UFC/Pride Middleweight Champions with least-to-most Top 10 ranked wins at Middleweight.

[acannxr]

The Flyweight version is here.
The Bantamweight version is here.
The Featherweight version is here.
The Lightweight version is here.
The Welterweight version is here.
The Light Heavyweight version is here.
The Heavyweight version is here.
Champions with most wins in each division here.
The Multi-Division version is here.

Rankings are based on FightMatrix.

Dave Menne

Menne's resume:

#9 Carlos Newton

Menne has 1 top ten win.

Georges St-Pierre

St-Pierre's resume:

#1 Michael Bisping

St-Pierre has 1 top ten win.

Murilo Bustamante

Bustamante's resume:

#1 Dave Menne
#6 Matt Lindland

Bustamante has 2 top ten wins.

Rich Franklin

Franklin's resume:

#1 Evan Tanner
#7 David Loiseau

Franklin has 2 top ten wins.

Dan Henderson

Henderson's resume:

#5 Ryo Chonan
#3 Murilo Bustamante

Henderson has 2 top ten wins.

Sean Strickland

Strickland's resume:

#7 Jack Hermansson
#1 Israel Adesanya

Strickland has 2 top ten wins.

Alex Pereira

Pereira's resume:

#8 Sean Strickland
#1 Israel Adesanya

Pereira has 2 top ten wins.

Evan Tanner

Tanner's resume:

#8 Phil Baroni
#9 Phil Baroni
#2 David Terrell

Tanner has 3 top ten wins.

Michael Bisping

Bisping's resume:

#10 Thales Leites
#1 Luke Rockhold
#10 Dan Henderson

Bisping has 3 top ten wins.

Dricus du Plessis

du Plessis' resume:

#8 Derek Brunson
#3 Robert Whittaker
#1 Sean Strickland

du Plessis has 3 top ten wins.

Chris Weidman

Weidman's resume:

#8 Demian Maia
#5 Mark Munoz
#1 Anderson Silva
#2 Anderson Silva
#2 Lyoto Machida

Weidman has 5 top ten wins.

Luke Rockhold

Rockhold's resume:

#3 Ronaldo Souza
#10 Michael Bisping
#2 Lyoto Machida
#1 Chris Weidman
#10 David Branch

Rockhold has 5 top ten wins.

Robert Whittaker

Whittaker's resume:

#7 Uriah Hall
#8 Derek Brunson
#5 Ronaldo Souza
#2 Yoel Romero
#2 Yoel Romero
#8 Darren Till
#5 Jared Cannonier
#5 Marvin Vettori

Whittaker has 8 top ten wins.

Israel Adesanya

Adesanya's resume:

#9 Derek Brunson
#4 Kelvin Gastelum
#1 Robert Whittaker
#5 Yoel Romero
#2 Paulo Costa
#7 Marvin Vettori
#2 Robert Whittaker
#3 Jared Cannonier
#1 Alex Pereira

Adesanya has 9 top ten wins.

Anderson Silva

Silva's resume:

#9 Alex Stiebling
#4 Jeremy Horn
#1 Rich Franklin
#8 Nate Marquardt
#3 Rich Franklin
#9 Demian Maia
#3 Chael Sonnen
#4 Yushin Okami
#2 Chael Sonnen

Silva has 9 top ten wins.

 

[G10]

Thanks TS! I love reading these. I'm really surprised that Franklin and Bisping didn't have more ranked wins. Also, wouldn't Belfort be one of Weidman's ranked wins?

 

[Zebra Cheeks]

The Lightweight version is here.
The Welterweight version is here.

Rankings are based on FightMatrix.

Dave Menne

Menne's resume:

#9 Carlos Newton

Menne has 1 top ten win.

Georges St-Pierre

St-Pierre's resume:

#1 Michael Bisping

St-Pierre has 1 top ten win.

Murilo Bustamante

Bustamante's resume:

#1 Dave Menne
#6 Matt Lindland

Bustamante has 2 top ten wins.

Rich Franklin

Franklin's resume:

#1 Evan Tanner
#7 David Loiseau

Franklin has 2 top ten wins.

