UFC 133 Results: Top 25 Pound-for-Pound Fighters in MMA

UFC 133 has come and gone, and the rankings have been adjusted as such.

We saw Rashad Evans maintain his No. 1 contender spot in the light heavyweight division, with a TKO victory over Tito Ortiz.

We also saw top featherweight prospect Chad Mendes earn a win over the Jiu-Jitsu specialist, Rani Yahya, in a fight that had real title implications. 

So, who moved up, or even down in the pound-for-pound rankings in the aftermath of UFC 133?

In these rankings, fighters have been penalized and moved down for inactivity and significant periods of time for which they have not been actively competing. Fighters who have not been competing against "top level" talent have also been penalized.

This has been done because it is not fair for other fighters for another fighter to retain their position if they have not been actively competing.

By penalizing fighters for inactivity or for competing against a lack of "top-level" talent, it gives other fighters a chance to move up and stake their claim in the rankings. 

So, without further ado, here are the top 25 pound-for-pound fighters in MMA right now.

Those Who Just Missed the Cut

Urijah Faber

Joseph Benavidez

Brian Bowles

Jake Ellenberger

Chad Mendes

Jim Miller

Antonio Silva

Kenny Florian

25. Eddie Alvarez

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Age: 27

Division: Lightweight (Bellator)

MMA Record: 22-2

The Current Bellator lightweight champion is currently riding a seven-win streak, with six of those ending in a finish.

Alvarez is known for his boxing skills, which he has used to knock out 12 of his opponents, and he is one of the top prospects in the lightweight division in the world.

24. Ronaldo Souza

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Age: 32

Division: Middleweight (Strikeforce)

MMA Record: 14-2(1)

The Strikeforce middleweight champion is one of the best grapplers in the business; he holds a black belt in Judo and Jiu-Jitsu and this combination of martial arts makes for a very good wrestler and submission artist.

This is apparent in the fact that Souza has submitted 11 of the 14 opponents he has defeated and he placed first at the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championships.

Souza is riding a four-win streak and is now set to face Luke Rockhold later this year for the middleweight championship.

23. Alistair Overeem

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Age: 31

Division: Heavyweight (Free Agent)

MMA Record: 34-11

Overeem only just got past Fabricio Werdum with a unanimous decision victory in which both fighters looked slow and sluggish.

Alistair Overeem is a great fighter with a lot of potential. However, this potential is not being utilized.

If you take a look at Overeem's record, you will notice that he has lost to every "big name" that he has faced, for example, Chuck Liddell, Sergei Kharitinov, Rogerio Nogueira and "Shogun" Rua.

In order to climb the rankings, Overeem needs to face competitors who could genuinely do some damage to him and he needs to prove that he can beat them.

22. Shinya Aoki

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Age: 28

Division: Lightweight (DREAM)

MMA Record: 28-5(1)

Shinya Aoki is arguably the greatest submission artist in the business; he has submitted 18 of the 28 opponents he has faced. These include submissions wins via gogoplata, flying triangle choke and neck cranks.

Aoki, the DREAM lightweight champion, is currently on a five-fight winning streak, with four of those wins coming by way of submission.

However, Aoki is another fighter who is not as high as he should be on this ranking, because he has not faced a lot of competitors who have been deemed a threat to him and therefore, his skills have not been consistently tested against top-level competition.

21. Brock Lesnar

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Age: 34

Division: Heavyweight (UFC)

MMA Record: 5-2

Brock Lesnar's position in the rankings has dropped due to inactivity.

Lesnar captured the heavyweight championship from Randy Couture at UFC 91 in only his fourth professional MMA fight. He defended his title against Frank Mir and Shane Carwin before losing the championship to Cain Velasquez at UFC 121.

Lesnar was slated to fight Junior dos Santos, but Lesnar had to pull out due to a bout of diverticulitis. 

The MMA community wishes him a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him in the octagon again.

