UFC Rankings: Power Ranking Every Fighter in Every Division

The reliability of MMA rankings has long been debated due to its subjective nature. Though the UFC recently released official rankings, even those are based on opinion.

However, with the help of math, those personal opinions can be removed from ranking systems as much as possible. That is the aim of the following monthly UFC ranking system, which orders fighters in each division based on a formula that heavily weighs results against similar competition.

By removing non-UFC fighters from the equation, many of whom have not proven themselves against elite competition, these rankings eliminate much of the guesswork that goes into personal rankings. That is not to say there are not elite fighters competing outside of the Octagon, but the UFC has become the major league of MMA, and there is no denying that.

Now, let's take a look at the guidelines that have been used to determine the following divisional UFC rankings.

Rankings Guidelines

The following rankings are computerized based primarily on comparing similar competition among fighters. Exhibition bouts are not considered in determining rankings.

All fighters will be ranked in their current division as long as they have competed in that division within the past calender year. However, champions who compete outside the division in which they hold a belt will be ranked in both divisions unless one year has passed since they have defended their title.

Retired fighters and competitors who have been out of action for more than two years will be removed from the rankings. However, fighters who return from retirement within one year of their most recent fight will be eligible for ranking as soon as their return is announced.

Changes will be made to these guidelines at the overwhelming request of Bleacher Report readers.

Note: Rankings for the women's bantamweight division will be included once competition in the class begins.

Heavyweight

Alistair Overeem was supposed to—at worst—bridge the gap to a rubber match between heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos by earning a title shot with a win over Antonio Silva at UFC 156.

Instead, Overeem came in overconfident and was knocked out by "Bigfoot" in the third round. As a result, the heavyweight title picture is now a complete mess.

Velasquez is only one fight removed from a dominant victory over Silva, so there wouldn't be many interested in a rematch between those two fighters, and the remaining heavyweight contenders are either locked into fights or lost in their most recent appearance.

Heavyweight Rankings

1. Cain Velasquez
2. Junior dos Santos
3. Antonio Silva
4. Alistair Overeem
5. Fabricio Werdum
6. Frank Mir
7. Roy Nelson
8. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
9. Gabriel Gonzaga 
10. Mark Hunt
11. Ben Rothwell
12. Travis Browne
13. Cheick Kongo
14. Stefan Struve
15. Brendan Schaub
16. Shawn Jordan 
17. Matt Mitrione
18. Stipe Miocic
19. Lavar Johnson
20. Pat Barry
21. Shane del Rosario
22. Dave Herman
23. Mike Russow
24. Todd Duffee
25. Phil De Fries

Silva made made a big move upward in the rankings with his stunning stoppage of Overeem. While he's proven he's one of the best heavyweights in the world, Silva may still have some work to do to show he deserves a rematch with Velasquez.

With his second-round submission of Ben Rothwell, Gabriel Gonzaga is also headed in the right direction. Since returning from a brief retirement, Gonzaga has won three straight fights and is finding much more success by focusing on utilizing his grappling.

Once the owner of an 11-fight winning streak, Mike Russow has dropped off considerably in his past two appearances. The Chicago police officer was most recently defeated by Shawn Jordan in his home town at UFC on Fox 6.

Non-Ranked Heavyweight

• Shane Carwin
• Daniel Cormier
• Geronimo dos Santos
• Christian Morecraft

With Strikeforce's doors now closed, Daniel Cormier is ready to compete with the best heavyweight in the world on a consistent basis. At UFC on Fox 7 in April, Cormier will try to make a good first impression to UFC fans against former champion Frank Mir.

Light Heavyweight

Glover Teixeira has long been recognized for having great potential, but he never had the chance to compete against elite competition until UFC on Fox 6 in January.

At that event, Teixeira defeated Quinton Jackson and arrived as a contender in the UFC's light heavyweight division. The Brazilian's combination of knockout power and grappling could make him a tough opponent for many of the elite 205-pound fighters.

Jackson, meanwhile, appears fully prepared to leave the UFC after completing his contractual obligations with the organization. Until he is released or signs with another organization, though, he will remain eligible for these rankings.

