MMA Fighter Rankings for July 2011

June was a month to remember for Mixed Martial Arts fans as every single weekend was jam-packed with loads of televised events. Starting back on May 27^th, there has been six weeks in a row with Major MMA action on TV, culminating with last weekends UFC 132.

Many top ranked fighters stepped into the cage / ring this month causing some movement amongst the top five in four separate divisions. Also in action this month were several of the fringe fighters who find themselves just outside of the top five. With that said we have added a list of fighters that are knocking on the door of the top five in every division.

The biggest change was in the heavyweight division as Junior Dos Santos moved up two spots with his dominate win over Shane Carwin at UFC 131. In turn Fabricio Werdun dropped to 4^th after losing a unanimous decision to Alistair Overeem in the quarterfinal round of the Strikeforce grand prix. Overeem didn’t look exceptionally good in the win against Werdum so he remained at #3.

Three fighters are making their debuted on the rankings this month. Mark Munoz defeated #5 ranked Demian Maia via unanimous decision at UFC 131 and took his place on the middleweight rankings after the win. Jim Miller slide into the #5 spot in the lightweight division after Anthony Pettis lost to Clay Guida at the Ultimate fighter 13 finale. Last is Marlon Sandro who made his successful Bellator debut at Bellator 46 and replaces Manny Gamburyan at #5 in the featherweight division.

With UFC 132 being included in these rankings the rest of July is absent of high-profile MMA action until the end of the month with Strikeforce: Fedor vs.Henderson. The unfortunate repercussions of a busy June.

The goal here is to give you the best rankings that we can provide you with and of course a spot below for you to disagree and complain. So without further ado here is the latest MMAValor.com fighter Rankings:

Key – [↑] = Moved up, [↓] = Moved Down, [•] = New to the list

Heavyweight (205lbs. – 265lbs.)

1. Cain Velasquez
2. Junior Dos Santos [↑]
3. Alistair Overeem
4. Fabricio Werdum [↓]
5. Brock Lesnar

Knocking on the door: Josh Barnett, Frank Mir, Shane Carwin

Light Heavyweight (205lbs.)

1. Jon Jones
2. Mauricio Rua
3. Rashad Evans
4. Rampage Jackson
5. Dan Henderson 

Knocking on the door: Phil Davis

Middleweight (185lbs.)

1. Anderson Silva
2. Yushin Okami
3. Ronaldo Souza
4. Hector Lombard 
5. Mark Munoz [•]

Knocking on the door: Brian Stann, Michael Bisping

Welterweight (170lbs.)

1. Georges St. Pierre
2. Jon Fitch
3. Nick Diaz
4. Jake Shields
5. Josh Koscheck

Knocking on the door: Carlos Condit

Lightweight (155lbs.)

1. Frankie Edgar
2. Gray Maynard
3. Gilbert Melendez
4. Eddie Alvarez 
5. Jim Miller [•]

Knocking on the door: Clay Guida, Melvin Guillard, Ben Henderson

Featherweight (145lbs.)

1. Jose Aldo
2. Hatsu Hioki
3. Mark Hominick
4. Chad Mendes
5. Marlon Sandro [•]

Knocking on the door: Kenny Florian, Joe Warren

Bantamweight (135lbs.)

1. Dominik Cruz
2. Urijah Faber
3. Joseph Benavides
4. Scott Jorgenson
5. Brian Bowles

Knocking on the door: Demetrious Johnson

Ranks as of 7/5/2011

Tags: Alistair Overeem, Anderson Silva, Bellator, Cain Velasquez, Dominick Cruz, Fighter rankings, Frankie Edgar, Georges St. Pierre, Jon Fitch, Jon Jones, Jose Aldo, junior Dos Santos, Mixed Martial Arts, MMA, Nick Diaz, Opinion, Rankings, Rashad Evans, Strikeforce, UFC, UFC 132, Urijah Faber

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