The Official Bleacher Report MMA Rankings: Second Edition

Welcome back everybody to the Bleacher Report MMA Rankings. For those new to the site, about two months ago I gathered the opinions of the top 20 MMA writers on the site, and compiled the first ever community MMA rankings. Two months later with the help of Brian Oswald, we have gathered the votes of the top 30 MMA writers on this site. Id like to thank all that casted there votes.

Without further ado, lets get to the rankings. (By the way, unlike last time I am including the number of points received by each fighter. Points were given out as follows, five for 1st, four for 2nd and so on. Same with P4P, just starting at 10. Also, the last number is where the fighter was in the last edition)

Pound-For-Pound

1. Anderson Silva- 171 (2)
2. Georges St. Pierre- 146 (3)
3. Fedor Emelianenko- 142 (1)
4. BJ Penn- 121 (4)
5. Miguel Torres- 72 (6)
6. Rashad Evans - 66 (NR)
7. Rampage Jackson- 42 (NR)
8. Thiago Alves- 36 (7)
9. Gegard Mousasi- 33 (NR)
10. Frank Mir- 23 (NR)
10. Lyoto Machida- 23 (NR)

Dropped Off- Urijah Faber, Antonio Nogueria, Forrest Griffin, Randy Couture

New Editions- Rashad Evans, Rampage Jackson, Gegard Mousasi, Frank Mir, Lyoto Machida

Unlike the last edition, the voting was not that close. Anderson and GSP jump up one, Fedor falls back to number three, and Rashad goes from not even being on the radar, to number six.

Heavyweight

1. Fedor-82 (1)
2. Andrei Arlovski-51 (4)
3. Mir-45 (NR)
4. Josh Barnett-33 (5)
5. Brock Lesnar-32 (NR)

Dropped Off- Nogueria, Randy Couture

New Editions- Mir, Lesnar

Fedor, like in his fights, dominates the competition. You were all very decisive with this division, nobody else even came close to grabbing a spot. Unfortunately, we must say goodbye to two legends in the sport, Nog and Randy, but hopefully we'll see them back sometime soon.

Light Heavyweight

1. Rashad Evans-83 (4)
2. Rampage-62 (3)
3. Machida-56 (2)
4. Forrest Griffin-39 (1)
5. Rich Franklin-13 (NR)

Dropped Off- Wanderlei Silva

New Editions- Rich Fraklin

Rashad Evans makes a very impressive jump, swapping spots with Forrest to jump from fourth to first. Rampage earns his two spot by not only knocking Wandy out of title contention, but completely off this list. Rich Fanklin makes a surprise appearance, but for some odd reason I think we'll see him again. ;)

Middleweight

1. Anderson Silva-90 (1)
2. Gegard Mousasi-48 (T-5)
3. Dan Henderson-25 (4)
4. Yushin Okami-23 (3)
5. Rich Franklin-19 (T-5)

Dropped Off- Nate Marquardt

New Editions- No New Editions

Anderson Silva remains number one to nobodies surprise, and was the only unanimous number one this time around. Gegadr Mousasi makes a very surprising four spot jump, despite not having fought since the last edition. He takes Nates spot, who totally disappears from the list even though, again, he hasn't fought since the last edition. And the biggest surprise of the rankings, Rich Franklin takes the fifth spot in not only the LHW division, but also the MW as well.

Welterweight

1. GSP-89 (1)
2. Thiago Alves-69 (2)
3. Jon Fitch-39 (3)
4. Josh Koscheck-37 (5)
5. Jake Shields-21 (4)

No New Editions or Drop Offs for the welterweight division. The only difference between these rankings and the last ones, are that Josh and Jake switch spots. Koscheck misses the three spot by just two points. Apparently a sick KO just doesn't cut it anymore.

Lightweight

1. Penn- 87 (1)
2. Aoki-57 (3)
3. Florian-33 (5)
4. Alvarez-30 (2)
5. Sherk-23 (4)

Shinya Aoki taps Alvarez right out of his two spot, as Alvarez drops from second place to fourth. Kenny Florian got alot love from the voters, even getting some P4P consideration. He takes the three spot. Once again nobody drops off and there were no new editions. I do have to say this though. For the second time, Joachim Hansen just, and I mean just, missed out on a spot in the rankings. Maybe him missing Dynamite!! 2008 with a "head injury" had something to do with that.

I'd like to thank Brian Oswald for taking on this challenge with me. I know it was tough buddy, but we got it done. I'd also like to thank Jessy Morris for his logo. We only got two entries people, if you think you can make a better logo, I challenge you to do so. If you can make a better logo, submit it to me and I might use it for the next edition.

Next edition should see alot of action on each list. With UFC 93 and 94, Affliction: Day of Reckoning, and WEC 38 coming up, I can't wait to see all the changes.