Sherdog Official Mixed Martial Arts Rankings

Heavyweight

1. Fedor Emelianenko (31-1, 1 NC)
In the headliner of Strikeforce’s first CBS effort, Emelianenko showed the skills and drama that are part-and-parcel of being MMA’s top heavyweight. He will have the opportunity to do so again in April, when he expects to headline Strikeforce’s second card on live network television against Fabricio Werdum.

2. Brock Lesnar (4-1)
While he remains far from healthy yet, Lesnar’s diverticulitis will not ruin his fighting career. However, with the UFC heavyweight champion on the shelf at least until mid 2010, a Frank Mir-Shane Carwin interim title bout in March will determine Lesnar’s next foe when he returns to the Octagon.

3. Frank Mir (13-4)
Mir blew away Cheick Kongo in just 72 seconds at UFC 107. Now, his road to a rubber match with Brock Lesnar will run through Newark, N.J., at UFC 111 in March, when he expects to meet unbeaten Shane Carwin for an interim version of the UFC heavyweight crown.

4. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (32-5-1, 1 NC)
A staph infection will prevent Nogueira from fighting at UFC 108 in January, but it will not keep him from a date with Cain Velasquez. The unbeaten heavyweight prospect will remain the next foe for “Minotauro,” with their bout now scheduled for UFC 110 on Feb. 21 in Sydney, Australia.

5. Brett Rogers (10-1)
Rogers’ spirited effort against heavyweight ruler Fedor Emelianenko on Nov. 7 seems to have done more for perceptions of his heavyweight future than his 22-second demolition of former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski. Since the defeat, Rogers has made the lofty claim that he will not lose again.

6. Josh Barnett (24-5)
Following a positive steroid test in a pre-licensure test in California earlier this year, Barnett’s battles remain outside the cage. On Dec. 21, his appeal before the California State Athletic Commission was postponed a third time when his attorney could not be present due to inclement weather.

7. Andrei Arlovski (15-7)
Arlovski has been on the shelf since being flattened by Brett Rogers in just 22 seconds in June. The former UFC heavyweight king was in the running to face Alistair Overeem at the K-1 Dynamite show on New Year’s Eve, but Fighting and Entertainment Group chose the considerably less alluring Kazuyuki Fujita as Overeem’s opponent.

8. Junior dos Santos (9-1)
Though Dos Santos was one of the fortunate fighters on the UFC 108 card who avoided injury, his opponent, Gabriel Gonzaga, was not so lucky. Now, “Cigano” will take on infamous Dutchman Gilbert Yvel on the main card Jan. 2.

9. Cain Velasquez (7-0)
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira’s staph infection will not ruin Velasquez’s chance to take on the second-best heavyweight in MMA history. His bout with Nogueira, originally slated for UFC 108 on Jan. 2, will now happen at UFC 110 on Feb. 21 in Sydney, Australia.

10. Shane Carwin (11-0)
Carwin still has designs on squaring off with Brock Lesnar. However, in order to do so, he will first need to deal with a former Lesnar foe in Frank Mir, who he expects to meet at UFC 111 on March 27, with a slice of the UFC heavyweight crown on the line.

Other contenders: Aleksander Emelianenko, Gabriel Gonzaga, Alistair Overeem, Ben Rothwell, Fabricio Werdum.