Sherdog Official Mixed Martial Arts Rankings

Middleweight

1. Anderson Silva (23-4)
After considerable clamor over which division and which opponent Silva would tackle in his next bout, it is near official that "The Spider" will main event April's UFC 97 in Montreal against fellow Brazilian Thales Leites. The bout will mark Silva’s fifth UFC middleweight title defense.

2. Rich Franklin (24-3, 1 NC)
Franklin was dominant in returning to the light heavyweight division against Matt Hamill in September. Now, the former UFC middleweight champ will look to take a leap into 205-pound contention when he meets Dan Henderson in a headliner at UFC 93 in Dublin, Ireland.

3. Robbie Lawler (16-4, 1 NC)
Slated to defend his EliteXC middleweight title against Joey Villasenor, Lawler has been left in no man's land after EliteXC ceased operations. Now attention turns to where the "Ruthless" middleweight will end up in a post-EliteXC world.

4. Yushin Okami (23-4)
The 185-pound elephant in the room for the UFC, Okami racked up his seventh win in the Octagon with an easy albeit awful unanimous decision over Dean Lister at UFC 92. The question now is whether the UFC will match Okami with a worthwhile opponent who will come to fight and whether Okami can be stirring enough to earn a title shot against Anderson Silva.

5. Gegard Mousasi (24-2-1)
After a sensational breakout year in 2008, Dream's young middleweight maestro will see kickboxing duties on New Year's Eve at K-1 Dynamite. In a bit of linguistically fun matchmaking, Mousasi meets near-homophonous opposition in K-1 standout Musashi.

6. Nate Marquardt (27-8-2)
Following an outstanding demolition of Martin Kampmann in September, Marquardt will look to continue his march to another middleweight title bid when he takes on Wilson Gouveia at UFC 95 in London on Feb. 21.

7. Dan Henderson (23-7)
Henderson announced his return to middleweight triumphantly in September with a well-appointed decision over a very tough Rousimar "Toquinho" Palhares. Now the former Pride 205-pound champ will make an unexpected return to 205 to meet Rich Franklin in a high-stakes headliner in Dublin, Ireland, for UFC 93.

8. Thales Leites (14-1)
Thales Leites has had luck smile upon him: The Nova Uniao product is the likely winner of the Anderson Silva sweepstakes. Barring any changes of heart from Zuffa, the gifted grappler will challenge "The Spider" for his title at UFC 97 in Montreal on April 18.

9. Jorge Santiago (20-7)
A sensational resurgence over the last two years has earned Santiago a marquee matchup with Kazuo Misaki. The winner will be crowned Sengoku's first divisional king.

10. Chael Sonnen (21-9-1)
After emerging victorious in a truly bizarre November rematch with Paulo Filho, Chael Sonnen may face a much more serious challenge in his next bout. The former U.S. Olympic wrestling team alternate could face undefeated prospect Demian Maia at UFC 95 on Feb. 21 in London.