MMA Rankings: Middleweight
On the first Wednesday of every month, theScore's MMA editors compile a list of the top 10 fighters in each of the major weight classes.
Rankings
Heavyweight | Light Heavyweight
Middleweight | Welterweight
Lightweight | Featherweight
Bantamweight | Flyweight
Women: Bantamweight | Strawweight
Middleweight
| Ranking | Fighter |
|---|---|
| 1 | Chris Weidman |
| 2 | Anderson Silva |
| 3 | Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza |
| 4 | Luke Rockhold |
| 5 | Vitor Belfort |
| 6 | Lyoto Machida |
| 7 | Yoel Romero |
| 8 | Tim Kennedy |
| 9 | Gegard Mousasi |
| 10 | Thales Leites |
- The middleweight title picture is a crowded mess right now, with champion Chris Weidman pulling out of his title defense against Vitor Belfort at UFC 184 with a rib injury, and Belfort refusing to face any of the proposed replacement fighters (including Lyoto Machida and Gegard Mousasi).
- Machida, meanwhile, will find himself against another elite 185-pounder when he faces former Strikeforce kingpin Luke Rockhold at UFC on FOX 15.
- Another potential middleweight firefight that was thrown onto the scrap heap recently was a scheduled bout between Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza and Yoel Romero. Jacare was suffering through a bout of pneumonia, but should be ready to get back into the cage at some point in April.
- The legendary Anderson Silva made what seemed like a triumphant return to the Octagon at UFC 183, winning a clear-cut unanimous decision over Nick Diaz. The glory was short lived, though, as it was later revealed that "The Spider" failed a pre-fight drug test for steroids.
- Mousasi scored a quick and easy TKO victory over Dan Henderson at UFC on FOX 14, and, though it doesn't help his position within the division, it got him back on track after he was submitted by Jacare in September of 2014.
- Thales Leites marked his return to the top 10 with a spectacular come-from-behind victory over Tim Boetsch at UFC 183. Leites survived some heavy artillery before eventually sinking in a fight-ending arm-triangle choke.
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