MMA Top 10 Rankings: Gilbert Melendez Reaches The Top

Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez

The updated MMAWeekly.com World MMA Rankings were released on Wednesday, April 13. This system ranks the Top 10 MMA fighters from all across the world in each of the seven most widely accepted weight classes.

Taken into consideration are a fighter’s performance in addition to win-loss record, head-to-head and common opponents, difficulty of opponents, and numerous other factors in what is the most comprehensive rankings system in the sport.

Fighters who are currently serving drug-related suspensions are not eligible for Top 10 consideration until they have fought one time after the completion of their suspension.

Fighters must also have competed within the past 12 months in order to be eligible for Top 10 consideration unless they have a bout scheduled within a reasonable time frame.

Below are the current MMAWeekly.com World MMA Rankings:

HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION (over 205 pounds)
1. Cain Velasquez
2. Fabricio Werdum
3. Brock Lesnar
4. Junior Dos Santos
5. Alistair Overeem
6. Antonio Silva
7. Fedor Emelianenko
8. Shane Carwin
9. Frank Mir
10. Sergei Kharitonov

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION (205-pound limit)
1. Jon Jones
2. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
3. Rashad Evans
4. Quinton Jackson
5. Lyoto Machida
6. Forrest Griffin
7. Ryan Bader
8. Dan Henderson
9. Phil Davis
10. Gegard Mousasi

MIDDLEWEIGHT DIVISION (185-pound limit)
1. Anderson Silva
2. Yushin Okami
3. Nathan Marquardt
4. Demian Maia
5. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza
6. Jorge Santiago
7. Michael Bisping
8. Robbie Lawler
9. Hector Lombard
10. Vitor Belfort

WELTERWEIGHT DIVISION (170-pound limit)
1. Georges St-Pierre
2. Jon Fitch
3. Jake Shields
4. Thiago Alves
5. Nick Diaz
6. Josh Koscheck
7. Carlos Condit
8. B.J. Penn
9. Paul Daley
10. Diego Sanchez

LIGHTWEIGHT DIVISION (155-pound limit)
1. Gilbert Melendez
2. Frankie Edgar
3. Gray Maynard
4. Shinya Aoki
5. Eddie Alvarez
6. Jim Miller
7. Anthony Pettis
8. Melvin Guillard
9. Tatsuya Kawajiri
10. Dennis Siver

FEATHERWEIGHT DIVISION (145 pound-limit)
1. Jose Aldo
2. Chad Mendes
3. Manny Gamburyan
4. Diego Nunes
5. Hatsu Hioki
6. Dustin Poirier
7. Mark Hominick
8. Erik Koch
9. Michihiro Omigawa
10. Josh Grispi

BANTAMWEIGHT DIVISION (135 pounds or less)
1. Dominick Cruz
2. Brian Bowles
3. Joseph Benavidez
4. Scott Jorgensen
5. Urijah Faber
6. Miguel Torres
7. Brad Pickett
8. Demetrious Johnson
9. Masakatsu Ueda
10. Michael McDonald

(UPDATED at 9:30 a.m. PT on April 13, 2011 to remove Thiago Silva from rankings due to ineligibility.)