20. Chael Sonnen

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Age: 34

Division: Middleweight (UFC)

MMA Record: 25-11-1

Due to inactivity, Chael Sonnen's position in the rankings has dropped considerably.

Prior to the fight against Anderson Silva at UFC 117, Sonnen generated a lot of hype. To his credit, Sonnen lived up to the hype and became the closest person to beating Anderson Silva for quite some time.

Sonnen found himself embroiled in legal troubles surrounding money-laundering claims, and was suspended from fighting for failing a drug test following his fight with Anderson Silva.

Consequently, Sonnen has been out of action for a year to this day.

Sonnen has been scheduled to face Brian Stann at UFC 136 in a fight that could determine the next contender for the middleweight championship.

19. Nick Diaz

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Age: 28

Division: Welterweight (UFC)

MMA Record: 25-7(1)

Love him or hate him, Nick Diaz is one of the best welterweights in the world right now; otherwise, he wouldn't be fighting Georges St. Pierre for the welterweight championship at UFC 137.

Diaz is currently riding a nine-fight winning streak, which includes wins over KJ Noons, Paul Daley and Hayato Sakurai.

18. BJ Penn

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Age: 32

Division: Welterweight (UFC)

MMA Record: 16-7-2

After losing the title belt to Frankie Edgar at UFC 112, Penn made the move back to the welterweight division and has gotten off to a good start.

He knocked out Matt Hughes in just 21 seconds of the very first round at UFC 123 and then fought top contender, Jon Fitch, to a majority draw at UFC 127.

Penn has been slated to face Carlos Condit at UFC 137 in a potential No. 1 contender fight.

17. Dan Henderson

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Age: 40

Division: Light Heavyweight (Strikeforce)

MMA Record: 28-8

The iconic Dan Henderson further cemented his legacy with a knockout win over Fedor Emelianenko at the just-gone "Fedor vs Henderson" event.

Prior to this, Henderson had knocked out Rafael Cavalcante and Renato Sobral.

The current light heavyweight champion for Strikeforce is one of the elite wrestlers and boxers in MMA right now and over his 13-year career, he has defeated some of the best fighters around in various divisions all over the world.

16. Quinton Jackson

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Age: 33

Division: Light heavyweight (UFC)

MMA Record: 32-8

After suffering a loss at the hands of Rashad Evans, "Rampage" has propelled himself back into title contention with wins over Lyoto Machida and Matt Hamill.

"Rampage" isn't as high as he should be in these rankings because he has looked shaky in his last two fights.

He won a very controversial split decision against Lyoto Machida at UFC 123, a fight that many believe that Machida had won.

At UFC 130, "Rampage" defeated Matt Hamill in a fight where Jackson struggled to get the finish.

Nevertheless, Jackson has earned himself a title shot and is now going to face Jones for the title at UFC 135.

15. Lyoto Machida

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Age: 33

Division: Light Heavyweight (UFC)

MMA Record: 17-2

"The Dragon" won the title from Rashad Evans at UFC 98 and defended it once against "Shogun," only to lose the championship to him in their rematch at UFC 113.

Machida then lost a very controversial split decision to "Rampage" Jackson that many felt Machida had won. In fact, if you look at "Rampage's" reaction when it was announced that he had won, even he looked surprised.

Since suffering back-to-back losses, Machida returned to his dominant self with a vicious, flying jump-kick knockout win over the legendary Randy Couture, to send him into retirement.

If Machida can remain consistent, he can look forward to a title shot in no time and will climb the rankings.

14. Rashad Evans

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Age: 31

Division: Light Heavyweight (UFC)

MMA Record: 16-1-1

Rashad Evans proved why he is a top contender in the light heavyweight division with his KO victory over Tito Ortiz at UFC 133.

Following his loss to Lyoto Machida at UFC 98, Evans has racked up three wins in a row. He has defeated Thiago Silva, Quinton Jackson and now Tito Ortiz.

You can now expect him to face the winner of the fight between Jon Jones and Quinton Jackson.

