Despite this past weekend’s UFC on FUEL TV 10 event, the USA TODAY Sports and MMAjunkie.com MMA rankings saw minimal movement this week. Fabricio Werdum held steady at No. 5 in the heavyweight ranks, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira slipped to No. 12. Additionally, Thiago Silva cracked the top 15 for light heavyweights with his dominant win over Rafael Cavalcante.
However, plenty of notables are in action this coming week. In Saturday’s UFC 161 headliner, No. 3 light heavyweight Dan Henderson meets No. 4 Rashad Evans. Additionally, No. 7 heavyweight Roy Nelson meets No. 15 Stipe Miocic in the co-headliner.
The rankings take into account a fighter's wins/losses, quality of competition, finishing rate/dominance and frequency of fights.
Fighters are no longer eligible to be ranked after they've been inactive for 24 months, either due to injuries, drug/conduct suspensions, contract disputes or self-imposed hiatuses.
Fighters serving drug/conduct suspensions are eligible to be ranked, so long as they're not inactive for more than 24 months.
To the best of our ability, fighters will be ranked in their primary weight class. Catchweight fights and bouts outside the fighter's primary weight class can have a positive or negative impact on the ranking. However, fighters can be ranked in only one weight class at a given time, and in most cases, they won't be ranked in a new weight class until they've had their first fight at that weight.