Top 5 UFC Rankings, Year by Year

1. Pat Miletich  Although he did lose fights outside of the UFC this year, he still managed to defend the UFC title successfully two more times this year, keeping him at number one.  2. Dave Menne   The best welterweight to not hold the title was Dave Menne with his win over Iha inside the UFC and a win over Clark outside of the UFC.  3. Fabiano Iha Iha debuts in the top three with a win over Takase and by avenging his loss to Laverne Clark to surpass him. However, a loss to the man ranked above him prevents him from going any higher.  4. LaVerne Clark Clark drops to number four losing to the man he beat just last year to earn his previous number two spot.  5. Jens Pulver  The future lightweight champion debuts in the welterweight top five with a TKO win at UFC 24. 

1. Pat Miletich  Miletich adds two more title defenses to retain the number one spot and the welterweight title. 2. LaVerne Clark  Clark picks up two more wins, one by submission and one by TKO to move up to number two just behind the champion.  3. Mikey Burnett After almost winning the welterweight title last year, Burnett moves up to number three with yet another win at UFC 18.  4. Marcelo Mello Mello’s only UFC fight is a first round TKO win which is at least enough to place him at number four. 5. Matt Hughes  The future welterweight great makes his UFC debut in the top five with a win over Valeri Ignatov.

1. Pat Miletich  The best welterweight in the world is the inaugural welterweight champion Pat Miletich as he both wins and defends the title at UFC 16.    2. Chris Brennan A win over Courtney Turner got Brennan a third chance against the newly crowned champion but it was not to be as he was submitted in the first round. 3. LaVerne Clark  A one minute TKO win over Josh Stuart earns him the number three spot.  4. Mikey Burnett A TKO win over Eugenio Tadeu earns him a title shot and he was so close to winning the welterweight title in a split decision effort to the champion.  5. Cesar Marscucci Marscucci’s one and only UFC fight was a TKO win over Paulo Santos which is at least enough to get placed in the top five.