Latest MMA Valor Fighter Rankings for January 2014

The first Fighter Rankings of the New Year look rather different from a year ago. Several title changed hands last year and few were even vacated. The 2014 fighter rankings are a culmination of the past 12 months in Mixed Martial Arts and a springboard into the unknown of what 2014 will bring.

The last major MMA event of 2013 along with some major news over the past month has really reshaped the fighter rankings since last published.

For starters, UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre vacated his belt when he sort of retired, removing him from the ranks. The always injured UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz most recently was stripped of his title after getting injured yet again. He has also been removed from the fighter rankings, on the account that he hasn’t fought since 2011.

UFC champions Demetrious Johnson and Chris Weidman successfully defended their titles in December and obviously remains #1 in their weight class. Johnson’s win did help him move into the top five on the “Pound for Pound” rankings. Weidman’s second consecutive win over the former champion Anderson Silva dropped The Spider off the “Pound for Pound” ranks and down to #4 in the middleweight division. After suffering a nasty left leg break Silva will have a long road back into the Octagon, let along the top spot in the division.

Top fighters in action over the next month or so include, Luke Rockhold, Benson Henderson vs. Josh Thomson, Stipe Miocic, Renan Barao vs. Urijah Faber, Jose Aldo vs. Richaro Lamas and John Lineker. The three matchups listed will certainly hold ramifications on the fighter rankings no matter the outcome.

As always 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 MMA fighter Rankings:

Key – [C] = Champion, [IC] = Interim Champion

Heavyweight Division (205lbs. – 265lbs.):

1. Cain Velasquez [C], 2. Junior Dos Santos, 3. Fabricio Werdum, 4. Travis Browne, 5. Daniel Cormier

• Knocking on the door: Stipe Miocic, Gabriel Gonzaga

Light Heavyweight Division (205lbs.):

1. Jon Jones [C], 2. Glover Teixeira, 3. Alexander Gustafsson, 4. Rashad Evans, 5. Phil Davis

• Knocking on the door:  Jimi Manuwa, Emanuel Newton[IC]

Middleweight Division (185lbs.):

1.  Chris Weidman [C], 2. Vitor Belfort, 3. Ronaldo Souza, 4. Anderson Silva, 5. Luke Rockhold

• Knocking on the door: Alexander Shlemenko [C], Lyoto Machida

Welterweight Division (170lbs.):

1. Johny Hendricks, 2. Carlos Condit, 3. Ben Askren, 4. Robbie Lawler, 5. Rory MacDonald

• Knocking on the door:  Dong Hyun Kim, Matt Brown, Jake Shields, Hector Lombard, Brandon Thatch, Tyron Woodley

Lightweight Division (155lbs.):

1. Anthony Pettis [C], 2.Gilbert Melendez, 3. Benson Henderson, 4.  Eddie Alvarez [C], 5. Michael Chandler

• Knocking on the door: Eddie Alvarez, Josh Thomson, TJ Grant, Edson Barboza, Rafael Dos Anjos, Khabib Numagomedov, Nate Diaz

Featherweight Division (145lbs.):

1. Jose Aldo [C], 2. Chad Mendes, 3. Ricardo Lamas, 4. Cub Swanson, 5. Daniel Straus [C]

• Knocking on the door:  Frankie Edgar, Chan Sung Jung, Nik Lentz, Patricio Fiere, Dustin Poirier

Bantamweight Division (135lbs.):

1. Renan Barao [C], 2. Urijah Faber, 3. Michael McDonald, 4. Raphael Assuncao , 5. Bibiano Fernandes [C]

• Knocking on the door:  Eduardo Dantas [C], Eddie Wineland, Takeya Mizugaki

Flyweight Division (125lbs.):

1. Demetrious Johnson [C], 2. John Dodson, 3. Joseph Benavides, 4. Ian McCall, 5. John Lineker

• Knocking on the door: John Moraga, Zach Makovsky

Pound 4 Pound Rankings:

1. Jon Jones, 2. Jose Aldo, 3. Anthony Pettis, 4. Demetrious Johnson, 5. Cain Velasquez

MMA Fighter Rankings as of 1/7/2014

Tags: Alexander Gustafsson, Anderson Silva, Anthony Pettis, Bellator, Ben Askren, Benson Henderson, Bibiano Fernandes, Cain Velasquez, Carlos Condit, Chad Mendes, Chris Weidman, Cub Swanson, Daniel Cormier, Daniel Straus, Demetrious Johnson, Eddie Alvarez, Fabricio Werdum, Fighter rankings, Gilbert Melendez, Glover teixeira, Ian McCall, John Dodson, John Lineker, Johny Hendricks, Jon Jones, Jose Aldo, Joseph Benavides, junior Dos Santos, Luke Rockhold, Michael Chandler, Michael McDonald, MMA, Phil Davis, Raphael Assuncao, Rashad Evans, Renan Barao, ricardo Lamas, Robbie Lawler, Ronaldo Souza, Rory MacDonald, Travis Browne, UFC, Urijah Faber, Vitor Belfort

Category: Bellator, MMA, Rankings, UFC, World Series of Fighting