L.A. Times November MMA Rankings

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Heavyweight

1. Cain Velasquez

2. Junior Dos Santos

3. Fabricio Werdum

4. Fedor Emelianenko

5. Brock Lesnar

6. Alistair Overeem

7. Shane Carwin

8. Frank Mir

9. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

10. Antonio Silva

Cain Velasquez captured the UFC heavyweight title with a dominant victory over Brock Lesnar. Dynasties don’t last long in the world of MMA, but it may take quite a while for someone to unseat the still improving champion. The division will be wide open following Velasquez’s upcoming bout with Junior Dos Santos.

Light Heavyweight

1. Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua

2. Lyoto Machida

3. Rashad Evans

4. Quinton Jackson

5. Forrest Griffin

6. Jon Jones

7. Gegard Mousasi

8. Thiago Silva

9. Ryan Bader

10. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

It was an uneventful month for the 205 pound division. In October’s most significant light heavyweight bout, Matt Hamill scored a decision victory over fading former champion Tito Ortiz.

Middleweight

1. Anderson Silva

2. Chael Sonnen

3. Nate Marquardt

4. Dan Henderson

5. Yushin Okami

6. Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza

7. Demian Maia

8. Vitor Belfort

9. Michael Bisping

10. Hector Lombard

Michael Bisping returns to the top 10 following two consecutive victories over Dan Miller and Yoshihiro Akiyama. Bisping’s charisma and star power will net him the opportunity to challenge for the title if he can win a couple more fights. Feared knockout artist Hector Lombard also debuts in the top 10. He is 20-0-1 in his last 21 contests.

Welterweight

1. Georges St. Pierre

2. Jon Fitch

3. Josh Koscheck

4. Jake Shields

5. Nick Diaz

6. Thiago Alves

7. Martin Kampmann

8. Carlos Condit

9. Matt Hughes

10. Diego Sanchez

It was a turbulent month for the welterweight division. Jake Shields returned to the division but delivered a terrible performance and received a gift decision against Martin Kampmann. Shields is still in line for the next welterweight title shot. Carlos Condit elevated his stock with a highlight reel knockout of Dan Hardy. The former WEC champion struggled in his initial UFC bouts but has settled into a groove. Diego Sanchez sneaks back into the top 10 with an impressive win over Paulo Thiago.

Lightweight

1. Frank Edgar

2. Gilbert Melendez

3. Gray Maynard

4. Eddie Alvarez

5. B.J. Penn

6. Kenny Florian

7. Shinya Aoki

8. George Sotiropoulos

9. Tatsuya Kawajiri

10. Evan Dunham

Frank Edgar and Gray Maynard will rematch for the UFC lightweight title January 1. It will be interesting to see how the fight does on pay-per-view. Eddie Alvarez scored an impressive stoppage of Roger Huerta, delivering significantly more damage than any other opponent had to Huerta.

Featherweight

1. Jose Aldo

2. Urijah Faber

3. Bibiano Fernandes

4. Mike Brown

5. Hatsu Hioki

6. Marlon Sandro

7. Josh Grispi

8. Manny Gamburyan

9. Joe Warren

10. Joachim Hansen

Urijah Faber moves down to the bantamweight division for a fight with Takeya Mizugaki November 11. Josh Grispi steps in to challenge Jose Aldo next for the now UFC featherweight title. Aldo’s reign on top of the 145 pound division will be seriously jeopardized as the elite smaller fighters in the UFC’s 155 pound division gradually move to 145.

Bantamweight

1. Dominick Cruz

2. Brian Bowles

3. Joseph Benavidez

4. Miguel Torres

5. Scott Jorgensen

6. Takeya Mizugaki

7. Wagnney Fabiano

8. Masakatsu Ueda

9. Damacio Page

10. Eddie Wineland

With the UFC-WEC merger, a featherweight or bantamweight season of the Ultimate Fighter could be on the horizon. If that takes place, Urijah Faber and Miguel Torres are likely candidates to coach.

--Todd Martin