Back when the UFC first announced that the company would be doing their own official rankings, there was a lot of speculation about where the top fighters would land.
Now, we have our answer.
In the first update to the rankings following UFC 156, the pound-for-pound list is led by none other than middleweight champion Anderson Silva, with light heavyweight champion Jon Jones not far behind at the No. 2 position.
Here’s the pound-for-pound lineup so far, via the UFC’s official webpage:
1. Anderson Silva
2. Jon Jones
3. Georges St-Pierre
4. Jose Aldo
5. Benson Henderson
6. Cain Velasquez
7. Dominick Cruz
8. Demetrious Johnson
9. Frankie Edgar
10. Dan Henderson
Notably, UFC 156 co-headliner Frankie Edgar remains on the list, despite being on an 0-3 losing streak with two defeats to lightweight champion Benson Henderson and featherweight Champion Jose Aldo.
Additionally, interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao is the only UFC champion (besides Ronda Rousey) to not place on the company’s official pound-for-pound list, even though he holds a 30-fight unbeaten streak (29 wins, 1 no contest) since May 2005.
Oddly, Chael Sonnen is also absent from the update this week, with no ranking in the light heavyweight or middleweight division.
It should also be pointed out that some members of the media panel did not vote on every division, while others choose not to vote at all.
As noted by UFC president Dana White and official press releases, the UFC official rankings are judged by invitational voting from 90 members of the MMA media, with data supplied by FightMetric.
Updates to the rankings will be provided on Mondays after every major UFC event on pay-per-view, Fox, FX and Fuel TV.
Read up on the entire UFC’s official rankings to see where 88 other fighters ended up in the men’s divisions from heavyweight to flyweight, with a panelist breakdown right over here.
(Note: Since the women’s bantamweight division is still being built and has yet to host a bout, it is not yet represented in the UFC rankings.)
To provide general feedback regarding the latest round of official fighter rankings, you can send messages to the UFC’s official Twitter account or comment at the bottom of the rankings’ webpage by logging in with your Facebook account.
McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist and FightFans Radio writer. His work has appeared in GamePro, Macworld and PC World. Talk with him on Twitter.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com