Light Heavyweight Rankings

1. Jon Jones
2. Alexander Gustafsson
3. Anderson Silva
4. Mauricio Rua
5. Lyoto Machida
6. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
7. Rashad Evans
8. Ryan Bader
9. Phil Davis
10. Forrest Griffin
11. Thiago Silva
12. Glover Teixeira
13. Ryan Jimmo
14. Vinny Magalhaes
15. James Te Huna
16. Jimi Manuwa
17. Quinton Jackson
18. Matt Hamill
19. Vladimir Matyushenko
20. Igor Pokrajac
21. Kyle Kingsbury
22. Brandon Vera
23. Fabio Maldonado
24. Anthony Perosh
25. Cody Donovan
26. Cyrille Diabate
27. Ildemar Alcantara
28. Joey Beltran
29. Roger Hollett
30. Wagner Prado

After sitting out for more than one year, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira picked up an important win in his return to the Octagon. Although Nogueira's fight with Rashad Evans was somewhat lackluster, it resulted in one of the most notable victories of the Brazilian's career.

For Evans, the loss was extremely damaging. An impressive win over Nogueira would have prompted the UFC brass to consider Evans for a middleweight title shot against Anderson Silva, but that matchup may now be lost for the foreseeable future.

Non-Ranked Light Heavyweights

• Dan Henderson 
• Eddie Mendez
• Gegard Mousasi
• Ednaldo Oliveira
• Wanderlei Silva
• Chael Sonnen
• Krzysztof Soszynski
• Ovince St. Preux
• Brian Stann
• Gian Villante
  

Though he has been out of action for 14 months, Dan Henderson is still a light heavyweight contender and could earn a title shot with a win over Lyoto Machida at UFC 157.

The UFC's 205-pound division is also about to receive a number of solid additions. Gegard Mousasi will be making his way to the Octagon following the closure of Strikeforce, Wanderlei Silva will return to the division after a stint at middleweight, and Chael Sonnen will compete for the light heavyweight title at the conclusion of The Ultimate Fighter 17.

Middleweight

With his second-round knockout of Michael Bisping, Vitor Belfort returned to UFC title contention and spoiled the Englishman's plans of competing in a championship fight for the first time in his long UFC career.

Since losing to Dan Henderson in his days with Pride FC, Belfort has only lost against current UFC champions Anderson Silva and Jon Jones. With another big win, Belfort could find himself in a rematch with one of those titleholders.

Meanwhile, Bisping must go back to the drawing board once again. For six years as a UFC fighter, Bisping has been looking to break through and become a top contender, but he continues to come up short in big fights.  

Middleweight Rankings

1. Anderson Silva
2. Vitor Belfort
3. Chris Weidman
4. Michael Bisping
5. Costa Philippou
6. Tim Boetsch
7. Hector Lombard
8. Yushin Okami
9. Mark Munoz
10. Jake Shields
11. Alan Belcher
12. Cung Le 
13. Derek Brunson
14. Chris Leben
15. Rich Franklin
16. Francis Carmont
17. Tom Lawlor
18. Ronny Markes
19. Nick Ring
20. Riki Fukuda
21. Brad Tavares
22. Tom Watson
23. Ed Herman 
24. Andrew Craig
25. Chris Camozzi
26. Rousimar Palhares
27. Karlos Vemola 
28. Rafael Natal
29. Michael Kuiper
30. Jared Hamman
31. CB Dollaway
32. Daniel Sarafian
33. Alessio Sakara
34. Jason MacDonald
35. Buddy Roberts
36. Thiago Perpetuo
37. Cezar Ferreira
38. Caio Magalhaes
39. Sean Spencer
40. Magnus Cedenblad

While Belfort has reasserted himself as the second-best middleweight in the world behind Anderson Silva, there are a number of 185-pound fighters hot on his tail. In March, Yushin Okami will meet Hector Lombard in a fight that could catapult the winner into title-shot consideration. 

Lombard, a former Bellator champion, recently picked up his first UFC win by knocking out Rousimar Palhares. Having no victories over current UFC middleweights, Palhares plummeted in the rankings as a result of the loss.

