And lo, there was much upheaval in these rankings.
Since the last time Bleacher Report published its MMA top-10 lists (on December 14, 2015), there have been five UFC events, four title fights and two new champions. Even at the breakneck speed we try to publish these things, it’s hard to take all that in.
Conor McGregor dropped Jose Aldo in just 13 seconds to win the undisputed featherweight title, and Luke Rockhold ripped the middleweight belt from Chris Weidman, both at UFC 194. Meanwhile, lightweight titlist Rafael dos Anjos and welterweight kingpin Robbie Lawler both turned away popular challengers.
Several potential No. 1 contenders may also have been anointed—Frankie Edgar, Yoel Romero and Stipe Miocic, to name a few—while up-and-coming fighters such as Paige VanZant and Joseph Duffy suffered setbacks.
It made for a wild and woolly end to 2015 in MMA. How did B/R’s panel of voters think all this action affected the rankings? Read on to find out.
As usual, the rankings of each panelist are available on Twitter.