Fighting Fridays - MMA Rankings

While this blog has been overwhelming tilted towards college football of late, I do still cover other sports. Hence, welcome to Fighting Fridays, a weekly look at something MMA related whether it is a topic, an upcoming card, or fighter rankings which is the topic for this week.

First ever AubieVegas MMA Top 10 by Weightclass. For those wondering why not featherweight and bantamweight, if you would like me to rank those classes, please donate me the money to have HDNet and Versus on my cable system in addition to ordering every Pay Per View known to man so I can really keep up with the light weight classes. I know about the top 3-5 in these classes and you will find Jose Aldo in the pound-for-pound list

Also, as a notekeeping thing, the promtion listed is the last one where the fighter fought unless he has an announced bout in another promotion upcoming. To be eligible for the rankings, fighter must have either fought in the weightclass they are ranked in over the last year or have a confirmed booking in that weight class (hence Jake Shields being ranked as a middleweight where he has fought over the last 18 months and a welterweight where he will be fighting in the UFC)

Heavyweight

1. 
   
   Brock Lesnar (UFC Heavyweight Champion, 5-1)
2. 
   
   Junior dos Santos (UFC, 12-1)
3. 
   
   Fabricio Werdum (Strikeforce, 14-4-1)
4. 
   
   Fedor Emelianenko (Strikeforce, 31-2, 1NC)
5. 
   
   Cain Velasquez (UFC, 8-0)
6. 
   
   Shane Carwin (UFC, 12-1)
7. 
   
   Frank Mir (UFC, 13-5)
8. 
   
   Alistair Overeem (Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, 33-11, 1NC)
9. 
   
   Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (UFC, 32-6-1, 1NC)
10. 
    
    Josh Barnett (Impact FC, 29-5)

Light Heavyweight

1. 
   
   Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua (UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, 19-4)
2. 
   
   Lyoto Machida (UFC, 16-1)
3. 
   
   Rashad Evans (UFC, 15-1-1)
4. 
   
   Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson (UFC, 30-8)
5. 
   
   Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (UFC, 19-3)
6. 
   
   Jon Jones (UFC, 11-1)
7. 
   
   Rich Franklin (UFC, 28-5, 1NC)
8. 
   
   Forrest Griffin (UFC, 17-6)
9. 
   
   Rafael Cavalcante (Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion, 10-2)
10. 
    
    Thiago Silva (UFC, 14-2)

Middleweight

1. 
   
   Anderson Silva (UFC Middleweight Champion, 27-4)
2. 
   
   Jake Shields (UFC, left Strikeforce as Middleweight Champion, 25-4-1)
3. 
   
   Chael Sonnen (UFC, 25-11-1)
4. 
   
   Vitor Belfort (UFC, 19-8)
5. 
   
   Nate Marquart (UFC, 29-9-2)
6. 
   
   Yushin Okami (UFC, 25-5)
7. 
   
   Ronaldo 'Jacare' Souza (Strikeforce Middleweight Champion, 13-2)
8. 
   
   Demian Maia (UFC, 13-2)
9. 
   
   Dan Henderson (Strikeforce, 25-8)
10. 
    
    Jorge Santiago (Sengoku Middleweight Champion, 23-8)

Welterweight

1. 
   
   Georges St. Pierre (UFC Welterweight Champion, 20-2)
2. 
   
   Jon Fitch (UFC, 23-3)
3. 
   
   Jake Shields (UFC, 25-4-1)
4. 
   
   Thiago Alves (UFC, 17-7)
5. 
   
   Josh Koscheck (UFC, 15-4)
6. 
   
   Martin Kampmann (UFC, 17-3)
7. 
   
   Paulo Thiago (UFC, 13-2)
8. 
   
   Nick Diaz (Dream, Strikeforce Welterweight Champion, 22-7, 1NC)
9. 
   
   Matt Hughes (UFC, 45-7)
10. 
    
    Carlos Condit (UFC, 25-5)

Lightweight

1. 
   
   Frank Edgar (UFC Lightweight Champ, 13-1)
2. 
   
   Gilbert Melendez (Strikeforce Lightweight Champ, 18-2)
3. 
   
   B.J. Penn (UFC, 15-7-1)
4. 
   
   Gray Maynard (UFC, 10-0, 1NC)
5. 
   
   Evan Dunham (UFC, 11-0)
6. 
   
   Shinya Aoki (Dream Lightweight Champion, 24-5, 1NC)
7. 
   
   Eddie Alvarez (Bellator Lightweight Champion, 20-2)
8. 
   
   Kenny Florian (UFC, 13-5)
9. 
   
   Tatsuya Kawajiri (Dream, 26-6-2)
10. 
    
    Takanori Gomi (UFC, 32-6, 1NC)

Pound-for-Pound

1. 
   
   Georges St. Pierre
2. 
   
   Anderson Silva
3. 
   
   Jose Aldo
4. 
   
   Mauricio Rua
5. 
   
   Jon Fitch
6. 
   
   Lyoto Machida
7. 
   
   Jake Shields
8. 
   
   Frank Edgar
9. 
   
   Gilbert Melendez
10. 
    
    Brock Lesnar