Sherdog’s Official Mixed Martial Arts Rankings

Middleweight

1. Michael Bisping (30-7)

Bisping looked like he was on a collision course with Yoel Romero for his second title defense in the early summer. Then Georges St. Pierre unretired and returned to the UFC, and now they are due to square off this fall. The fight should earn Bisping the biggest payday of his career by far. If he wins, “The Count” will not only be UFC middleweight champion but own victories over GSP and Anderson Silva.

2. Luke Rockhold (15-3)

Yoel Romero’s incredible flying knee stoppage of Chris Weidman would have made Rockhold’s path to a rematch with UFC champ Michael Bisping hard anyway, but a knee injury forced the oft-injured American Kickboxing Academy ace to the sidelines, nixing his slated Nov. 27 rematch with Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza. The former UFC and Strikeforce titleholder will need to get healthy before hopping back into the suddenly packed line of contenders at 185 pounds.

3. Yoel Romero (12-1)

The heart breaks for Romero. The Olympic silver medalist has gone 8-0 in the UFC, and with his each of his last two victories over Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and former champion Chris Weidman, he seemed to have firmed up a title shot. He even started an entertaining trash talking campaign against champion Michael Bisping. Alas, Georges St. Pierre unretired and has signed to face Bisping this fall, meaning the American Top Team product will have to keep biding his time.

4. Chris Weidman (13-2)

After a grueling title loss to Luke Rockhold in December 2015, Weidman returned 11 months later, only to be crushed by a Yoel Romero flying knee in the third round. The former UFC middleweight champ has now taken his first two career losses consecutively, and the road does not get any easier: “All-American” has signed on to face Gegard Mousasi at UFC 210 on April 8 in Buffalo, New York.

5. Ronaldo Souza (24-4, 1 NC)

The middleweight title picture was a mess before Georges St. Pierre unretired, and the constantly campaigning “Jacare” is one of the many impacted by the announcement of GSP-Michael Bisping. In the meantime, Souza enters a risky but exciting bout on April 15, when he takes on rising prospect Robert Whittaker at UFC on Fox 24 in Kansas City, Missouri.

6. Gegard Mousasi (41-6-2)

Since going 4-0 on his 2016 Uriah Hall Redemption Tour, Mousasi has been adamant he deserves a bigger fight in the UFC's 185-pound division. The perennial multi-divisional standout will soon get his wish, as he has earned a date with former middleweight champ Chris Weidman at UFC 208 on April 8.

7. Robert Whittaker (17-4)

After knocking out Derek Brunson in a thrilling and chaotic four minutes in November, Whittaker earned high praise from UFC President Dana White, who assured “The Reaper” that he would catch a major opponent next time out. It may not be Conor McGregor, but the New Zealand native will have the biggest bout of his career on network television when he meets legendary grappler Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza at UFC on Fox 24 in April.

8. Anderson Silva (34-8, 1 NC)

It was hard to know what to expect from Silva at 41 years old heading into his UFC 208 bout with Derek Brunson. The all-time greatest middleweight was far from his legendary vintage, but in the first and second rounds, he landed enough strikes -- and danced enough -- to convince all three judges he had won, giving him his first victory since an August 2012 stoppage of Stephan Bonnar of all people.

9. Derek Brunson (16-5)

Coming off of a wild first-round knockout loss to Robert Whittaker in November, Brunson caught a big assignment just three months later against MMA legend Anderson Silva. Despite fighting a composed bout that most thought he won, Brunson took his second consecutive loss and watched Silva walk away with a controversial unanimous verdict.

10. David Branch (20-3)

Though he collected two World Series of Fighing titles in separate weight classes and put together a 10-0 promotional mark, Branch saw the writing on the wall with the WSOF’s murky future and is now headed back to the UFC. The Renzo Gracie product went 2-2 in his first Octagon stint from July 2010 to March 2011.

Other Contenders: Vitor Belfort, Rafael Carvalho, Krzysztof Jotko, Daniel Kelly, Thales Leites

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