13. Mauricio Rua

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Age: 30

Division: Light Heavyweight (UFC)

MMA Record: 19-5

"Shogun" is famous for his lethal Muay-Thai skills, which he has used to defeat the likes of Quinton Jackson, Alistair Overeem and Lyoto Machida.

"Shogun" returned from a knee injury, for which he had major surgery, to face Jon Jones for the title at UFC 128.

In this fight, "Shogun", for the possibly first time in his career, he did not appear competitive and looked slow and worn-out. Consequently, "Shogun" lost the championship.

If "Shogun" had gone into the fight healthy, there is a possibility that he could still be the champion, because a healthy "Shogun" is one of the most formidable fighters.

He is now set to fight Forrest Griffin at UFC 134, where he will hope to avenge a loss to Griffin, suffered in his UFC debut.

12. Jake Shields

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Age: 32

Division: Welterweight (UFC)

MMA Record: 26-5-1

Shields is one of the best practitioners of Jiu-Jitsu in the division; he is a black-belt under Cesar Gracie.

In his most recent fight, against Georges St.-Pierre for the welterweight championship, Shields came up short and he lost his first fight in over six years.

However, he did manage to do something that most of St.-Pierre's previous opponents couldn't do and that was that he was able to win a round against St.-Pierre.

Shields is now set to face rising star, Jake Ellenberger, at UFC Fight Night.

11. Junior Dos Santos

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Age: 26

Division: Heavyweight (UFC)

MMA Record: 13-1

Junior dos Santos has run rampant in the heavyweight division, taking down anyone that stands between him and the championship title.

"Cigano" is undefeated in the UFC and the list of fighters that he has taken out is rather impressive. Wins over Fabricio Werdum, Mirko Cro-Cop and Shane Carwin have helped him earn a championship title fight against Cain Velasquez in November.

He has shown excellent stand-up and is constantly improving in other aspects of his fight-game. For example, in the fight against Carwin, we saw dos Santos execute head-kicks and successful take-downs.

If Junior dos Santos can maintain this exemplary level of fighting, we can expect to see him much higher, very soon.

10. Gray Maynard

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Age: 32

Division: Lightweight (UFC)

MMA Record: 10-0-1(1)

Gray Maynard is the only man to hold a win over the current lightweight champion, Frankie Edgar. When these two met again at UFC 125, they fought to a split draw.

The fact that Frankie Edgar has not beaten Gray Maynard, means that Maynard is currently the biggest threat to Edgar and his championship.

They are now set to fight again at UFC 136.

9. Gilbert Melendez

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Age: 29

Division: Lightweight (Strikeforce)

MMA Record: 19-2

The Strikeforce lightweight champion is considered by some as the best lightweight in the world. Melendez has defeated the biggest contenders in the Strikeforce division, including Josh Thomson, Shinya Aoki and most recently, Tatsuya Kawajiri.

Melendez is a great fighter and in order to move up in the rankings, he needs to be consistently tested against tough opponents. 

Jorge Masvidal may be the next likely opponent for Melendez and if Melendez is to get past him, the landscape from there onwards seems uncertain.

Melendez may need to make the jump to the UFC and beat the top contenders there, in order to prove to the world why some people consider him to be the best lightweight in the world.

8. Jon Fitch

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Age: 33

Division: Welterweight (UFC)

MMA Record: 23-3-1(1)

Due to inactivity, Jon Fitch's position in the rankings has dropped; had Fitch remained active, his position on this ranking could have been higher. 

Jon Fitch is widely considered the second best welterweight in MMA. His wrestling skills are second to Georges St. Pierre. Fitch must be getting tired of being second.

In his last fight, Fitch fought BJ Penn to a majority draw and a re-match between the two was set for UFC 132 but was later cancelled due to Fitch suffering an injury.

Fitch is a great fighter and don't be surprised if you see him competing for the title again, very soon.

7. Cain Velasquez

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Age: 29

Division: Heavyweight (UFC)

MMA Record: 9-0

Due to inactivity, Velasquez's position in this ranking has dropped.

