Power Ranking Every Division in the UFC: Which Is the Most Stacked?

Since the era of Chuck "The Ice Man" Liddell, we've been hearing people say that the light heavyweight division is the most stacked weight class in the UFC.

It's a statement that people just sort of accept, without thinking much about it.

Today, we take an in-depth look at every weight class in the UFC to determine which one actually has the most depth.

After all, a lot of things have changed since the fall of the Ice Man.

The UFC now has two more weight classes (with another on the way), the WEC has been absorbed into the UFC, and many new contenders have emerged in all weight classes.

Taking all of these factors into consideration, let's take a look at how the UFC's different weight classes stack up against each other.

No. 7: Featherweight (136-145 lbs)

Current Champion: Jose Aldo

The featherweight division is the least stacked in the UFC right now, but that's understandable.

The weight class has been part of the UFC for less than a year and has not yet had time to grow.

Fighting in the UFC is the major goal for most aspiring MMA fighters, so not being a part of the UFC until earlier this year has slowed featherweight's development.

Now that the 145ers are starting to get more recognition, we can probably expect to see many new prospects to be flooding the division within the next few years.

As things stand, Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo sits atop the division with very few potential contenders for his belt.

They are so hard-up for title contenders at featherweight that they gave Kenny Florian a crack at the belt after one so-so performance against Diego Nunes.

Manny Gamburyan and George Roop are both considered serious contenders in this weight class, and neither of them were good enough to be gatekeepers when they competed in the UFC's lightweight division.

I know Manny and George have improved since their time as lightweights, but I still think that says something about the talent pool at featherweight.

No. 6: Bantamweight (126-135 lbs)

Current Champion: Dominick Cruz

Bantamweight, like featherweight, is a new division in the UFC, so it's lack of depth is understandable.

That said, bantamweight is a fair bit deeper than featherweight.

The talent pool toward the top of the division is much more level, and there are two or three guys out there who stand a good chance of taking out the champ.

However, outside of the top five or six guys, the talent pool drops considerably.

Urijah Faber moved to bantamweight recently, which helps the division out a lot.

No. 5: Heavyweight (206-265 lbs)

Current Champion: Cain Velasquez

The heavyweight division is possibly the UFC's most top-heavy weight class.

The top of the division looks really good: Cain Velasquez, Junior Dos Santos, Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin, Frank Mir.

Once you get past that point, you have Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira barely clinging to relevancy and an up-and-coming Brendan Schaub.

Below that, there's a couple of gatekeeper-quality guys and the rest is a wasteland.

Hopefully Strikeforce will merge with the UFC sooner rather than later so we can get some guys in to balance this division out.

No. 4: Middleweight (171-185 lbs)

Current Champion: Anderson Silva

The middleweight division is a little better off than people give it credit for.

The issue is that the talent pool looks less than it is because Anderson Silva is so much better than everyone else.

There is actually a lot of extremely talented fighters near the top of the division: Chael Sonnen, Yushin Okami, Vitor Belfort, Mark Munoz, Demian Maia, Michael Bisping, Chris Leben, Jason Miller, Wanderlei Silva.

Middleweight took a bit of a hit recently by losing Nate Marquardt, but there's still a lot of talent left.

If the UFC could bring in a few key fighters (Tim Kennedy, Ronaldo Souza, Hector Lombard), the division would actually start to look pretty good.

No. 3: Welterweight (156-170 lbs)

Current Champion: Georges St-Pierre

This is where we take a big step up, as these last three divisions are all very closely matched and all significantly deeper than the rest of the weight classes.

The top of the welterweight division is utterly stacked with incredible fighters: Georges St-Pierre, Jon Fitch, Jake Shields, Josh Koscheck, Carlos Condit, BJ Penn, Nick Diaz.

Unlike most divisions, which have that kind of talent towards the top, welterweight has a lot of upcoming fighters who are no more than two or three wins away from title contention.

Such fighters are Rory MacDonald, Rick Story, Martin Kampmann, Diego Sanchez, Jake Ellenberger, Thiago Alves and Charlie Brenneman.

When you look at the amount of high-level fighters in this division, it's absolutely crazy that Georges St-Pierre has been able to stay at the top of the division as long as he has.

No. 2: Light Heavyweight (186-205 lbs)

Current Champion: Jon Jones

Light heavyweight is definitely the most marketable division and has the most recognizable fighter, but it's not the most stacked anymore.

It is very close to the top, however, and still has a ridiculous pool of talent.

When thinking about the top of the division fighters, Jon Jones, Rashad Evans, Lyoto Machida, Quinton Jackson, Forrest Griffin, Thiago Silva and Mauricio Rua come to mind.

Since the era of Chuck Liddell, no light heavyweight champion has managed to hold the belt for more than one title defense.

That speaks volumes to how balanced the top of the division is.

My issues with light heavyweight is that fighters who are more like gatekeepers are sometimes toted as contenders. For example, Rich Franklin, Matt Hamill, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Ryan Bader.

I also find that the division has more significant fighters on the decline than on the rise.

Jackson, Rua, Griffin, Franklin, Hamill and Nogueira have all peaked and are on the decline.

Light heavyweight is still a totally stacked division, but they need to pump in some new talent, because a lot of their top guys are probably close to dropping off.

No. 1: Lightweight (146-155 lbs)

Current Champion: Frankie Edgar

Anyone surprised to see lightweight at the top of this list probably hasn't been paying much attention to the division over the past couple of years.

To give you an idea of how talented the top of the division is, current Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar beat B.J. Penn decisively in 2010, and Penn recently went to a draw with the No. 2 welterweight in the world.

Typically, the top competition of one division shouldn't do well against the top competition of the division above it.

In some divisions, winning two or three fights in a row will get you a title shot, but lightweight is so backed up with valid contenders right now that fighters with huge winning streaks, like Jim Miller and Melvin Guillard, still have to wait in line.

Some of the top fighters in the division are Frankie Edgar, Gray Maynard, Jim Miller, Melvin Guillard, Clay Guida, Ben Henderson, Sean Sherk and Dennis Siver.

The division also has a ton of up-and-coming talent in the form of Charles Oliveira, Nik Lentz, Anthony Pettis, Evan Dunham, Donald Cerrone, Matt Wiman and Joe Lauzon.

If B.J. Penn ever drops back down to lightweight and UFC brings in Gilbert Melendez from Strikeforce, the 155-lbs weight class might become the most stacked division that the sport has ever seen.