Michael Bisping won by losing, dropping a narrow deceision to #1 contender Chael Sonnen at UFC on Fox 2, while his original opponent Demian Maia lost a one-sided decision to prospect Chris Weidman, who leapfrogged a ton of vets into the Top 10. Hopefully these two men who were originally slated to fight one another can be matched against each other next. After a flurry of Top 10 activity in the month of January, February features a matchup between Yushin Okami and Tim Boetsch at UFC 144, but the majority of the activity will take place at the bottom of the division, where undefeated newcomer Michael Kuiper will attempt to make an impactful debut when he faces Rafael Natal at UFC 143. Steve Cantwell hopes to end his losing streak at four at UFC 144 against Riki Fukuda, who is attempting to bounce back from his controversial loss to Nick Ring. If Aaron Simpson can emerge victorious from UFC on Fuel TV 1, he could be looking at a four-fight winning streak, and a step up towards other streaking fighters like Alan Belcher and Rousimar Palhares.
* key
C = Champion
N = New to the Promotion
R = Retired
S = Suspended, or recently returning from suspension
W = New to the Weight Class
Note that these are not the official MMA Ratings divisional rankings. These UFC Power Rankings are intended to indicate where UFC fighters in each division rank in relation to one another. Taking into account wins, losses, quality of opposition, nature of wins/losses, and the recency of those wins/losses, it is meant to illustrate who fits where in each division, and which fighters’ stocks are rising and falling.
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Vitor is too low. He KOed Franklin who decisioned Okami as has done nothing to show he's below any other top contender. Personally I'd have Vitor 3, Bisping 4, then the rest. Catone is way too high and since Tavares is one of my faves and you have Simpson that much higher I think Brad should be higher 🙂
The Franklin victory isn't completely irrelevant, but it did take place at 195, which is technically Light Heavyweight. Vitor's middleweight victories in the UFC are against Akiyama, coming off losses to Leben and Bisping, and Anthony Johnson, who was debuting in the division, and moving up from Welterweight. Hardly a ton of credible victories. He's still ranked fairly high, and will most likely bolster his middleweight resume with a win over Wanderlei in a few months. Of course if he loses…