Velasquez defeated Brock Lesnar at UFC 121 via TKO in spectacular fashion to capture the heavyweight championship.

Velasquez is a great technical boxer and his wrestling skills are amongst the best in MMA; Velasquez is a former NCAA Division I wrestler and in his junior years, he captured the NCJAA championship.

He is now slated to fight Junior dos Santos in possibly the most highly anticipated fight of the year.

6. Jon Jones

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Age: 24

Division: Light-Heavyweight (UFC)

MMA Record: 13-1

Jon Jones is widely recognized as the fighter who represents the new era of young fighters that will take over the reins of MMA once the legends have retired.

Jones put forward a very impressive performance over the iconic Mauricio Rua, to capture the light-heavyweight championship at UFC 128.

However, that was not the only accolade that he earned that night; he also became the youngest champion in UFC history.

Jones is set to face Quinton Jackson at UFC 135 for the championship.

Until Jones successfully defends his title, his position cannot climb on this ranking.

5. Frankie Edgar

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Age: 29

Division: Lightweight (UFC)

MMA Record: 13-1-1

The lightweight division is the most stacked division and the UFC has an influx of contenders vying for a shot at the title. Some of the most notable fighters looking for a title shot include Jim Miller and Clay Guida.

Frankie Edgar captured the title from BJ Penn at UFC 112 and has defended it against Penn at UFC 118.

His last fight saw him taking on the only man to have ever defeated him, Gray Maynard. This fight was so closely contested that they fought to a draw and although Edgar retained his title, he was vocally upset with his own performance.

Edgar and Maynard are slated to meet at UFC 136 to complete their trilogy of fights.

4. Dominick Cruz

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Age: 25

Division: Bantamweight (UFC)

MMA Record: 18-1

Cruz has solidified his status as the best bantamweight in the world with his recent win over Urijah Faber, at UFC 132 to retain the bantamweight championship.

Cruz has defeated the likes of Joseph Benavidez and Brian Bowles during his championship reign and the age of 25, Cruz has already achieved a great deal in the sport.

He is now set to face Demetrious Johnson at UFC on Versus 6.

3. Jose Aldo

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Age: 24

Division: Featherweight (UFC)

MMA Record: 19-1

The most explosive fighter in MMA comes in at No. 3.

Jose Aldo is under the tutelage of the Nogueira brothers and Anderson Silva, and therefore it doesn't come as a surprise that he is a great, well-rounded fighter. The Nogueira brothers provide Aldo with grappling and submission knowledge, whilst Silva can help Aldo with his striking and stand-up game.

Aldo was not "himself" in the fight with Mark Hominick at UFC 129; he was lethargic and not displaying the explosiveness that has made him a force in the featherweight division.

It was later revealed that Aldo was suffering from a bacterial infection and needed antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs to combat the illness.

Aldo is now slated to face Kenny Florian at UFC 136 in a highly anticipated featherweight championship bout.

2. Georges St.-Pierre

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Age: 30

Division: Welterweight (UFC)

MMA Record: 22-2

The welterweight champion last defeated Jake Shields at UFC 129, the largest UFC event in North American history.

Georges St.-Pierre has defended his championship title a total of six times, and this includes successful defenses against the likes of BJ Penn, Matt Hughes and Jon Fitch.

He is now set to face Nick Diaz at UFC 137.

1. Anderson Silva

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Age: 36

Division: Middleweight (UFC)

MMA Record: 30-4

The middleweight champion retains his position atop the pound for pound rankings.

Anderson Silva has run rampant in the UFC and has defeated a who's who in the company. From Forrest Griffin to Rich Franklin to Dan Henderson, "The Spider" has put forward dominating performances against just about everybody he has faced.

In his last fight, Silva knocked out "The Phenom," Vitor Belfort, with a spectacular front kick that landed flush to the face.

Silva is now set to fight Yushin Okami, the last man to have defeated Silva, albeit by disqualification, for the middleweight title at UFC 134.