Note that due to inactivity, Dominick Cruz is ineligible. Also note the previous rankings were posted on 1/15/14 and are listed in parenthesis:
~ 1 (1) ~
Jon Jones
Jon Jones is looking to solidify his position at the top of the pound for pound rankings on April 26th at UFC 172 against Glover Teixeira.
~ 2 (2) ~
Jose Aldo
Once again Jose Aldo defeated a top contender when he handled Ricardo Lamas for the majority of their UFC 169 match earlier this month. Even though Dana White accused Aldo of being “boring,” that cannot be used to describe a match where Lamas took a lot of punishment.
~ 3 (3) ~
Cain Velasquez
The current heavyweight champion is sitting out after shoulder surgery and gets to watch contenders Fabricio Werdum and Travis Browne.
~ 4 (4) ~
Chris Weidman
This is practically breaking news, but Vitor Belfort has bowed out of his UFC 173 match against Weidman allowing Lyoto Machida to step in. There is definitely some speculation as to whether Belfort dropped out specifically because of the Nevada ban on TRT not a day ago.
~ 5 (5) ~
Anderson Silva
Anderson Silva is healing extremely quickly from his shattered leg and it is estimated that he could be fighting at the end of the year.
~ 6 (7) ~
Renan Barao
The new undisputed bantamweight champion proved he’s the rightful champion by defeating Urijah Faber at UFC 169 despite the controversy. The question now is whether Barao will defend his title in a contender rematch or face the man who never lost the title in Dominick Cruz.
~ 7 (6) ~
Demetrious Johnson
Demetrious Johnson had arguably the busiest schedule of all the UFC Champions this last year and deserves his current time off.
~ 8 (8) ~
Anthony Pettis
After some talk back and forth, Anthony Pettis now has an opponent in Gilbert Melendez after they coach opposite each other on TUF 20. The irony about this match up is that by the time this fight takes place both fighters will be ineligible for the rankings in major outlets.
~ 9 (9) ~
Ronda Rousey
Like Renan Barao‘s latest title defense, Ronda Rousey‘s latest performance ended in some controversy but it shows she’s varied in her overall fight game. However, one has to ask if she can indeed pull off a win against the monster coming down to bantamweight in Cyborg Justino.
~ 10 (10) ~
Johny Hendricks
Johny Hendricks is now set for his redemption match against Robbie Lawler to claim what many believe is rightfully his title in the first place.
Once again please stay tuned for the final installment for the Best of 2013 awards. Feel free to leave a comment on the rankings!