MMA Fighter Rankings For July

Time for this month's fighter rankings. Please comment and let me know where I got it right or wrong. Enjoy!

Heavyweight (265 pounds)

1. Fedor Emelianenko
2. Frank Mir
3. Brock Lesnar
4. Josh Barnett
5. Alitair Overeem
6. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
7. Randy Couture
8. Shane Carwin
9. Brett Rodgers
10. Cain Velasquez

Also receiving consideration: Jeff Monson, Mirko Cro Cop, and Fabricio Werdum

Note: Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia both fall out of consideration after losing badly to fighters who were not in consideration until now. Brett Rodgers and Cain Velasquez have taken their places after Rodgers beat Arlovski and Velasquez beat fellow contender Cheick Kongo. Kongo falls out of consideration after that loss.

Light Heavyweight (205 pounds)

1. Lyoto Machida
2. Rashad Evans
3. Forrest Griffin
4. Quinton Jackson
5. Renato Sobral
6. Luis Cane
7. Mauricio Rua
8. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
9. Thiago Silva
10. Rich Franklin

Also receiving consideration: Keith Jardine

No changes made to this list as everyone was inactive except Rich Franklin who fought at 195 lbs.

Middleweight (185 pounds)

1. Anderson Silva
2. Dan Henderson
3. Nate Marquardt
4. Demian Maia
5. Yushin Okami
6. Vitor Belfort
7. Robbie Lawler
8. Jorge Santiago
9. Yoshihiro Akiyama
10. Mike Bisping

Also receiving consideration: Thales Leites, Chael Sonnen, Kazuo Mizaki, Hector Lombard, and Nick Diaz

Robbie Lawler lost but to an elite fighter outside of his weight class so it won't be counted against him on this list. Hector Lombard was added to the considered list after winning the Bellator middleweight tournament. Nick Diaz was added to the considered list after beating Frank Shamrock and Scott Smith.

Welterweight (170 pounds)

1. Georges St. Pierre
2. Thiago Alves
3. Jon Fitch
4. Jake Shields
5. Mike Swick
6. Martin Kampmann
7. Carlos Condit
8. Dan Hardy
9. Paulo Thiago
10. Frank Trigg

Also receiving consideration: Hayato Sakurai, Matt Hughes, Brock Larson, Josh Koscheck, Jay Hieron, and Karo Parisyan

Note: Shields moves up to the fourth spot after beating Robbie Lawler in a higher weight class. Kampmann moves down due to Swick's impressive win over Ben Saunders. Hardy replaces Marcus Davis who has fallen off the list after losing to Hardy. And Nick Thompson falls off the list after losing to Tim Kennedy.

Lightweight (155 pounds)

1. BJ Penn
2. Shinya Aoki
3. Eddie Alvarez
4. Joachim Hansen
5. Kenny Florian
6. Tatsuya Kawajiri
7. Gesias Calvancante
8. Josh Thomson
9. Gray Maynard
10. Frankie Edgar

Also receiving consideration: Sean Sherk, Satoru Kitaoka, Diego Sanchez, and Spencer Fisher

Note: Caol Uno comes off the considered list after his loss to Spencer Fisher.

Featherweight (145 pounds)

1. Mike Brown
2. Wagnney Fabiano
3. Urijah Faber
4. Jose Aldo
5. Leonard Garcia
6. Hatsu Hioki
7. Takeshi Inoue
8. Rafael Assuncao
9. Bibiano Fernandes
10. Marlon Sandro

Also receiving consideration: Nam Phan, Hideki Kadakowi, Hiroyuki Takaya, Joe Warren, Joe Soto, and Josh Grispi

Note: Fabiano and Faber switch places after Faber's second loss to Brown. Aldo hops Garcia after an impressive win over Cub Swanson. Antonio Cavalho falls off the considered list after a year of inactivity. Joe Soto is added to the considered list after winning the Bellator featherweight tournament. And Josh Grispi is added to the list after his impressive win over Jens Pulver.

Bantamweight (135 points)

1. Miguel Torres
2. Brian Bowles
3. Masakatsu Ueda
4. Joseph Benavidez
5. Damacio Page
6. Akitoshi Tamura
7. Takeya Mizugaki
8. Will Ribeiro
9. Marcos Galvao
10. Rani Yahya

Also receiving consideration: Manny Tapia, Atsushi Yamamoto, Mark Oshiro, Dominic Cruz, Chris Cariaso, Jeff Curran, Anotonio Banuelos, and Wilson Reis

Note: Scott Jorgensen falls off the considered list after losing to Antonio Banuelos. As a result Banuelos takes his spot on the list. And Wilson Reis is added to the list after a good run in Bellator.

POUND-FOR-POUND

1. Georges St. Pierre
2. Anderson Silva
3. Fedor Emelianenko
4. Lyoto Machida
5. Miguel Torres
6. BJ Penn
7. Rashad Evans
8. Thiago Alves
9. Mike Brown
10. Forrest Griffin

Also receiving consideration: Quinton Jackson

Note: Brown moves up to number nine after beating Faber again. Faber moves off the list while Griffin and Jackson slide down.

Please check out my weekly news article on InsideFights "No News Barred" every Wednesday. Until next time,

Soccer kicks and head stomps...

John Shubert is a staff writer at InsideFights