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For the first time in nearly a decade, Anderson Silva is gone from the middleweight rankings.

Since February, the former Ultimate Fighting Championship ace hung around the top 10 on a technicality: “The Spider” had been temporarily suspended by the Nevada Athletic Commission due to a failed drug test at UFC 183, but he had not yet received a formal penalty due to repeated postponements of his hearing. On Aug. 13, Silva finally went before the NAC, which handed him a one-year suspension and a total fine of $380,000. Sherdog.com’s ranking guidelines call for any fighter suspended for one year or more to be stricken from the rankings, and so vanishes the formerly second-ranked Brazilian.

The suspension is not the only valid reason for Silva’s removal from the middleweight top 10. While his only losses in the Octagon have come against current divisional ruler Chris Weidman, Silva has not recorded a win against a ranked middleweight since beating Chael Sonnen in July 2012. His victories since then: a short-notice bout with Stephan Bonnar at 205 pounds and a now-overturned decision against inflated welterweight Nick Diaz. While he remains the greatest middleweight champion MMA has seen, Silva’s time as one of the sport’s elite may be over.

Silva’s exit from the rankings moves all other members of the middleweight top 10 up one notch and makes room for World Series of Fighting champion David Branch to join the party at No. 10. Taking Branch’s spot on the list of contenders is Derek Brunson, who recently won his third straight Octagon outing with a first-round knockout of Sam Alvey.

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