Alistair Overeem drops in the latest Times MMA rankings

The rankings for February see a shuffle, with Alistair Overeem falling in the heavyweight rankings after his loss to Antonio Silva.

Heavyweight

1. Cain Velasquez

2. Junior Dos Santos

3. Daniel Cormier

4. Fabricio Werdum

5. Antonio Silva

6. Alistair Overeem

7. Josh Barnett

8. Frank Mir

9. Stefan Struve

10. Travis Browne

Alistair Overeem entered his fight with Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva as cocky as it gets. Not having lost in MMA in over five years, Overeem dismissed the ability of his opponent and predicted a decisive victory. Unfortunately for the Dutch fighter, he learned once again that pride cometh before the fall. After winning the first two rounds, Overeem was rocked and brutally knocked out in the third by an angry and disrespected Brazilian. With the win, Silva earned a title shot against UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez.

Light Heavyweight

1. Jon Jones

2. Alexander Gustafsson

3. Dan Henderson

4. Lyoto Machida

5. Rashad Evans

6. Phil Davis

7. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

8. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua

9. Glover Teixeira

10. Ryan Bader

For believers in Rashad Evans, his performance against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 156 was stunning. Evans looked completely flat. His striking wasn’t crisp, he couldn’t get his wrestling on track and he turned in arguably the most lackluster performance of his career. Evans will have a lot to prove the next time he steps into the Octagon. A pair of rising contenders had a better month. Ryan Bader caught Vladimir Matyushenko with a punch and then submitted him in under a minute, while Glover Teixeira controlled former champion Quinton Jackson to earn a unanimous decision victory.

Middleweight

1. Anderson Silva

2. Chris Weidman

3. Chael Sonnen

4. Luke Rockhold

5. Yushin Okami

6. Vitor Belfort

7. Hector Lombard

8. Michael Bisping

9. Mark Munoz

10. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza

It was an uneventful month in the middleweight division, with few fights of note. It looks like Chris Weidman will get the next title shot at Anderson Silva, while Luke Rockhold and Vitor Belfort and Luke Rockhold will compete in May on FX to determine the likely challenger after that.

Welterweight

1. Georges St. Pierre

2. Johny Hendricks

3. Carlos Condit

4. Demian Maia

5. Rory MacDonald

6. Nick Diaz

7. Jon Fitch

8. Martin Kampmann

9. Jake Ellenberger

10. Ben Askren

Demian Maia announced his presence as a top welterweight contender with a dominant victory over Jon Fitch at UFC 156. Maia controlled the wrestler Fitch from the start of the fight to the end, demonstrating he’ll be a tough challenge for anyone in the division. Undefeated Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren enters the top 10 following another impressive performance against Karl Amoussou. Askren, whose wrestling has always been elite, showcased nasty ground and pound that could provide a new dimension to his formidable game.

Lightweight

1. Ben Henderson

2. Gilbert Melendez

3. Anthony Pettis

4. Gray Maynard

5. Jim Miller

6. Michael Chandler

7. T.J. Grant

8. Nate Diaz

9. Donald Cerrone

10. Khabib Nurmagomedov

For years, the lightweight division was far and away MMA’s strongest because the best fighters in that general weight range would try to fight at 155 pounds if they could rather than fighting for less money at 145 pounds in the WEC. That situation has slowly corrected itself, with a host of quality lightweights dropping down to 145. The latest may be Anthony Pettis, who cemented himself as the top contender for the winner of the Ben Henderson-Gilbert Melendez UFC lightweight title bout with a quick knockout of Donald Cerrone. Rather than take that fight, Pettis wants to move to 145 to challenge Jose Aldo. It could prove to be the stiffest challenge of Aldo’s career. T.J. Grant and Khabib Nurmagomedov enter the rankings with a series of impressive victories that should put them in position for tougher future bouts.

Featherweight

1. Jose Aldo

2. Chad Mendes

3. Ricardo Lamas

4. Pat Curran

5. “Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung

6. Frank Edgar

7. Cub Swanson

8. Dustin Poirier

9. Erik Koch

10. Dennis Siver

The featherweight division has undergone great change in the past month. Frank Edgar entered the division, proving a solid challenge in defeat for champion Jose Aldo. Ricardo Lamas scored the biggest victory of his career, taking out Erik Koch with brutal punches on the ground. Cub Swanson narrowly edged out Dustin Poirier to carve out his spot high in the division. Things are wide open as fighters seek to hand Jose Aldo his first loss since November of 2005.

Bantamweight

1. Dominick Cruz

2. Renan Barao

3. Michael McDonald

4. Urijah Faber

5. Brian Bowles

6. Eddie Wineland

7. Bibiano Fernandes

8. Brad Pickett

9. Eduardo Dantas

10. Raphael Assuncao

Michael McDonald showed why he is such a highly regarded prospect, giving Renan Barao one of the toughest fights of Barao’s career. However, Barao once again emerged victorious and the UFC interim bantamweight champion can only wait for the return of Dominick Cruz to prove definitively he is the best the 135 pound division has to offer.