Unlike some of the recent events held by the UFC, this past Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 26 had multiple fights that were relevant to the rankings, and some of the results shook things up a little bit. First, in the Heavyweight division, Travis Browne makes the biggest jump of anyone this week, moving from 11 all the way up to 6 by way of his stirring come from behind win over Alistair Overeem. Coming up in the Heavyweight division, #8 Frank Mir and #10 Josh Barnett square off in a long anticipated match at UFC 164. Heavyweight 1. Cain Velasquez 2. Junior dos Santos 3. Daniel Cormier 4. Fabricio Werdum 5. Antonio Silva 6. Travis Browne 7. Alistair Overeem 8. Frank Mir 9. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira 10. Josh Barnett 11. Mark Hunt 12. Stipe Miocic 13. Roy Nelson 14. Stefan Struve 15. Gabriel Gonzaga In the Light Heavyweight division, Chael Sonnen’s first round submission victory over Mauricio Rua was enough to knock ‘Shogun’ off of the rankings, likely the first time the Brazilian has been viewed as an unranked fighter since prior to his PRIDE tournament run in 2005. However, it was not enough to put Sonnen into the top 15 given his limited resume at 205. Instead, everyone below Rua moves up a spot, and Rafael ‘Feijao’ Cavalcante slips in at #15. The next big Light Heavyweight fight sees #8 Glover Teixeira and #9 Ryan Bader headlining UFC Fight Night 28 on September 4th. Light Heavyweight 1. Jon Jones 2. Alexander Gustafsson 3. Phil Davis 4. Lyoto Machida 5. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira 6. Rashad Evans 7. Dan Henderson 8. Glover Teixeira 9. Ryan Bader 10. Gegard Mousasi 11. James Te Huna 12. Emanuel Newton 13. Attila Vegh 14. Thiago Silva 15. Rafael Cavalcante It took six consecutive wins in the UFC, a feat that used to all but guarantee a title shot, but Matt Brown finally finds himself a ranked fighter. He debuts at 13 after dispatching of Mike Pyle is quick fashion. This pushes WSOF’s Josh Burkman out of the rankings. The next UFC event brings us the next fight that will impact the rankings, as #3 Carlos Condit and #5 Martin Kampmann seem set to bring one of the most entertaining fights of the summer. Welterweight 1. Georges St-Pierre 2. Johny Hendricks 3. Carlos Condit 4. Demian Maia 5. Martin Kampmann 6. Rory MacDonald 7. Jake Ellenberger 8. Nick Diaz 9. Robbie Lawler 10. Josh Koscheck 11. Ben Askren 12. Tarec Saffiedine 13. Matt Brown 14. Erick Silva 15. Mike Pyle Only one change at Lightweight, as with his lacklsuter performance at Fight Night 26 Joe Lauzon drops from the 15th spot out of the rankings, and Bellator’s Rick Hawn takes his place. The top spot in the Lightweight division is on the line at UFC 164 as Benson Henderson puts his title on the line against #4 Anthony Pettis in a rematch of their WEC 53 classic. Before that however, #8 Donald Cerrone and #11 Rafael dos Anjos look to move up towards a title shot. Lightweight 1. Ben Henderson 2. Gilbert Melendez 3. TJ Grant 4. Anthony Pettis 5. Gray Maynard 6. Josh Thomson 7. Nate Diaz 8. Donald Cerrone 9. Michael Chandler 10. Eddie Alvarez 11. Rafael dos Anjos 12. Pat Healy 13. Jim Miller 14. Khabib Nurmagomedov 15. Rick Hawn
