Cain Velasquez, Fabricio Werdum are in an MMA rankings’ showdown

Times’ MMA rankings for November.

Heavyweight

1. Cain Velasquez

2. Fabricio Werdum

3. Junior Dos Santos

4. Travis Browne

5. Josh Barnett

6. Stipe Miocic

7. Mark Hunt

8. Antonio Silva

9. Ben Rothwell

10. Roy Nelson

Fabricio Werdum turned in another exciting performance, defeating Mark Hunt with a flying knee at the UFC’s debut in Mexico. Werdum struggled early against the tough striking of Hunt but caught him with a shot and put him away in the second round. Werdum now holds the UFC interim heavyweight title and a showdown with Cain Velasquez looms.

Light Heavyweight

1. Jon Jones

2. Alexander Gustafsson

3. Daniel Cormier

4. Anthony Johnson

5. Rashad Evans

6. Phil Davis

7. Glover Teixeira

8. Ryan Bader

9. Ovince St. Preux

10. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

Phil Davis demonstrated his excellent wrestling pedigree by controlling and defeating Glover Teixeira in Brazil. Many seemed to write off Davis after his loss to Anthony Johnson but Davis is far from done. Ovince St. Preux knocked out Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in less than a minute, the sort of marquee victory over a name opponent that has eluded him for years.

Middleweight

1. Chris Weidman

2. Anderson Silva

3. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza

4. Lyoto Machida

5. Vitor Belfort

6. Luke Rockhold

7. Gegard Mousasi

8. Yoel Romero

9. Tim Kennedy

10. C.B. Dollaway

Luke Rockhold looked impressive again, submitting Michael Bisping in the second round of their Australia contest via guillotine choke. Rockhold and Jacare Souza are the top contenders for the winner of the Chris Weidman-Vitor Belfort middleweight title bout in Los Angeles. Yushin Okami suffered one of the biggest setbacks of his career in WSOF, losing to David Branch via TKO, and is no longer ranked.

Welterweight

1. Johny Hendricks

2. Robbie Lawler

3. Rory MacDonald

4. Tyron Woodley

5. Ben Askren

6. Carlos Condit

7. Matt Brown

8. Hector Lombard

9. Demian Maia

10. Dong Hyun Kim

Jake Ellenberger falls from the top 10 after yet another terrible performance, losing via submission to rising contender Kelvin Gastelum. Ellenberger, once a top welterweight contender, hardly seems interested in fighting any more.

Lightweight

1. Anthony Pettis

2. Gilbert Melendez

3. Khabib Nurmagomedov

4. Rafael Dos Anjos

5. Donald Cerrone

6. Ben Henderson

7. Eddie Alvarez

8. Nate Diaz

9. Myles Jury

10. Will Brooks

Will Brooks moves into the top ten after a second victory over Michael Chandler for the Bellator lightweight title. This division remains as deep as ever, with high level fighters like Josh Thomson, Jim Miller, Chandler, Edson Barboza and Justin Gaethje not cracking the top 10.

Featherweight

1. Jose Aldo

2. Chad Mendes

3. Frank Edgar

4. Cub Swanson

5. Patricio “Pitbull” Freire

6. Ricardo Lamas

7. Conor McGregor

8. Dennis Bermudez

9. Dustin Poirier

10. Pat Curran

Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes waited two and a half years to rematch for the UFC featherweight title, and when they finally met again it was a classic confrontation. Mendes showed tremendous mettle but Aldo proved too much and took the unanimous decision. Knocking on the door for the next title shot is Frankie Edgar, who turned in a spectacular performance in dominating and eventually submitting the dangerous Cub Swanson, who was riding a six fight win streak over some of the division’s best. But he may have to wait for Conor McGregor, who has talked himself into superstardom in his native Ireland and generated great interest in his fights. In Mexico, Ricardo Lamas was impressive in ending the long win streak of Dennis Bermudez.

Bantamweight

1. T.J. Dillashaw

2. Dominick Cruz

3. Renan Barao

4. Urijah Faber

5. Raphael Assuncao

6. Michael McDonald

7. Takeya Mizugaki

8. Bibiano Fernandes

9. Joe Warren

10. Iuri Alcantara

It was a slow month in the bantamweight division, with no top 10 fighters competing since the last rankings. All roads in the division lead to T.J. Dillashaw vs. Dominick Cruz, one of the most anticipated bantamweight fights in years.

Women’s Bantamweight

1. Ronda Rousey

2. Cat Zingano

3. Sarah Kaufman

4. Miesha Tate

5. Sara McMann

6. Alexis Davis

7. Jessica Eye

8. Jessica Andrade

9. Bethe Correia

10. Amanda Nunes

Jessica Eye turned in one of the most impressive performances of her career, stopping Leslie Smith in the second round of their UFC 180 fight when Smith suffered a gruesome injury to her ear. Smith’s ear nearly separated due to repeated shots from Eye, whose boxing looked crisp and quick.

Flyweight

1. Demetrious Johnson

2. Joseph Benavidez

3. John Dodson

4. Ian McCall

5. John Moraga