With the sport’s major promotions on hiatus this past weekend, there was no movement in this week’s edition of the USA TODAY Sports and MMAjunkie.com rankings. That will not be the case seven days from now.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship has a pair of fight cards on the horizon, and both feature key matchups in a number of divisions. None, of course, is as big as the Saturday headliner of UFC 164, which sees UFC lightweight champ Benson Henderson put his belt on the line in a rematch with the man who took away his WEC title, Anthony Pettis. The stakes could not be higher for the top two fighters in the world at 155 pounds.
Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night 27 card also features a key rematch, albeit at 170 pounds, as No. 4 Carlos Condit meets No. 9 Martin Kampmann.
Those two headliners will certainly cause a ripple in next week’s rankings, but they’re hardly the only two significant contests. Some 20 ranked fighters all have bouts scheduled for the next two weeks, so the divisions could all quickly take on a very new look.
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.