Please note the rankings are voted on by a panel of MMA Freak writers. Also note the previous rankings (7/25/14) are in parenthesis:
1. Chris Weidman (1)
Chris Weidman is expected to defend his title against Vitor Belfort at UFC 181 on December 6th in what will probably be a good fight. The question of whether it will be the same Belfort on TRT though comes to question which may make the fight easier for the champion.
2. Anderson Silva (3)
Despite the arrest of upcoming opponent Nick Diaz, Anderson Silva is still expected to fight the Stockton fighter at UFC 183 on January 31. By that time it would have been over a year and Silva has shown a miraculous recovery for the type of injury that he received.
3. Vitor Belfort (2)
Vitor Belfort has supposedly adjusted to his TRT withdrawal and is still expected to challenge Chris Weidman at UFC 181 on December 6. Of note though is the fact that Belfort will be ineligible for the rankings by that time and the fight will make him eligible once again.
4. Ronaldo Souza (5)
After the postponement of their fight due to the UFC 176 cancellation, Ronaldo Souza submitted Gegard Mousasi at UFC Fight Night 50. It shows that Souza has grown more then Mousasi since their Dream 6 meeting which saw Mousasi knockout “Jacare”.
5. Lyoto Machida (4)
Lyoto Machida currently has nothing scheduled but his Fight of the Night performance against Chris Weidman should still place him in title contention. One might assume that Machida maybe a few wins away from another one considering the circumstances of the first one.
6. Luke Rockhold (6)
After calling Michael Bisping out, Luke Rockhold will indeed get his desired opponent wishing to shut up the British smack talker.
7. Tim Kennedy (7)
Tim Kennedy is going full stream into fighting against Cuban fighter Yoel Romero at UFC 178 on September 27th in Las Vegas, Nevada.
8. Michael Bisping (8)
Fresh off of a win against Cung Le, Michael Bisping will now be facing Luke Rockhold at UFC Fight Night 55 on November 8th. However, Bisping does need a win to prove he is still relevant in the modern UFC middleweight division considering the level of competition.
9. Gegard Mousasi (9)
Gegard Mousasi wasn’t able to repeat his Dream 6 performance against Ronaldo Souza who submitted him at UFC Fight Night 50.
10. Yushin Okami (10)
Upon earning a successful World Series of Fighting debut, Yushin Okami will be fighting Dave Branch for the WSOF Middleweight Championship on October 24th. Okami is definitely the favorite but WSOF fights have been known to pull upsets.