Although this past week saw little MMA action and no movement in the USA TODAY Sports and MMAjunkie.com MMA rankings, plenty of notables are in action this coming weekend.
At Saturday’s UFC 162 event, seven top 15 fighters and two honorable mentions are in action. They include No. 1 middleweight and champion Anderson Silva vs. No. 3 Chris Weidman in the headliner, as well as No. 5 featherweight Cub Swanson vs. No. 8 Dennis Siver in the pay-per-view opener. Additionally, the featured prelim has No. 8 Mark Munoz vs. Mo. 10 Tim Boetsch in a bout between two middleweight contenders.
The rankings take into account a fighter's wins/losses, quality of competition, finishing rate/dominance and frequency of fights.
Fighters are no longer eligible to be ranked after they've been inactive for 24 months, either due to injuries, drug/conduct suspensions, contract disputes or self-imposed hiatuses.
Fighters serving drug/conduct suspensions are eligible to be ranked, so long as they're not inactive for more than 24 months.
To the best of our ability, fighters will be ranked in their primary weight class. Catchweight fights and bouts outside the fighter's primary weight class can have a positive or negative impact on the ranking. However, fighters can be ranked in only one weight class at a given time, and in most cases, they won't be ranked in a new weight class until they've had their first fight at that weight.