Dan Henderson

Henderson's resume:

#5 Ryo Chonan
#3 Murilo Bustamante

Henderson has 2 top ten wins.

Evan Tanner

Tanner's resume:

#8 Phil Baroni
#9 Phil Baroni
#2 David Terrell

Tanner has 3 top ten wins.

Michael Bisping

Bisping's resume:

#10 Thales Leites
#1 Luke Rockhold
#10 Dan Henderson

Bisping has 3 top ten wins.

Chris Weidman

Weidman's resume:

#8 Demian Maia
#5 Mark Munoz
#1 Anderson Silva
#2 Anderson Silva
#2 Lyoto Machida

Weidman has 5 top ten wins.

Luke Rockhold

Rockhold's resume:

#3 Ronaldo Souza
#10 Michael Bisping
#2 Lyoto Machida
#1 Chris Weidman
#10 David Branch

Rockhold has 5 top ten wins.

Israel Adesanya

Adesanya's resume:

#9 Derek Brunson
#4 Kelvin Gastelum
#1 Robert Whittaker
#5 Yoel Romero
#2 Paulo Costa

Adesanya has 5 top ten wins.

Robert Whittaker

Whittaker's resume:

#7 Uriah Hall
#8 Derek Brunson
#5 Ronaldo Souza
#2 Yoel Romero
#2 Yoel Romero
#8 Darren Till
#5 Jared Cannonier

Whittaker has 7 top ten wins.

Anderson Silva

Silva's resume:

#9 Alex Stiebling
#4 Jeremy Horn
#1 Rich Franklin
#8 Nate Marquardt
#3 Rich Franklin
#9 Demian Maia
#3 Chael Sonnen
#4 Yushin Okami
#2 Chael Sonnen

Silva has 9 top ten wins.

If I’m learning anything at all from your threads, it’s that in the past, the path to a title shot was a lot easier.

 

[acannxr]

Thanks TS! I love reading these. I'm really surprised that Franklin and Bisping didn't have more ranked wins. Also, wouldn't Belfort be one of Weidman's ranked wins?

Due to Belfort's inactivity prior to fighting both Silva (17 months) and Weidman (18 months), he wasn't ranked on FightMatrix so I couldn't count him as valid in this thread.

 

[kingghidrah]

If I’m learning anything at all from your threads, it’s that in the past, the path to a title shot was a lot easier.

the early champs fought mostly before weight classes, so there were no top ten fighters to beat.

 

[TheMessiah]

Iz normal

 

[Dirge]

If I’m learning anything at all from your threads, it’s that in the past, the path to a title shot was a lot easier.

Or the ranking systems were virtually non existent. The UFC got into the website ranking late. Sherdog has been doing it a long time as have a couple of other sites.

If you look for example at Rich's win over Nate quarry, he likely was considered a ranked guy prior to that fight back in 2005.

Problem is the archived rankings are kind of hard to find back then,

 

[Bend NvR Break]

Wasn't Hendo ranked #15 in the Bisping rematch? He was 4-6 in his last 10 and was 2-3 in his last 5 before the Bisping fight. I can't imagine he was really in the top 10 at the time.

 

[deucesarewild]

If I’m learning anything at all from your threads, it’s that in the past, the path to a title shot was a lot easier.

There was also way less infrastructure and guidance. Guys really had to do-it-yoursrlf in terms of game plans, strategy, strength and conditioning, blending styles. A lot of the fighters today simply don't have some of that trailblazing attitude that some of these guys had so they wouldn't have gotten into the sport. A guy like Jon Jones fell into a perfectly designed system at Jackson-Wink where everything was already implemented to develop fighters. He wouldn't have had that intrepid nature and self-sufficiency to do it himself.

I won't say one era was harder or better, just almost not worth comparing.

 

[Wand claude van-damme]

I think Dan Henderson, Vitor Belfort, and Lee murray were all top 10 middleweights at the time Anderson beat them. Hendo was the pride champ

 

[Wand claude van-damme]

And Hendos win against Franklin has to count right?

 

[acannxr]

Wasn't Hendo ranked #15 in the Bisping rematch?

