Injuries, suspensions impact Y! Sports' Top 10 MMA rankings (Yahoo! Sports)

Injuries are a part of sports, but never have they had more impact upon the UFC than they have in 2012, when scores of headliners missed fights because of them.

Welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz, both of whom would be highly ranked in the Yahoo! Sports Top 10, haven't fought this year. They're ineligible for the poll because both have been out more than 12 months.

Light heavyweight Dan Henderson, who is 10th in this month's poll, hasn't fought since November. He injured a knee and had to pull out of UFC 151, ultimately forcing that card's cancellation. He'll soon be ineligible due to inactivity.

Featherweight champion Jose Aldo fought on that ill-fated UFC 142 card, but hasn't fought again and has nothing scheduled yet.

Other elite fighters and big names like Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Rory MacDonald, Brian Stann, Thiago Silva, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Frank Mir, Gilbert Melendez, Luke Rockhold, Erik Koch and Brandon Vera, among many others, had to pull out of at least one fight in 2012.

Assuming the rate of injuries abates, the UFC will have a number of stacked cards in the early part of 2013 to accommodate those who are returning from the injury lists. But until then, matchmaking is going to be a major headache.

With that, let's take a look at the rankings in the October poll:

1. Anderson Silva   Points: 258 (24 of 26 first-place votes)   Affiliation: UFC (middleweight champion)   Weight class: Middleweight   Record: 31-4   Last outing: TKO1 Stephan Bonnar, Oct. 13   Previous ranking: 1   Up next: Nothing scheduled

2. Jon Jones   Points: 236 (2 of 26 first-place votes)   Affiliation: UFC (light heavyweight champion)   Weight class: Light heavyweight   Record: 17-1   Last outing: SUB4 Vitor Belfort, Sept. 22   Previous ranking: 2   Next: Title fight vs. Chael Sonnen, April 27

3. Jose Aldo   Points: 198   Affiliation: UFC (featherweight champion)   Weight class: Featherweight   Record: 21-1   Last outing: TKO1 Chad Mendes, Jan. 14   Previous ranking: 3   Next: Title fight vs. Frankie Edgar, date TBA

4. Junior dos Santos   Points: 164   Affiliation: UFC (heavyweight champion)   Weight class: Heavyweight   Record: 15-1   Last outing: TKO2 Frank Mir, May 26   Previous ranking: 5   Next: Title fight vs. Cain Velasquez, Dec. 29

5. Benson Henderson   Points: 147   Affiliation: UFC (lightweight champion)   Weight class: Lightweight   Record: 16-2   Last outing: W5 Frankie Edgar, Aug. 11   Previous ranking: 6   Next: Title fight vs. Nate Diaz, Dec. 8

6. Frankie Edgar   Points: 89   Affiliation: UFC   Weight class: Featherweight   Record: 14-4-1   Last outing: L5 Benson Henderson, Aug. 11   Previous ranking: 7   Next: Title fight vs. Jose Aldo, date TBA

7. Gilbert Melendez   Points: 71   Affiliation: Strikeforce (lightweight champion)   Weight class: Lightweight   Record: 21-2   Last outing: W5 Josh Thomson, May 19   Previous ranking: 8   Next: Injured, TBA

8. Demetrious Johnson   Points: 68   Affiliation: UFC (flyweight champion)   Weight class: Flyweight   Record: 16-2-1   Last outing: W5 Joseph Benavidez, Sept. 22   Previous ranking: NR   Next: Title fight vs. John Dodson, date TBA

9. Carlos Condit   Points: 66   Affiliation: UFC (interim welterweight champion)   Weight class: Welterweight   Record: 28-5   Last outing: W5 Nick Diaz, Feb. 4   Previous ranking: 10   Next: Title fight vs. welterweight champion   Georges St-Pierre, on Nov. 17

10. Dan Henderson   Points: 55   Affiliation: UFC   Weight class: Light heavyweight   Record: 29-8   Last outing: W5 Mauricio Rua, Nov. 19   Previous ranking: 9   Up next: Injured, TBA

Others receiving votes: Cain Velasquez 23; Rashad Evans, 19; Renan Barao, 11; Ronda Rousey, 9; Gray Maynard, 5; Joseph Benavidez, 2; Daniel Cormier, 1; Chris Weidman, 1. Ineligible: Nick Diaz (serving marijuana suspension); Alistair Overeem (serving PED suspension); Dominick Cruz (inactive more than 12 months) Georges St. Pierre (inactive more than 12 months).

Voting panel:Denny Burkholder, CBSSports.com; Elias Cepeda, Cage Potato; Mike Chiappetta, MMA Fighting and Fight! Magazine; Steve Cofield, ESPN Radio 1100, Las Vegas; Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press; Dave Deibert, Post Media; Dave Doyle, MMA Fighting/SI.com; Matt Erickson, MMA Junkie/USA Today; Josh Gross, ESPN.com; Ariel Helwani, MMA Fighting; Rafael Hernandez Brito, Univision; Adam Hill, Las Vegas Review-Journal; Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports; Case Keefer, Las Vegas Sun; Steven Marrocco, MMA Junkie/USA Today; Damon Martin, MMA Weekly; Todd Martin, freelance; Franklin McNeil, ESPN.com; Dave Meltzer, The Wrestling Observer/MMA Fighting; John Morgan, MMA Junkie/USA Today; Brett Okamoto, ESPN.com; Ken Pishna, MMA Weekly; Greg Savage, Sherdog; Mike Straka, Spike TV and Sirius/XM; Dann Stupp, MMA Junkie/USA Today; Jeff Wagenheim, SI.com.

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