Top 5 UFC Rankings, Year by Year

  These rankings are as of 2022, no stats from 2023 are taken into consideration yet  1. Anderson Silva         The story has been told time and time again. Anderson Silva still has the record setting ten title defenses and a 16 fight winning streak which included four former world champions who were still in their prime. He would not only win, but he would win in devastating fashion. With the exception of two bad performances that everyone liked to talk about the rest of his fights were either won by a submission or spectacular knockout. 2. Robert Whittaker    At number two sits the Reaper himself, Robert Whittaker. If Silva was Franklins boogeyman, Adesanya was his as he would have had six title defenses by now and a 14-fight winning streak as well if the style bender didn't exist. But instead he sits pretty at number two with two losses to Adesanya sandwiched in between countless wins and two title victories. Like Franklin, what separates...

   1. Alex Pereira        Pereira had one of the quickest rise to the title, going 3-0 this year only beating one ranked opponent to earn him a title shot against kickboxing rival Adesanya. Not much has changed as he wins by strikes yet again to claim the number one spot. 2. Israel Adesanya      The long time champion drops to number two this year. While he did defend his title twice to Cannonier and Whittaker, a familiar foe took it from him later that year. 3. Robert Whittaker     Whittaker’s long awaited rematch for the title falls short yet again, this time by decision. He rebounds with a win over Vettori but still falls to number three.   4. Jared Cannonier   Cannonier returns to the top five by ending the winning streak of Brunson to earn a title shot. He would lose by decision and with a previous loss to Whittaker ranked above him, I can only rank him so high.  5. Marvin Vettori    Vett...

  1. Israel Adesanya       Adesanya remains number one at middleweight with a win over Vettori for a second time, this time to retain the middleweight title. 2. Robert Whittaker          Whittaker is still ranked number two but he finally does enough for a rematch for the title with a win over Gastelum. Can he regain the title next year? 3. Chris Curtis    Curtis debuts with two stoppage wins extending his winning streak to seven, which included a TKO win over Allen.  4. Brendan Allen   Allen sneaks his way into the top five with a previous win over Holland followed by four straight wins at middleweight, but a loss to the man ranked above him prevents him from ranking any higher.  5. Marvin Vettori    With new entries added, Vettori drops to number five. He picked up wins over Costa and Holland this year, but failed to win the title.

1. Israel Adesanya       Adesanya successfully defends his belt two times against Costa and Romero to retain the number one spot.   2. Robert Whittaker          Inspite of losing his title, Whittaker picks up where he left off winning his next two fights, this year against Till and Cannonier solidifying his runner up spot. 3. Jared Cannonier     Cannonier’s previous win over Hermansson last year places him in at number three as this year he suffers his first loss to the former champion, giving him his first loss at middleweight.  4. Marvin Vettori     Vettori went 2-0 this year including a win over Hermansson, extending his winning streak to four and earning the number four spot.  5. Jack Hermansson   A win over Gastelum earns him a spot in the top five. But a loss to the man ranked above him prevents him from ranking any higher.

  1. Israel Adesanya       The best middleweight in the world this year was Adesanya with three wins in a row, including beating Gastelum for the interim title followed by Whittaker for the undisputed title. 2. Robert Whittaker          After returning from injury and illness, Whittaker loses his title to the interim champion dropping him to number two.   3. Darren Till       Tills move to middleweight was a success as he gets a hard fought victory over perennial contender Gastelum  4. Kelvin Gastelum    With Whittaker injured again, Gastelum fights for the interim title in a losing effort. He then drops to number four with a loss to the middleweight newcomer ranked above him.    5. Paulo Costa  Costa joins the top five with a win over former title challenger Romero. That win is enough for a title shot but a bicep injury delays it.

  1. Robert Whittaker      Whittaker repeats this year and beats Romero yet again, this time for the undisputed title as he was promoted to the champion with GSP’s retirement. 2. Yoel Romero          Like last year, Romero remains at number two and fails to win the title as he was given two opportunities to do so, missing weight the first time and losing to the champion yet again. 3. Kelvin Gastelum       Gastelum sneaks into number three with his win over Jacare which puts him one win away from a title shot next year.   4. Luke Rockhold   With Whittaker injured Rockhold got to fight for the interim title by default but would lose by knockout. A previous win over Weidman and Jacare keep him afloat.  5. Ronaldo Souza  Had GSP and Bisping not retired Jacare would not have made the top five. He beat two unranked fighters, Weidman and Brunson who he was expected to beat and lost to a ranked oppone...

  1. Robert Whittaker      The number one middleweight this year was The Reaper as he beat the two scariest middleweights in Jacare and Romero to become the interim champion. 2. Yoel Romero          Romero drops to number two, as he loses to the now interim champion. The fight stayed close and competitive so he’s still in line for a rematch next year. 3. Georges St. Pierre        A one and done performance by GSP places him at number three as he briefly returns to beat Bisping and become a two division champion.  4. Kelvin Gastelum  Gastelum remains at number four once again, destroying Belfort who’s seen better days, followed by losing to a desperate Weidman. His win over a retiring Bisping is the only thing keeping him ranked.   5. Michael Bisping   Bisping drops to number five with two back to back losses to the next two men ranked above him. The losses cost him his title and his career.

   1. Yoel Romero      Romero lost his title shot to Bisping when he was suspended for a tainted supplement issue earlier in the year but a knockout win over Weidman makes him the number one contender once again, this time to Bisping’s title. 2. Michael Bisping          Bisping has the best year of his career beating Silva to earn a title shot against Rockhold while avenging his loss to him to win the middleweight title and defending it against Henderson to avenge another loss as well. 3. Luke Rockhold       Rockhold drops to number three when he fails to defend his title to the replacement ranked above him.  4. Kelvin Gastelum  Gastelum remains at number four beating Tim Kennedy by knockout and finally gets noticed in the middleweight division.    5. Ronaldo Souza  Jacare returns to the top five with his win over Belfort, which was enough to book him as the replacement for the title fight but...

    1. Luke Rockhold      Rockhold wins the middleweight title and the number one spot with a late TKO win over Weidman. The win sets up a potential matchup against Romero for next year. 2. Chris Weidman           Weidman drops to number two after suffering his first loss to the man ranked above him, ending his title reign in the process.   3. Yoel Romero       The Soldier of God earns two big wins over Jacare and Machida to earn him a title shot next year. 4. Kelvin Gastelum  Gastelum moves up to middleweight after failed attempts to make welterweight. His win over former title challenger Marquardt places him at number four.  5. Anderson Silva  The Spider returns to the octagon from his leg injury with a win turned to no contest against Nick Diaz. While he’s ranked again he is far from title contention.

   1. Chris Weidman     Weidman retains the number one spot with his lone win over Machida in an instant classic to defend his title for a second time, setting up a title fight with Belfort next year. 2. Lyoto Machida        Machida’s win over Mousasi earned him a title fight against the champion which saw him go the distance in a losing effort. 3. Luke Rockhold      The last Strikeforce middleweight champion enters the top five with wins over Philippou, Boetsch and Bisping putting him one win away from a title shot.   4. Ronaldo Souza  Jacare extends his winning streak to seven in a row with wins over Carmont and Mousasi putting him a couple of wins away from a title shot.  5. Yoel Romero     Strikeforce import and Olympic gold medalist enters the competitive top five with wins over Brunson, Tavares and Kennedy to remain unbeaten at middleweight.