As I said before, the rankings I used were from FightMatrix and they listed him as #10 at that time.

I think Dan Henderson, Vitor Belfort, and Lee murray were all top 10 middleweights at the time Anderson beat them. Hendo was the pride champ

Henderson wasn't ranked at that time because he hadn't competed at Middleweight in 18 months.
Belfort wasn't ranked at that time because he hadn't competed at all in 17 months.
Murray was ranked #15 prior to his fight against Silva.

And Hendos win against Franklin has to count right?

Their fight was contested at Light Heavyweight.

 

[pankrat]

Or the ranking systems were virtually non existent. The UFC got into the website ranking late. Sherdog has been doing it a long time as have a couple of other sites.

If you look for example at Rich's win over Nate quarry, he likely was considered a ranked guy prior to that fight back in 2005.

Problem is the archived rankings are kind of hard to find back then,

Im not that sure Quarry was top ranked. What win did supposedly got him such rank?

 

[Dirge]

Im not that sure Quarry was top ranked. What win did supposedly got him such rank?

I never said top ranked, I said ranked as in somewhere in the top 10. The MW division back then wasn't overly full.

Chris Leben for example had won 6 in a row (5 in the UFC) in the MW division going into his fight with Anderson Silva.

5 wins in a row at MW back then would probably constitute top 10 status.

 

[acannxr]

I never said top ranked, I said ranked as in somewhere in the top 10. The MW division back then wasn't overly full.

Chris Leben for example had won 6 in a row (5 in the UFC) in the MW division going into his fight with Anderson Silva.

5 wins in a row at MW back then would probably constitute top 10 status.

The top ten in April 2006 according to FightMatrix:

1. Rich Franklin
2. Dan Henderson
3. Murilo Bustamante
4. Matt Lindland
5. Nate Marquardt
6. Paulo Filho
7. Kazushi Sakuraba
8. David Loiseau
9. Evan Tanner
10. Jeremy Horn

Silva was #14 and Leben was #20 at this point in time.

 

[Dirge]

The top ten in April 2006 according to FightMatrix:

1. Rich Franklin
2. Dan Henderson
3. Murilo Bustamante
4. Matt Lindland
5. Nate Marquardt
6. Paulo Filho
7. Kazushi Sakuraba
8. David Loiseau
9. Evan Tanner
10. Jeremy Horn

Silva was #14 and Leben was #20 at this point in time.

I wish we could still see the sherdog rankings for back then but for some reason the archives are no longer accessible. That list is actually pretty accurate for that time frame.

 

[Fioretti]

Due to Belfort's inactivity prior to fighting both Silva (17 months) and Weidman (18 months), he wasn't ranked on FightMatrix so I couldn't count him as valid in this thread.

Vitor was ranked at MW when he fought Silva, as was Cote. There's others you missed too, and fightmatrix is not a good source for this. Try searching mmaweekly or Sherdog archives.

 

[pankrat]

I never said top ranked, I said ranked as in somewhere in the top 10. The MW division back then wasn't overly full.

Chris Leben for example had won 6 in a row (5 in the UFC) in the MW division going into his fight with Anderson Silva.

5 wins in a row at MW back then would probably constitute top 10 status.

If you mean in UFC alone, sure.
Worldwide, I doubt a win over Pete Sell got you a top10 spot, then or ever, at any division.

Leben coming into his fght with Silva had already beat much more credible opponents as Patrick Coté, Jorge Rivera or Mike Swick...and still not so highly ranked.

The MW division has been historically underrated. There is some truth in that it was rather shallow, specially in UFC, but people bought this myth of it being garbage and still some repeat that mantra today, but it's false.

 

[TheChosenKing]

Dan Henderson, Vitor Belfort, Lee Murray, and Thales Lietes were all ranked when Silva beat them.

 

[pankrat]

Dan Henderson, Vitor Belfort, Lee Murray, and Thales Lietes were all ranked when Silva beat them.

Dan Henderson and Belfort, if they were ranked, it was probably at LHW back then.
Lee Murray I doubt he was ranked in the top10 at all.
Thales Leites, coming off a W over Marquardt, even if controverial, I assume had to be top10 ranked though