki
20 Ivan Menjivar
21 Travis Marx
22 Alexis Vila
23 Anthony Leone
24 Zach Makovsky
25 Jimmie Rivera
Flyweight (116.1-126lbs)
1 Demetrious Johnson
2 Ian McCall
3 Joseph Benavidez
4 John Dodson
5 Jussier “Formiga” da Silva
6 Mamoru Yamaguchi
7 Darrell Montague
8 Dustin Ortiz
9 Yasuhiro Uru****ani
10 John Moraga
11 Louis Gaudinot
12 John Lineker
13 Ryuichi Miki
14 Haruo Ochi
15 Shinichi “BJ” Kojima
16 Alexandre Pantoja
17 Kentaro Watanabe
18 Rambaa Somdet
19 Dileno Lopes
20 Fumihiro Kitakara
21 Kiyotaka Shimizu
22 Ulysses Gomez
23 Tim Elliott
24 José Maria Tomé
25 Sean Santella
25 Danny Martinez
Pound-For-Pound:
1 Georges St. Pierre
2 Anderson Silva
3 Jon Jones
4 José Aldo
5 Dominick Cruz
6 Dan Henderson
7 Frankie Edgar
8 Jon Fitch
9 Rashad Evans
10 Demetrious Johnson
Women’s Divisions: (Top 25)
Featherweight (136.1-146lbs)
1 Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos
2 Julia Budd
3 Elaina Maxwell
4 Marloes Coenen
5 Ediane Gomes
6 Milana Dudieva
7 Germaine de Randamie
8 Yuko “Hiroko” Yamanaka
9 Romy Ruyssen
10 Yana Kunitskaya
11 Lauren Taylor
12 Rin Nakai
13 Cindy Dandois
14 Shana Nelson
15 Ashley Sanchez
16 Katalina Malungahu
17 Kaitlin Young
18 Fiona Muxlow
19 Valerie Barney
20 Luciana Pereira
21 Elina Nilsson
22 Eeva Siiskonen
23 Gabrielle Holloway
24 Andria Caplan
25 Andrienne Seiber
Bantamweight (126.1-136lbs)
1 Ronda Rousey
2 Sarah Kaufman
3 Miesha Tate
4 Alexis Davis
5 Sara McMann
6 Shayna Baszler
7 Amanda Nuñes
8 Julie Kedzie
9 Liz Carmouche
10 Sarah D’Alelio
11 Hitomi Akano
12 Vanessa Porto
13 Cat Zingano
14 Roxanne Modafferi
15 Tonya Evinger
16 Leslie Smith
17 Kaitlin Young
18 Rin Nakai
19 Julia Berezikova
20 Shizuka Sugiyama
21 Raquel Pennington
22 Sarah Moras
23 Julianna Peña
24 Valerie Letourneau
25 Sheila Bird
Flyweight (116.1-126lbs)
1 Jessica Eye
2 Sheila Gaff
3 Rosi Sexton
4 Barb Honchak
5 Vanessa Porto
6 Aisling Daly
7. Zoila Gurgel
8 Michelle Ould
9 Munah Holland
10 Claudia Gadelha
11 Hanna Sillén
12 Juliana Lima
13 Marianna Kheyfets
14 Heather Clark
15 Angela Magaña
16 Brenda Gonzales
17 Reyna Cordoba
18 Kalindra Faria
19 Tonya Evinger
20 Carina Damm
21 Julia Berezikova
22 Sally Krumdiack
23 Kinberly Novaes
24 Maiju Kujala
25 Jasminka Cive
25 Ericka Almeida
25 Sofia Bagherdai
Strawweight (106.1-116lbs)
1 Jessica Aguilar
2 Megumi Fujii
3 Ayaka Hamasaki
4 Carla Esparza
5 Katja Kankaanpää
6 Seo Hee Ham
7 Mei Yamaguchi
8 Joanne Calderwood
9 Yuka Tsuji
10 Felice Herrig
11 Kyoko Takabayashi
12 Patricia Vidonic
13 Lisa Ellis
14 Saori Ishioka
15 Karla Benitez
16 Ashley Cummins
17 Tomomi Sunaba
18 Emi Fujino
19 Sanja Sučević
20 Lena Ovchynnikova
21 Sarah Schnieder
22 Ayame Miura
23 Mizuki Inoue
24 Chelsea Colarelli
25 Alex Chambers
25 Alyona Rassohyna
Atomweight: (96.1-106lbs)
1 Jessica Penne
2 Naho Sugiyama
3 Kikuyo Ishikawa
4 Michelle Waterson
5 Misaki Takimoto
6 Lisa Ellis
7 Stephanie Frausto
8 Sadae Suzumura
9 Yasuko Tamada
10 Naoko Omuro
11 Sachiko Yamamoto
12 Diana Rael
13 Satomi Takano
14 Amy Davis
15 Nicdali Calanoc
16 Angelica Chavez
17 Yukiko Seki
18 Cassie Rodish
19 Jodie Esquibel
20 Liz McCarthy
21 Shino VanHoose
22 Kayo Nagayasu
23 ***uko Hamada
24 Megumi Morioka
25 Miyoko Kusaka
Pound-For-Pound:
1 Ronda Rousey
2 Jessica Aguilar
3 Sarah Kaufman
4 Megumi Fujii
5 Cristiane Santos
6 Miesha Tate
7 Marloes Coenen
8 Alexis Davis
9 Rosi Sexton
10 Jessica Penne