Non-Ranked Middleweights

• Tim Credeur
• Roger Gracie
• Tim Kennedy
• Lorenz Larkin
• Stanislav Nedkov
• Luke Rockhold
• Yoel Romero
• Ronaldo Souza
• Clifford Starks

The middleweight division is about to receive a number of high-level fighters as a result of the Strikeforce merger. Luke Rockhold, Ronaldo Souza and Tim Kennedy all have the ability to become top-10 UFC middleweights, while Roger Gracie and Lorenz Larkin could also make some noise with the right matchups.

Welterweight

With a dominant victory over Jon Fitch, Demian Maia is now a serious contender in the welterweight division. It has taken the former middleweight only three fights to prove himself at 170 pounds, so one has to wonder how Maia's career would have gone if he'd competed at welterweight from the start.

Meanwhile, Fitch is on the verge of dropping out of the top 10, having won only once in the past two-and-a-half years. Having lost decisively to three of the top six welterweights on the UFC roster, Fitch may have to consider a desperation move to middleweight.

Welterweight Rankings

1. Georges St-Pierre
2. Johny Hendricks
3. Josh Koscheck
4. Mike Pierce
5. Carlos Condit
6. Demian Maia
7. Rory MacDonald
8. Jon Fitch
9. B.J. Penn
10. Martin Kampmann
11. Tyron Woodley
12. Jake Ellenberger
13. Thiago Alves
14. Erick Silva
15. Kyle Noke
16. Siyar Bahadurzada 
17. Rick Story
18. Dong Hyun Kim
19. Mike Pyle
20. Justin Edwards
21. Sean Pierson
22. Paulo Thiago
23. Seth Baczynski
24. Lance Benoist
25. John Hathaway
26. Matt Riddle
27. James Head 
28. Brian Ebersole
29. TJ Waldburger
30. Dan Hardy
31. Josh Neer
32. Che Mills
33. Matt Brown
34. Jay Hieron
35. Yoshihiro Akiyama
36. Gunnar Nelson
37. John Maguire
38. Pascal Krauss
39. Duane Ludwig
40. Mike Swick
41. Amir Sadollah
42. David Mitchell
43. Aaron Simpson
44. Nick Catone
45. Stephen Thompson
46. Simeon Thoreson
47. Dan Miller
48. Sergio Moraes
49. Robert Whittaker
50. Colton Smith
51. Ben Alloway
52. Marcelo Guimaraes
53. Chris Clements
54. Keith Wisniewski
55. Brock Jardine
56. Kenny Robertson
57. Mike Stumpf
58. Brad Scott
59. Besam Yousef
60. Papy Abedi
61. Manuel Rodriguez

While Maia stole the headlines, another new addition to the UFC's welterweight division made a big impact over the past month. With a knockout of Jay Hieron, Tyron Woodley showed he has the ability to become a contender in the 170-pound division.

As Woodley looks to break into the top 10, a bout with fellow heavy-handed wrestler Josh Koscheck could be a possibility. However, Koscheck must first get past another Strikeforce import, Robbie Lawler, in order to make the matchup with Woodley realistic.

Non-Ranked Welterweights

• Roger Bowling
• Patrick Cote
• Nick Diaz
• Jason High
• Robbie Lawler
• Hyun Gyu Lim
• Neil Magny
• Jon Manley
• Nate Marquardt
• Court McGee
• Jordan Mein
• Quinn Mulhern
• Claude Patrick
• Tarec Saffiedine
• Jorge Santiago
• Bobby Voelker
  

The already deep welterweight division is about to get even deeper with the addition of the former Strikeforce 170-pound fighters. The merge will mean Nate Marquardt's return to the Octagon and the solid addition of Strikeforce champion Tarec Saffiedine. 

Lightweight

T.J. Grant picked up a huge win over Matt Wiman to move himself into the top 10 for the first time in his UFC career. With so many elite lightweights moving to the featherweight class, the door is open for Grant to make a surprising run at a title shot.

