With Saturday’s memorable UFC 162 event, a new fighter has ascended to the top of the USA TODAY Sports and MMAjunkie.com pound-for-pound rankings.
Chris Weidman’s second-round knockout of former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva saw “The All American” claim the promotion’s 185-pound title. The loss also saw Silva fall out of the top spot in the pound-for-pound rankings, allowing 25-year-old light heavyweight champ Jon Jones to secure No. 1 status.
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.