MMA Rankings: Busy November causes shuffle in all divisions
A busy month of November left its mark on SI.com's latest mixed martial arts rankings. Outside of the lightweight division, which gets the spotlight in December, each class experienced some shuffling.
• Brett Rogers slipped a couple spots in the heavyweight rankings following his second-round knockout loss to Fedor Emelianenko on Nov. 7, but it wasn't enough to remove him from the list. He falls in at No. 10.
• Despite losing decisively in the opening round to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 106, light heavyweight Luis Cane remains ranked 10th -- mainly because no one has emerged to take his spot. The winner between Jon Jones and Matt Hamill on Dec. 7 could have a good case.
• The most noticeable post-November change come at 185 pounds. JorgeSantiago, who had won nine in a row -- all by stoppage -- is replaced by the man that vanquished him, Poland's Mamed Khalidov.
• As a result of having not fought at welterweight in 12 months, Jake Shields no longer gets ranked in the division. And based on his performance against Jason Miller, Shields also loses his grip on the No. 10 spot in the pound-for-pound rankings.
• If he can stay healthy through Dec. 19, Strikeforce lightweight champion JoshThomson will have a chance to re-enter the 155-pound rankings with an impressive win over Gilbert Melendez. Should Melendez have his hand raised, he, too, would receive serious consideration.
• Dec. 3 marks 12 months since bantamweight Will Ribeiro's (10-2) last fight, and as such he was removed from the 135-pound rankings. The 26-year-old Brazilian was badly injured in a motorcycle accident two weeks after losing by submission to current WEC champion Brian Bowles. Ribeiro had a comeback of sorts on Nov. 28 when he judged fights during a Shooto card in Rio de Janeiro.
• In addition to possessing one of the cooler nicknames in MMA, Rambaa "M-16" Somdet (6-2) can now lay claim to being Shooto's first champion at 115 pounds. However, that comes with the paltry price of removal from rankings at 125. Filling Somdet's vacancy is Japanese ace Mamoru Yamaguchi, who returned from a 15-month layoff on Oct. 30 and has already claimed two victories.
Heavyweight
1. Fedor Emelianenko (31-1, 1 NC)2. Brock Lesnar (4-1)3. Josh Barnett (24-5)4. Frank Mir (12-4)5. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (32-5-1, 1 NC)6. Alistair Overeem (31-11, 1 NC)7. Shane Carwin (11-0)8. Junior dos Santos (9-1)9. Cain Velasquez (7-0) 10. Brett Rogers (10-1)
Others receiving consideration: Andrei Arlovski, Fabricio Werdum, Antonio Silva, Gabriel Gonzaga, Todd Duffee
Light Heavyweight
1. Lyoto Machida (16-0) 2. Mauricio Rua (18-4) 3. Rashad Evans (13-1-1) 4. Dan Henderson (25-7) 5. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (18-3) 6. Anderson Silva (25-4) 7. Forrest Griffin (16-6) 8. Gegard Mousasi (27-2-1) 9. Thiago Silva (14-1) 10. Luis Arthur Cane (10-2)
Others receiving consideration: Jon Jones, Keith Jardine, Randy Couture, Quinton Jackson, Rich Franklin
Middleweight
1. Anderson Silva (25-4)2. Dan Henderson (25-7)3. Nate Marquardt (29-8-2) 4. Vitor Belfort (19-8) 5. Jake Shields (24-4-1) 6. Robbie Lawler (16-5, 1 NC) 7. Demian Maia (11-1) 8. Chael Sonnen (24-10-1) 9. Yushin Okami (23-5) 10. Mamed Khalidov (20-3-1)
Others receiving consideration: Jorge Santiago, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Kazuo Misaki, Paulo Filho, Ronaldo Souza
Welterweight
1. Georges St. Pierre (19-2) 2. Jon Fitch (19-3, 1 NC) 3. Thiago Alves (16-6) 4. Paulo Thiago (12-1) 5. Josh Koscheck (14-4) 6. Matt Hughes (43-7) 7. Carlos Condit (24-5) 8. Marius Zarmoskis (13-3) 9. Dan Hardy (23-6) 10. Mike Swick (14-3)
Others receiving consideration: Martin Kampmann, Jay Hieron, Mike Pierce, Paul Daley, Dan Hornbuckle
Lightweight
1. B.J. Penn (14-5-1)2. Shinya Aoki (22-4, 1 NC) 3. Eddie Alvarez (19-2) 4. Tatsuya Kawajiri (25-5-2) 5. Gray Maynard (8-0, 1 NC) 6. Frankie Edgar (10-1) 7. Kenny Florian (11-4) 8. Joachim Hansen (19-8-1) 9. Diego Sanchez (21-2) 10. Sean Sherk (33-4-1)
Others receiving consideration: Tyson Griffin, Gilbert Melendez, Joe Stevenson, Mizuto Hirota, Kazunori Yakota
Featherweight
1. Jose Aldo (16-1) 2. Mike Thomas Brown (22-5) 3. Urijah Faber (22-3) 4. Hatsu Hioki (20-4-2) 5. Raphael Assuncao (14-1) 6. Takeshi Inoue (17-3) 7. Mackens Semerzier (5-0) 8. Wagnney Fabiano (12-2) 9. Bibiano Fernandes (7-2) 10. Manny Gamburyan (10-4)
Others receiving consideration: Michihiro Omigawa, Leonard Garcia, Joe Soto, Masanori Kanehara, Marlon Sandro
Bantamweight
1. Brian Bowles (8-0)2. Miguel Torres (37-2)3. Masakatsu Ueda (10-0-2)4. Takeya Mizugaki (12-3-2) 5. Dominick Cruz (14-1)6. Akitoshi Tamura (14-7-2)7. Damacio Page (12-4) 8. Rani Yahya (15-4) 9. Joseph Benavidez (10-1) 10. Eddie Wineland (15-6-1)
Others receiving consideration: Antonio Banuelos, Eduardo Dantas, Marcos Galvao, Mike Easton, Scott Jorgensen
Flyweight
1. Jussier da Silva (3-0) 2. Shinichi Kojima (10-4-5) 3. Mamoru Yamaguchi (22-5-3) 4. Yuki Shojo (9-5-2) 5. Yasuhiro Urushitani (16-4-6) 6. Ryuichi Miki (10-3-3) 7. Mitsuhisa Sunabe (11-5-3) 8. Pat Runez (3-0) 9. Masaaki Sugawara (9-4-1) 10. Alexis Villa (6-0)
Others receiving consideration: Ayumu Shioda, Atsushi Takeuchi, Kiyotaka Shimizu, John Dodson, Isao Hirose
Pound-for-pound
1. Anderson Silva (Brazil) 2. Georges St. Pierre (Canada) 3. Fedor Emelianenko (Russia) 4. Lyoto Machida (Brazil) 5. B.J. Penn (U.S.)6. Jose Aldo (Brazil)7. Dan Henderson (U.S.) 8. Brian Bowles (U.S.)9. Miguel Torres (U.S.) 10. Shinya Aoki (Japan)