Also sliding into the top 10 for the first time is Khabib Nurmagomedov, who breezed through Thiago Tavares with a first-round stoppage of his own. 

Furthermore, Evan Dunham is creeping back toward title contention after defeating Gleison Tibau in a closely contested bout.

Lightweight Rankings

1. Benson Henderson
2. Gray Maynard
3. Nate Diaz
4. Jim Miller
5. Donald Cerrone
6. Joe Lauzon 
7. Jamie Varner
8. Melvin Guillard
9. TJ Grant
10. Khabib Nurmagomedov
11. Evan Dunham
12. Gleison Tibau
13. Rafael dos Anjos 
14. Matt Wiman
15. Takanori Gomi
16. Mac Danzig
17. Fabricio Camoes
18. Paul Sass
19. Edson Barboza
20. Ross Pearson
21. Bobby Green
22. Myles Jury 
23. Michael Johnson
24. Jacob Volkmann
25. Tony Ferguson
26. Danny Castillo
27. Anthony Njokuani
28. Mark Bocek
29. George Sotiropoulos
30. Thiago Tavares
31. John Makdessi 
32. Sam Stout
33. Isaac Vallie-Flagg
34. Yves Edwards
35. Jeremy Stephens 
36. Tim Means
37. Ramsey Nijem
38. Francisco Trinaldo
39. Rustam Khabilov
40. Joe Proctor
41. Abel Trujillo
42. Daron Cruickshank
43. John Cholish
44. Justin Salas
45. Jon Tuck
46. Cristiano Marcello
47. Reza Madadi 
48. Rafaello Oliveira
49. Michael Chiesa
50. Mike Rio
51. Norman Parke
52. Mike Wilkinson
53. Anton Kuivanen
54. Mitch Clarke
55. Tiequan Zhang
56. Colin Fletcher
57. Brendan Loughnane
58. CJ Keith
59. Lucas Martins
60. Vinc Pichel
61. Al Iaquinta
62. Jeremy Larsen

While Grant, Nurmagomedov and Dunham were the big winners of the past month, Jacob Volkmann plummeted. In his most recent fight, Volkmann suffered a stunning loss to Strikeforce import Bobby Green via third-round submission.

Wiman also fell following his poor performance against the surging Grant. Though he's been a recognizable face in the 155-pound division for quite some time, Wiman has not found a way to pick up the big wins that would make him a contender.

Non-Ranked Lightweights

• Ryan Couture
• Terry Etim
• Caros Fodor
• Renee Forte
• Pat Healy
• Kurt Holobaugh
• Adriano Martins
• Gilbert Melendez
• KJ Noons
• Mike Ricci
• Aaron Riley 
• Diego Sanchez
• Josh Thomson
• Kazuki Tokudome
• James Vick 
  

Gilbert Melendez has been considered one of the world's top lightweights for years. In April, we will find out whether or not the attention he received was deserved, as he'll battle Benson Henderson for the UFC lightweight title.

Featherweight

Despite his long title reign, Jose Aldo has not been considered to be on the same level as some of the other dominant UFC champions. By beating former lightweight titleholder Frankie Edgar, Aldo should finally start to get more of the respect he deserves.

Although Edgar came up short in a third straight title fight, he came closer to beating Aldo than any of the champion's previous UFC opponents. There are a lot of options moving forward for Edgar, and one of them is definitely to remain at 145 pounds.

Featherweight Rankings

1. Jose Aldo
2. Frankie Edgar 
3. Chad Mendes
4. Ricardo Lamas
5. Chan Sung Jung
6. Dustin Poirier
7. Cub Swanson
8. Erik Koch
9. Nik Lentz 
10. Dennis Siver
11. Rani Yahya
12. Diego Nunes
13. Clay Guida
14. Hatsu Hioki
15. Bart Palaszewski
16. Manny Gamburyan
17. Charles Oliveira
18. Hacran Dias
19. Rony Jason
20. Marcus Brimage
21. Maximo Blanco
22. Felipe Arantes
23. Godofredo Pepey
24. Milton Vieira
25. Darren Elkins
26. Antonio Carvalho
27. Rodrigo Damm
28. Jimy Hettes
29. Mike Brown
30. Josh Grispi
31. Diego Brandao
32. Steven Siler
33. Matt Grice
34. Nam Phan
35. Cole Miller
36. Daniel Pineda
37. Dennis Bermudez
38. Pablo Garza
39. Eddie Yagin
40. Max Holloway
41. Leonard Garcia
42. Robert Peralta
43. Cody McKenzie
44. Sam Sicilia
45. Justin Lawrence
46. Jason Young
47. Akira Corassani
48. Andy Ogle
49. Yaotzin Meza

