MMA Top 10 Rankings: Lyoto Machida Inches Up the Middleweight Division

The updated MMAWeekly.com World MMA Rankings were released on Wednesday, Feb. 19. This system ranks the Top 10 MMA fighters from across the world in each of the seven most widely accepted men’s weight classes and the Top 10 pound-for-pound women fighters.

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.

Note: Dominick Cruz and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira are ineligible for consideration because they haven’t fought in more than a year. Georges St-Pierre and Martin Kampmann are not eligible they have taken a leave of absence from fighting. Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva is currently serving a drug-related suspension and is also ineligible.

(Fighter’s previous ranking is in parenthesis.)

Below are the current MMAWeekly.com World MMA Rankings:

WOMEN’S POUND-FOR-POUND (all weight classes)
1. Cris Cyborg Justino (1)
2. Ronda Rousey (2)
3. Cat Zingano (3)
4. Jessica Eye (4)
5. Sarah Kaufman (5)
6. Jessica Aguilar (6)
7. Miesha Tate (7)
8. Sara McMann (8)
9. Alexis Davis (9)
10. Barb Honchak (10)

HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION (over 205 pounds)
1. Cain Velasquez (1)
2. Junior dos Santos (2)
3. Daniel Cormier (3)
4. Fabricio Werdum (4)
5. Travis Browne (5)
6. Josh Barnett (7)
7. Mark Hunt (8)
8. Alistair Overeem (9)
9. Stipe Miocic (10)
10. Gabriel Gonzaga (n/a)

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION (205-pound limit)
1. Jon Jones (1)
2. Alexander Gustafsson (2)
3. Glover Teixeira (3)
4. Rashad Evans (4)
5. Phil Davis (5)
6. Chael Sonnen (6)
7. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (7)
8. Gegard Mousasi (8)
9. Jimi Manuwa (9)
10. Dan Henderson (10)

MIDDLEWEIGHT DIVISION (185-pound limit)
1. Chris Weidman (1)
2. Anderson Silva (2)
3. Vitor Belfort (3)
4. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (4)
5. Lyoto Machida (6)
6. Michael Bisping (5)
7. Mark Munoz (7)
8. Luke Rockhold (8)
9. Yushin Okami (9)
10. Tim Kennedy (10)

WELTERWEIGHT DIVISION (170-pound limit)
1. Johny Hendricks (1)
2. Carlos Condit (2)
3. Jake Ellenberger (4)
4. Jake Shields (5)
5. Demian Maia (6)
6. Robbie Lawler (7)
7. Rory MacDonald (8)
8. Ben Askren (9)
9. Matt Brown (10)
10. Tarec Saffiedine (n/a)

LIGHTWEIGHT DIVISION (155-pound limit)
1. Anthony Pettis (1)
2. Benson Henderson (2)
3. Gilbert Melendez (3)
4. TJ Grant (4)
5. Eddie Alvarez (5)
6. Michael Chandler (6)
7. Josh Thomson (7)
8. Khabib Nurmagomedov (8)
9. Nate Diaz (9)
10. Rafael dos Anjos (10)

FEATHERWEIGHT DIVISION (145 pound-limit)
1. Jose Aldo (1)
2. Chad Mendes (2)
3. Ricardo Lamas (3)
4. Cub Swanson (4)
5. Frankie Edgar (5)
6. Chan Sung Jung (6)
7. Dustin Poirier (7)
8. Nik Lentz (8)
9. Daniel Straus (9)
10. Jeremy Stephens (10)

BANTAMWEIGHT DIVISION (135 pounds or less)
1. Renan Barão (1)
2. Urijah Faber (2)
3. Michael McDonald (3)
4. Raphael Assuncao (4)
5. Bibiano Fernandes (5)
6. Eddie Wineland (6)
7. Brad Pickett (7)
8. TJ Dillashaw (8)
9. Takeya Mizugaki (9)
10. Erik Perez (10)

FLYWEIGHT DIVISION (125 pounds or less)
1. Demetrious Johnson (1)
2. Joseph Benavidez (2)
3. John Dodson (3)
4. Ali Bagautinov (4)
5. Ian McCall (5)
6. John Moraga (6)
7. Tim Elliott (7)
8. Jussier da Silva (8)
9. Darrell Montague (9)
10. Zach Makovsky (10)