With several new additions and returns from lengthy absences, the featherweight rankings have changed drastically over the past month. As the former lightweights who have moved to 145 pounds continue to find their place in the division, these rankings will continue to undergo frequent and significant adjustments.

Non-Ranked Featherweights

• Stephen Bass 
• Josh Clopton
• Mizuto Hirota
• Conor McGregor
• Anthony Pettis

Though he was considered by many to be next in line for a lightweight title shot, Anthony Pettis did not want to wait around and risk being passed over again. Instead, he will drop to 145 pounds for a blockbuster fight with Aldo.

Bantamweight

It was originally believed that Renan Barao would sit on the interim bantamweight title and wait for fellow champion Dominick Cruz to return from injury. However, Barao is now set to defend his belt against Michael McDonald at UFC on Fuel TV 7.

Though Cruz's return date remains unknown, there's a good chance the winner of the bout between Barao and McDonald will meet Cruz in their following appearance.

Cruz has been out of action since October of 2011, when he defeated now-flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson in a bantamweight title defense.

Bantamweight Rankings

1. Renan Barao
2. Urijah Faber
3. Eddie Wineland
4. Brad Pickett
5. Michael McDonald
6. Raphael Assuncao
7. Mike Easton
8. TJ Dillashaw
9. Francisco Rivera
10. Scott Jorgensen
11. Erik Perez
12. Ivan Menjivar
13. Johnny Eduardo
14. Hugo Viana
15. Edwin Figueroa
16. Alex Caceres
17. Motonobu Tezuka
18. Vaughan Lee
19. Takeya Mizugaki
20. Reuben Duran
21. Yves Jabouin
22. Dustin Kimura
23. Bryan Caraway
24. John Albert
25. Chico Camus
26. Roland Delorme
27. Mitch Gagnon
28. Dustin Pague
29. Norifumi Yamamoto
30. Johnny Bedford
31. Issei Tamura
32. Marcos Vinicius
33. Azamat Gashimov

After being stripped of a win following a failed drug test (via MMAJunkie.com), Francisco Rivera picked up an important win over Edwin Figueroa that boosted him in the rankings. Although he's not the most technical fighter, Rivera's power makes him a dangerous matchup for a lot of 135-pound fighters.

Non-Ranked Bantamweights

• Yuri Alcantara
• Brian Bowles
• Dominick Cruz
• Kyung Ho Kang
• George Roop

Cruz isn't the only elite bantamweight who has been on the shelf. Brian Bowles also missed all of 2012 and has no date set for his next bout.

Flyweight

Demetrious Johnson has made the most of the UFC's addition of the flyweight division and is on his way toward becoming a great champion. 

Already, Johnson has defended his belt once and holds wins over the top three contenders in the 125-pound class. There's a good chance some rematches will be coming Johnson's way, and that could mean a lengthy run as the UFC's flyweight titleholder.

Flyweight Rankings

1. Demetrious Johnson
2. Joseph Benavidez
3. John Dodson
4. Ian McCall
5. John Moraga
6. Louis Gaudinot
7. Darren Uyenoyama
8. John Lineker
9. Tim Elliott
10. Jussier Formiga
11. Chris Cariaso
12. Phil Harris
13. Ulysses Gomez 

With a win over Ian McCall, Joseph Benavidez proved he's still one Johnson's biggest threats despite having recently lost to the champion. While Benavidez might want to make some improvement before having a rematch with "Mighty Mouse" so soon, he's the clear top contender and could be next in line for a title shot.